I am trying to get this sign right, I used a vopsurface node and attached a texture I have done in Photoshop. The sign shows up fine until I have to render, and then it renders pure white.

Why is this, it shows up fine otherwise? I have posted a scene file sample and pics of the sign during modelling and then after render. Thanks!

your texture is connected to openGL display only (for now think about it as a preview) but there is no any connection inside shader itsel (it's empty shader).

You also have confusing setup -
You have material connected on object level, material tab “/shop/Sign” that doesn't exists
You have also value in geometry shader (object level render tab/geometry) set to “/shop”. It should be empty.

When You select material you have to do it from object level (material tab) OR geometry level with material node (not both at once)

Try using presets from Material Palette.

Many thanks tmdag, I cleared all errant references to other shaders, made a new mantrasurface and attached my graphic as a color map, then assigned the material at the obj level- worked perfectly. I was a little confused because a pre-Houdini 11 tutorial had me looking for a SuperVex Material… as I now know that does not exist anymore.

Thanks again!

Thats not an error i think. you are outputting the GL.