Saul Greenberg

Well thanks JC but i find that totally bamboozling ))) i can find no texture map VOP in the vopnet nor any texture map ref. i was looking for some generic SHOP? that would enable me to apply an image to a plane (for instance) while specifying which parts of it to make transparent. I think i will have to go back a bit and get more learning with shader building and lighting. I am used to selecting from browser and drag and drop etc, having it done for me! I come from the trueSpace background, about as far in the opposite direction from Houdini method as you can get, www.caligari.com, check out my winning BBAC animation if you pass by )) My ambition is to use Houdini for animation, even tho i cant use it yet i begin to see the fantastic control possible.
Thanks for your help JC, i'll look out some more tutorials.

I cant figure how to apply transparency as texture. I want to use some .tga with built in alpha channels, they could be applied as color transparency (black as transparent for instance)
How to do this?
TIA

Thanks JC
I guess my intial problem was with the word ‘append’, why not just ‘attach’?
I kinda like this new word and have even started using it in conversation ))
Anyway thanks again for the pointer and i will surely work my way through the PDF's.