Waldo, Currently I'm working with the tiff format which offers multible images in one file, but a true alpha channel would offer 8 bits to use as masks (black/white) for such things as transparency, specularity, refraction etc. In other words a 24 bit file would have an extra 8 bits making it a 32 bit file. As I don't know that there is a standard for so called alpha channels I don't know that what you do in one application would translate properly to another application; it is an interseting topic and one of which I've meant to explore further for some time now. In my case, a detailed exploration of this topic as concerns your question might have to wait for an upgrade to C3 which will be a while for me yet, but I'm probably as interested as you are in the answer and in what others may be able to offer up in this regard. If C3 uses "alpha channels" in the same way as Bryce does, you may need a seperate pict, bmp, what have you, to use as an alpha channel. cheers, - TJ