I didn't answer because it is too complicated to respond to the wood question in a few minutes and I have very little time. Your thread is in a very long queue of things I need to respond to. I recently showed some wood in another thread and explained that I am not happy with it. It is just easier to use pictures, and it looks better by a mile.

The description you guys make of an easier material setup still smells like preset to me. Maybe I just have no understanding of what "from scratch"means to you.

Can you make fish scales in vue? How about chain mail rings? I did those from scratch.

I have always agreed that macros are needed to bridge the preset and from scratch chasm. 

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Renderosity forum reply notifications are wonky. If I read a follow-up in a thread, but I don't myself reply, then notifications no longer happen AT ALL on that thread. So if I seem to be ignoring a question, that's why. (Updated September 23, 2019)