Hi guys, I just got a copy of carrara express. I'm trying to render a V4 character but I can't figure out the eyelashes. I've been playing with the transparencies and it goes from bad to worse. does anyone have a tip on how to properly set up the lashes so they look like lashes?
everything else seems pretty basic with setting up materials or shaders what have you.
thanks
jeff

Make sure that you have "light through transparency" enabled in the render room. Is the texture map showing on the lashes correctly?

I hardly like to second guess Mark but have you ticked BOTH light through transparency boxes in the render room?

The second transparency option is for GI only, if you dont turn SkyLigt or Indirect Light on you dont need it.

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Well I didn't know from the OP's post where they had got to with the lighting.

yes, I have the light through transparency checked on. I think my problem is how to actually set up the texture. since the map I'm using is a trans map.  would I assign the map to the colour mode or under transparency?  I have tried both ways and the lashes still come up almost solid. I'm confused

Move the transparency map to the alpha channel - This is the best to actually "hide" geometry with a texture map. Then make sure that the color in the Shader is what you want.

just to agree that one should use an alpha channel for the lashes in c6pro.
this differs from poser and even older versions of carrara, where it was possible to
use the transparency channel (in combination with diffuse and specular) to get a glowing
surface, due to the way the combination of the three could add up to more than 100%.

one other item in regard to c6pro's handling of lash transparency:
it's apparent even in the small image above that the shadows are wrong and/or bad,
which is a big part of the problem (beyond proper render and shader settings).
I've found it's very difficult to get a realistic shadow appearance in c6pro when zooming in
on the lashes.  the lashes may look solid in a typical render, but it's actually the bad shadows
that are making 'em look solid.

Attached Link: http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o32/skywlkr5/car1.png

well I tried the alpha  ugh horrible,  now I'm really confused how does one make a shadow bad and or wrong?  possibly the angle of the light? I'm not doing anything special here just imported V4 and I'm adding textures the lights and stuff are left to default.  I'm just trying to get a  feel for this program. I left a link to a screenshot for my current settings maybe this i'll help figuring out what's wrong with my settings. thanks guys for all your help.

Just set it up like this and you should be fine. I think you were making it a little too complicated. ;-) Mark

Ohh that alpha channel.  theres an alpha setting under tranparencies as well guess thats where i messed up. It's starting to get better now I'll just keep on playing around I'm gussing it'll get better depending on lights and other render settings as well. Thanks for the help

Hi Miss Nancy, Shadow fidelity for lash close-ups is really a function of how high the actual resolution is on the texture map itself. Here's an extreme close-up on the image I posted above. It seems to hold up ok here. ;-) What are your render settings when you have lash issues? Mark

yes, that's what I was doing wrong, mark. the default v4.1 loads with a lo-res lashtrans file.  when I replace it with one of the hi-res files, the lashes render o.k., no matter how bad the light/shadow/render settings. so the very dark, distinct lash shadows were the result of the lo-res file (see attached render).

but looking at peoples' eyes up close, and looking at stock photos, I'm not seeing any lash
shadows, hence I daresay it must be rather difficult to take a photo of an actual human and
get distinct lash shadows,  although the laws of optics dictate that it must be possible.