I have never been “hoss” at materials. I’ve come to terms with that, and can now admit that to the group. This admission isn’t easy either since with the amount of time I have put into 3D, one would assume that materials would be something you just get to know after a while. Not the case here. I think my lack of insight stems from using so many 3D programs, where modeling and rendering tools are quite similar, and material management is quite different. With the advent of nodes in Blender (I adored them in XSI) and my sheer rage at the Blender elite (ahem, broken ) for having a seemingly god-like mastery of the subject, I intend to devote some of my time to materials and nodes. At least with these nodes I have a fighting chance to understand everthing since in XSI there were more than I could take at once, and more being created every day.