Summary of Problem: I have managed to import a morphed/dressed character model from Daz Studio 4 (free version) in the Collada format (using the presets) and got it into SI-2012- it looks great but when I try to area render or any other kind of render it is all blacked out like in the attached photo.????????? 

BACKSTORY:

Hello!

1st off I would like to state I don’t know what I’m talking about much of the time but I know what I would like to do.... (Yes, I know this is a potentially disastrous combination of aspirations!)

I made a 73 minute movie in Carrara8 last year and decided I want to make another movie, but before getting too deep into refining my animation/lighting/rendering technique in C8, I decided to explore the other more professional platforms out there like C4D, Maya (spent a lot of time there), and 3DS, before finally settling on Softimage- This platform just seemed on the surface much more suited to me and how my brain works. The renders looked so much better than C8 without even trying I was hooked- Also watching the Blur show reel and all of that great cinematic work they do was inspiring. I think this is away for emerging screenwriters to get experience telling stories using these digital tools- this is the head space I’m coming from- I’m not a tech guy but I know what I want and I think great ideas (at least they are to me) are the fuel that gets things done. 

In the Cararra-world I got lots of help in addition to the tutorials in figuring out what I wanted to do and how to do it. In the pro world its a little less on the help, and I get it...., I was hoping if you knew a little more about my lack of basic knowledge you would take pity on me.

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This is how the materials are set up. If you select the material in the explorer and go to the transparency/reflection tab you can switch off reflection, which is on by default.

In Daz Studio there is an option to invert the alpha (transparency) when exporting which works well for Softimage. But the reflection needs inverting too I think, you have to do this manually.

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