and here is your file....

Ok, here ya go:)

It is in Maya 5 format, and I tried to convert it to 4.5, but it won't work, so here is how i did it:

Create a layered shader.
Create your background shader. (BLUE in this case)
Create your Black text shader. (I chose Blinn, like you did in your file)

In Photoshop, remove the alpha from your color (rgb) image,
and put the alpha in its' own file. ( I chose targa, as that's what I use)

In the Blinn shader, plop your color (rgb) file in the COLOR slot.
Then plop the ALPHA file in the Transparency slot.

You may have to click INVERT under the effects menu of your transparency file attributes, otherwise your RGB color image will be the inverse of what you want:)

Drop both the BLUE background shader AND your COLOR shader into your LAYERED SHADER node.

The COLOR shader should be on the leftmost side of the Layered shader "drop-in" view area, and the BLUE shader should be on the right of that.

That's it.

My new file for you is attached.

This same tecnique is explained in another way on the A|W "how-to" section of thier site:)

Here is my resulting image:

DAM! hehe...

I just noticed that Howard posted a few minutes befoe me:)

Oh well:)

:bgreen:

Thank you, thank you, thankyou

You guys are great! I couldn't open your files as I don't have Maya 5, but the description was enough. The really sad thing it that I had been following a tutorial I had gotten from digital-tutors.com and they were having me do one thing that was causing the problem. When you are supposed to drag the materials onto the Layered shader, their tutorial has you drop it onto the color tab, not the central box. What this does differently is it sets up connections between color, transparency, and glow, not just color. I just did some more tests, and that is the only difference between a working shader, and one that doesn't.

Check out the subtle difference. I knew it had to be something small I was missing, I just couldn't find it. I was probably 95% of the way there after an hour, and the rest of the time was trying every check box I could get my hands on. I just never tried dragging the material to that area.

Thanks again. If either of you were women or if I was a gay man I'd ask you to marry me.

-dann

whoops! I totally missed the boat here <:) I didnt realize that you wanted to layer the text over the blue! I guess my cognitive skills drop tremendously after midnight.

Rage is the man!!

Cool:)

Happy you were able to understand my tips.