"No, the question wasn't lost, Matt... as far as I'm aware there isn't a way to specify a particular order for 'parts' to be processed"I think the method that he wishes to use for making windows--applying the alpha mask where the windows are, fell out of favor quickly for GMAX users due to the boolean cut option, which has no equivalent in FSDS 2. Still, even with the boolean cut method, in the end there are still transparent parts and "solid" ones. I don't see many issues like the one he mentions, so there must be a step missing in his process which organizes the parts in the appropriate way.

im using gmaxso, here are 2 screenshotsfirst pic shows when im lookin out from behind the wall with the transparent texture areasecond pic shows when i pass that area .What iv tried to do, is in gmax make groups...group all things except the walls into one, then group the walls into the other group. this caused all wing things to dessapeare when looking out from behind the wall, then tried grouping the wall first then the other things, same effect.Then tried saving the wall to a new file, and merged it back to the VC file, same effect. in makemdl i wasnt able to locate the autosort checkbox.Im kind of stuck here, but im alsmot sure there is a way to work this out, any ideas?Ben

I should add that, although you can't have reflective surfaces rendering windows in this manner, you can use dynamic shine (a.k.a. specular lighting), getting almost the same result. My recently released Microlight is an example of that. As some of the other designers here pointed out, one drawback to rendering windows this way is that the edges can get the jaggies...this can be seen from inside the virtual cockpit. You can reduce this by using as large a texture as possible, but it will still be visible...Here's an example of what I mean from inside the v/c and outside of it, looking at the window frame (I used rather small 256x256 textures). The poor result in the v/c is one reason I didn't include it in my Avsim release..... OTH, you can also see an example of how specular lighting adds the reflection to the outside of the canopy...