This is all viewed from the "Top" Viewport. I made a sphere, I downloaded from the Internet, a "metal texture". I then clicked on the Sphere and on the right side (see pic "AA1"), the Object Properties Box popped up, Select "Basic" and underneath, "Material". I then clicked on Texture/Map File on the box on the same line to the right, that opens the navigation pane and then you navigate to the texture you downloaded. I selected it, then clicked "Open". Make sure you put a "check" in the box by the word "Texture", that is in blue. Right click on the word "Top" in the upper left hand corner of the Viewport, then click an open space, and the Sphere will have the metal texture on it. (see AA3)
I then downloaded a "checker" .jpeg, I clicked the sphere, click the + sign by Transparency, make sure you put a check in the box by the word "Transparency" Go all the way to the right on the line that says "Map File" to the little box, click it, and navigate to the checker you downloaded and select and click "Open", On Intensity, set it to 50%, the, click on an open space, then the word "Top" Right click "Render". Play with these settings to learn what else Rhino will do.
I selected a wood texture, did the same procedure as above but used "Environment", set it to 40%, and ended up with the final shape, printed to file, from the Perspective Viewport in jpeg. Please, Aaron, as others may not know, you and I communicate much, ask me anything you wish. If anyone thinks I am attacking Aaron, a prolific Model designer, I am not, maybe some do not know how much we communicate on and off forums. I am not accustomed to explaining myself. There are many in this thread whom I do respect, so I thought I should explain this.
I wished we lived closer, I have a 21" analog Monitor that goes to really high resolutions, and some smoking Video cards. Are you working on a Tower PC , or a Laptop PC? I have a really nice AGP X800 ATI Video card, with 512 mgs. of Video Ram. I would give you this stuff if we were close. I am too broke to send it in the mail though. (the video card might be doable) It has outputs for Dual Monitors, which I run on all my machines.
