Thanks for your help. I guess I do know how to make transparent semi-transparent stuff in blender, the problem is that once it is rendered in SH3D, it is no longer semi-transparent.

This is an experiment I did:
left blind: solid, 2nd: alpha 1.0, 3rd: alpha 0.75, 4th: alpha 0.5, 5th: alpha 0.25

top: SH3D preview bottom:hires render
http://www.imagebam.com/image/2df9b9311156561

Hans, thanks, I'm already using one of those models. Wanted to improve it and make it translucent or make my own