Cnaging how skins work on models via notepad help needed

[Drain Pipe]

I'm aware that you can change how the kins are on a model using wordpad. I just want to know how you'd transfer such skin anims as the watery effect on a water elemental or making a certain skin darker or more trasnparent etc.

 

[Mecheon]

Transparent: Materials, change texture type to... Addiative I think
Darker: Vertex colour, which I've lost somewhere deep in the mdl
Animated Textures: Bah, been too long since I last touched these...

 

[Drain Pipe]

that helps a bit. Thanks. If you can remember please respond..