Milkshape: Getting rid of dark shadows?

[Destin]

K I'm giving myself a crash course in meshing.
 
I'm using Milkshape, and have installed all of Demon's Tools. After about 50 tries, I finally pieced together all the info here and there all over the net, and along with a lot of trial and error, I totally get it. I'm really pleased with the mesh itself but this is my issue:
 
I cannot get rid of dark shading on the faces along a sharp edge, no matter what I try. Attempts to align the normals row by row or in sections just give me uglier triangular shadows.
 
Should I be creating smoothing groups first, before I align the normals?
 
I see conflicting information about smoothing groups, some of which say don't ever do them, and some of which say the groups are necessary to align the normals, even on body meshes. I know not to use auto-smooth, so maybe I'm just confused (a distinct possibility). So, what are my options?
 
EDIT: I tried the trick here, and still no luck http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=297275
 
 
Some pics of a collar: could the problem be cause by creating faces on 2 sides of the same plane? I tried it originally in 3-d but I still had the same problems with shading and aligning the normals properly.
 

 
The problem should be obvious. I should note that this is just a test mesh to figure out this issue, my *almost done* mesh is in another file, so yeah I know this collar isn't perfect lol.
 
Suggestions?
 
Also I'm really curious how to assign the texture coordinates to a specific part of the mesh. I started with a maxis mesh of course, and although I was able to juryrig a reasonable texture on the newly created collar, I want it to be perfect. I know there is a way to create a perfectly flat section on my recolor file to assign a texture to the collar only, even if its not contiguous in my recolor file and my alpha, I just have no clue how to make this happen. For example, if I want a striped collar with the stripes all perfectly in their places. I played around with the texture coordinates but it's really shmessy looking.
 
Can I do that just with a group assignment?
 
I apologize in advance for my n00b status with all this lol...but I'd love to get past this hurdle.
 
Thanks in advance!

[BlooM]

alligning the normals can give some problems sometimes.
I never use the smoothing groups that came with milkshape as i always get them fixed with Demon's.
The reason that you have those shadows is that the borders/seams between 2 parts share the same vertex.
so if you choose alligne normals on that spot demons tool doesn't know wich part to choose, result is the normal mismatch on both parts.
You have to select the top of the collar first/then the sides etc and on every selection you alligne the normals.

If this doesn't solve your problem then those parts(top/sides/front) are welded together, wich means that the top part and the side parts use only one vertex at the seam.
You have to regroup those parts to give them each a independend vertex on the seam
You select the top edge and regroup it/then the sides and regroup it etc etc.
when done you select every part individual and alligne the normals.
At the end you select all and regroup them back to one.(dont forget the correct comments in the comment box )

srry bout english, i tried to explain as good as i can........

OH, and when selecting parts to alligne the normals make sure you select the faces, NOT he vertices!!

[Destin]

alligning the normals can give some problems sometimes.
I never use the smoothing groups that came with milkshape as i always get them fixed with Demon's.
The reason that you have those shadows is that the borders/seams between 2 parts share the same vertex.
so if you choose alligne normals on that spot demons tool doesn't know wich part to choose, result is the normal mismatch on both parts.
You have to select the top of the collar first/then the sides etc and on every selection you alligne the normals.
 
If this doesn't solve your problem then those parts(top/sides/front) are welded together, wich means that the top part and the side parts use only one vertex at the seam.
You have to regroup those parts to give them each a independend vertex on the seam
You select the top edge and regroup it/then the sides and regroup it etc etc.
when done you select every part individual and alligne the normals.
At the end you select all and regroup them back to one.(dont forget the correct comments in the comment box )
 
srry bout english, i tried to explain as good as i can........
 
OH, and when selecting parts to alligne the normals make sure you select the faces, NOT he vertices!!

Thanks so much for the answer, I'm giving it a shot right now
 
EDIT: Thanks a lot for your help.  I started from scratch (for the hundredth time) and it's looking great...much appreciated!