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Trouble with semi-transparent texture

F

f16jockey

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50
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belgium
I remember having done this in the past, but apparently I'm missing something.

When using DDS-DXT1 for complete transparency (alpha 0,0,0) things show up as they should.



When I want to add some tinting to the glass (DDS-DXT3 or DXT5 / alpha 190,190,190) the windows let me look through the complete building and the background shows.
The "tinting" seems OK btw.



Only thing that shows correctly is another window on the other side of the builing.
What am I missing ?

Wim
 
Getting there... checked and applied some gmax material settings from old projects.

But now the inside of some of the glass walls show (green), and others don't (red).
It's all the same one material. Double sided DXT5.
Could use some advice, it'll probably be Xmas before I get this figured out by myself :rolleyes:.





Regards,
Wim
 
I think it have to do with the Alpha test property when I have those kind of issues I change the value in "Alpha test function" to "greater" or playing with Z.test alpha. can't say more because no idea how this work, but it's a clue.
 
Tejal Bernardo said:
I think it have to do with the Alpha test property when I have those kind of issues I change the value in "Alpha test function" to "greater" or playing with Z.test alpha. can't say more because no idea how this work, but it's a clue.
Click to expand...

Tried all sorts of settings, tried flipping the planes,... No avail.
Always some sides that don't display correctly.

Wim
 
In MCX you can play with those parameters in the material editor. Mcx show those problems with transparencies? right now can't remember if it can be detected in MCX.
I found something, in the Unity game engine tutorials, very Little indeed, about this:
Set up the alpha test to only render pixels whose alpha value is within a certain range.

Comparison
Comparison is one of the following words:

Greater Only render pixels whose alpha is greater than AlphaValue.
GEqual Only render pixels whose alpha is greater than or equal to AlphaValue.
Less Only render pixels whose alpha value is less than AlphaValue.
LEqual Only render pixels whose alpha value is less than or equal to from AlphaValue.
Equal Only render pixels whose alpha value equals AlphaValue.
NotEqual Only render pixels whose alpha value differs from AlphaValue.
Always Render all pixels. This is functionally equivalent to AlphaTest Off.
Never Don’t render any pixels.

According to this you assign a value to Alpha value and the parameters, greater ,equal, etc are referenced to this values.
and something about alpha value of the pixel: ....The alpha channel is normally used as an opacity channel. If a pixel has a value of 0% in its alpha channel, it is fully transparent (and, thus, invisible), whereas a value of 100% in the alpha channel gives a fully opaque pixel (traditional digital images). Values between 0% and 100% make it possible for pixels to show through a background like a glass, an effect not possible with simple binary (transparent or opaque) transparency.
anyway I always set value to greater and enough.
 
Last edited:
Your hint on using MCX surely made testing faster. The material values I used appear to be correct.
Then I suddenly realised that creation order was important: window wall A never looked correct when seen through window wall B when wall B was created LATER.
This implied I had to create double walls: one with the inside pic, one with the outside pic. With a single-sided material.

The result: first create all 4 outside walls. Then the four inside walls (clone, move some 2cm inward, flip the UVW). And at last... a correct looking building.





Finally I can continue with the rest of the office building.

Wim
 
edphipps said:
Thanks for sharing your findings. Glad to know there is a relatively simple solution.

Ed
Click to expand...
I notice I forgot to mention a step.
The correct procedure for creating the inside plane based on the outside one is: clone - shift 2cm inwards - rotate 180° - flip UVW horizontally.

Wim
 
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