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Instructor
Original Poster
#1 Old 2nd Feb 2008 at 2:33 AM Last edited by ~Dee~ : 2nd Feb 2008 at 2:45 AM.
Default Help with transparent & solid texture in one
Hello,
I need some help please.
I cloned a coffee table and I want the top to be textured glass.
I prefer to use one texture only.
I already used this method on one table and it worked fine.
This time it isn't working and I don't know why.I used the same coffee table to clone from then before.
I use a partly transparent and partly solid texture,it has the checkerboard
background.I save it as png.
I import with the utilities and the DXT is on 3.And it's on 'blend'.
This time I get an ALL transparent table.Legs and all.
If I set the blendmode to 'none' I get ALL solid.
I'm stumped and it's driving me nuts.
Could someone please look at the file for me?
Thank you so much,I appreciate it very much.
Attached files:
File Type: rar  ~Dee~tryout.rar (35.9 KB, 8 downloads) - View custom content
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Field Researcher
#2 Old 3rd Feb 2008 at 11:08 AM
You can try this, in the TXMT file:
- stdMatAlphaBlendMode set to none (instead of blend)
- stdMatAlphaTestEnabled set value 1 (instead of 0)
commit and save.

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Instructor
Original Poster
#3 Old 3rd Feb 2008 at 10:59 AM
Thank you so much MaryLou,
I'll try that.
Much appreciated.
Instructor
Original Poster
#4 Old 3rd Feb 2008 at 10:56 PM
Sorry,it still doesn't work.
The top looks transparent in simPE,but in game it's still solid.
Thanks for trying.
Instructor
Original Poster
#5 Old 6th Feb 2008 at 10:45 PM
Does someone know why this isn't working,please?
I would appreciate any help!
Thanks.
Top Secret Researcher
#6 Old 6th Feb 2008 at 10:54 PM
Try using a darker grey in the transparent part of the alpha. The table top is probably somewhat transparent - just not as transparent as you want yet.

Retired from the Sims world. Please continue to enjoy my creations. Thank you to everyone who helped -- by either giving me the tools and knowledge to create or by encouraging me & downloading my creations. The Sims community is the BEST!
Instructor
Original Poster
#7 Old 7th Feb 2008 at 2:30 AM
Hi Bonnie,
I'm using a pink patterned texture for the glass.
It just doesn't come through as transparent at all,it's solid.
I've done this before,the same way and it worked.
Not this time and I can't figure it out.
Thanks for trying to help.
Top Secret Researcher
#8 Old 7th Feb 2008 at 2:57 AM
I've been working on recoloring a few things, so going in & out of game a lot. Gave your table a quick look. The top is definitely translucent with a pink floral pattern embedded in it.

You can see the floor change thru the top:




Retired from the Sims world. Please continue to enjoy my creations. Thank you to everyone who helped -- by either giving me the tools and knowledge to create or by encouraging me & downloading my creations. The Sims community is the BEST!
Instructor
Original Poster
#9 Old 7th Feb 2008 at 6:49 AM
The problem is,the legs and rim around the top are transparent as well.
I need them to be solid Bonnie.
If I set the alpha to none instead of blend,I get everything solid.
The glass bit as well.
I tried what MaryLou said,it looks transparent in simPe,but solid in game.
What bugs me,it worked before.
Top Secret Researcher
#10 Old 7th Feb 2008 at 11:23 AM
Oh. I misunderstood.

Retired from the Sims world. Please continue to enjoy my creations. Thank you to everyone who helped -- by either giving me the tools and knowledge to create or by encouraging me & downloading my creations. The Sims community is the BEST!
Instructor
#11 Old 7th Feb 2008 at 12:22 PM
I'm afraid you couldn't avoid having two subsets here You can make them use the same TXTR, but you need two subsets - one using TXMT with blend and one without.
You may also try to play with opacity in GMDC - similarly to how it's set for hairs - but I'm not certain whether it will work. In this case, you'll still have to separate your table into two subsets, which will have the same name and different opacities set in GMDC - probably 3 for solid and 5 for transparent parts, it needs experimenting, and maybe you'll still have see-through effects from some angles.
Top Secret Researcher
#12 Old 7th Feb 2008 at 12:14 PM
If you want them both transparent, you just need to use a grey where the 'white' part of the table is.

Your alpha:



My alpha:



The result:



Or have I still missed the point?

Retired from the Sims world. Please continue to enjoy my creations. Thank you to everyone who helped -- by either giving me the tools and knowledge to create or by encouraging me & downloading my creations. The Sims community is the BEST!
Instructor
Original Poster
#13 Old 7th Feb 2008 at 10:38 PM Last edited by ~Dee~ : 8th Feb 2008 at 1:34 AM.
Jasana,
I've done it before with only ONE texture and it worked.
That's why I don't understand why it doesn't work now.
Bonnie,
I don't want everything transparent,that's what it is now.
Just the pink glass part.
The trim and legs need to be non-transparent.
I can do it with two textures,but I just want to use one.
I'll dig up the table I've done before.
Thanks so much for trying to figure this out.

Edit:
Here is a pic of a table I done before,with ONLY ONE texture.
It worked fine,why doesn't it work with the table above?
I attached the file with the working table,maybe someone could compare
both files and see if I've done something wrong in the first one.
Thank you so much.

Attached files:
File Type: rar  ~Dee~working table.rar (82.3 KB, 6 downloads) - View custom content
Top Secret Researcher
#14 Old 8th Feb 2008 at 2:48 AM
To my eye, all of the white part is solid on your table, round pink floral insert is translucent. I don't understand what you want different.

As long as you use blend mode & have the 'solid' part mapped an area of white in the alpha and translucent parts mapped to grey areas of alpha you should be able to do one mesh.

P.S. your 'working' table looks great.

Retired from the Sims world. Please continue to enjoy my creations. Thank you to everyone who helped -- by either giving me the tools and knowledge to create or by encouraging me & downloading my creations. The Sims community is the BEST!
Instructor
Original Poster
#15 Old 8th Feb 2008 at 4:36 AM Last edited by ~Dee~ : 8th Feb 2008 at 8:07 AM.
Bonnie,
if you compare the 2 pic's,the top one has see-through trim and legs.
My 'working table' doesn't.That's the difference.
I only have ONE mesh,I'm on about the texture map,the one you use to recolour.
I only want one,half transparent and half solid.
I can do 2 texture maps,one for the see-through top and one for the legs and trim.
But my 'working table' only has ONE texture map,I've done the same on the white table,but it's not working properly.
That's the problem I can't figure out.
Why did it work before and not now.
Do you see what I mean?
Thank you Bonnie.
Top Secret Researcher
#16 Old 8th Feb 2008 at 5:11 AM
Uh, no. The top one has solid legs & trim when I look at it. Are you sure we are looking at the same thing? Look at my pic in post#8. The legs and trim are solid (at least to my eyes.)

Retired from the Sims world. Please continue to enjoy my creations. Thank you to everyone who helped -- by either giving me the tools and knowledge to create or by encouraging me & downloading my creations. The Sims community is the BEST!
Instructor
Original Poster
#17 Old 8th Feb 2008 at 5:23 AM
In your post # 8,the trim does NOT go all around the table.
You see that?
That means it's see-through.
And when you move the table around in game,you can see that the legs are also.
I don't know how to explain it better Bonnie.
Instructor
#18 Old 8th Feb 2008 at 7:19 AM
Quote: Originally posted by ~Dee~
if you compare the 2 pic's,the top one has see-through trim and legs.
My 'working table' doesn't.That's the difference.

Unfortunately, it does. It's just that the area of see-through is small, so you don't notice it.
Look where it's legs and the glass panes overlap - the legs are completely white, while normally they should be darkened due to the glass pane texture. Glass texture is hidden completely by those vertical white bars - it shouldn't be so.

As I said, you need two subsets for that - one solid and one glass. It's the limitations of the engine. Maybe you can get better results if you'll play with opacity (in GMDC, not in texture), but it'll probably still blend on some angles. Splitting into 2 subsets is much easier.
Start off a table with 2 subsets, or add subset to this one - there's tutorial by IgnorantBliss about it - and split the glass part into it.
Instructor
Original Poster
#19 Old 8th Feb 2008 at 8:05 AM
The vertical white bars don't have a glass texture under them Jasana.
I've seen a corner table by 4ESF what only had one texture,
but with a checkerboard background,due to a lace cloth having to be transparent.
I know a lot of creators doing it that way.
I know it's possible.
Thanks for your advice.
Instructor
#20 Old 8th Feb 2008 at 10:19 AM
Quote: Originally posted by Dee
The vertical white bars don't have a glass texture under them

Not under - above. They do have glass above them - or is there a hole in glass exactly matching the shape of those bars?
I took your screenshot and circled the areas which look wrong. The glass is above those bars, and glass texture should normally overlap over those bars. It doesn't, and it's wrong. If other creators leaving their objects this way, it means they are doing wrong - maybe not noticed because it's tricky and depends on angle of view - and there's no reason to follow them in that
Should I split it into 2 subsets and show to you how it should look normally?
Screenshots
Instructor
Original Poster
#21 Old 8th Feb 2008 at 10:43 AM
I thought you meant the bars in the middle of the table.
Yes,there is glass above the legs.
I would appreciate it, if you split it and showed me how it suppose to look.
Thank you so much.
Instructor
#22 Old 8th Feb 2008 at 12:09 PM
Ok, take a look.
My graphic card is far from good, so it's a bit blurry, but I believe it's clear enough - glass is shown over the legs, not opposite.
I attached the package, so that you can see the changes. You would probably want to reimport the mesh - some vertices may be lost during export/import, and maybe I missed some faces when separating glass (I selected only those that face top and bottom, maybe there are faces connecting them?). I've also made the added glass subset recolorable.

You should do the same with the table from 1st post - split into two subset. Mixing transparent and opaque parts might work if transparent areas are very small, but in such cases, you just can't avoid it.
Screenshots
Attached files:
File Type: rar  Dee_coffeetable_splitsubsets.rar (86.4 KB, 3 downloads) - View custom content
Instructor
Original Poster
#23 Old 8th Feb 2008 at 11:24 PM
Ahh,I see what you mean.
Yes,it looks much better that way.
Last night I wanted to clone Maxis baby crib and I always look at the texture first.
A small part of that texture was transparent.Like you said,it's probably only possible
with a small part.
Well,I can't believe I was totally wrong about this.
I put it down to my lack of experience.
Jasana,thank you so much for pointing me in the right direction.
I was hoping I could do it with only one texture.
I hate doing subsets.
Thank you so much,I really appreciate it.
Instructor
#24 Old 9th Feb 2008 at 7:41 AM
Quote: Originally posted by ~Dee~
Last night I wanted to clone Maxis baby crib and I always look at the texture first.
A small part of that texture was transparent.
That's because in bedding TXMT, alpha options are set as MaryLou suggested in 2nd post.

There are two main types of opacity:
1) for semi-transparent parts, like glass - set by stdMatAlphaBlendMode=blend
2) for parts that are either transparent or not, like lace, or fancy-shaped trims - set by stdMatAlphaTestEnabled=1

First type doesn't allow blending and non-blending pieces to be in the same subset. Moreover, it's preferable that blending pieces don't overlap with itself - be planar meshes or similar - if you are curious, make a mesh of torus, for example, set it texture with blend, and see how it will look like.

Second type allows transparent and non-transparent pieces to be in the same subset, because it's completely different type of transparency - all or nothing.

Hope it gets clearer for you - transparency options are powerful tool if used properly
Good luck with your tables
Quote: Originally posted by ~Dee~
I was hoping I could do it with only one texture.
It's probably misunderstanding due to wording, but I'll try to clarify.
Even if you have N number of subsets, you still can use the same texture - TXTR - for it. They might need different TXMTs, though.
The table where I splitted subsets still contains one TXTR (ok, two, the other for groundshadow ).
It's not a bad idea to have different subsets mapped over the same texture - EA/Maxis do it often - it saves number of resources, and space on disk
So if you are concerned about texture as TXTR - if I'm not misunderstood you - it is still possible to have one, even with two subsets.
Instructor
Original Poster
#25 Old 10th Feb 2008 at 1:34 AM
Thank you so much Jasana,
I do understand what you're saying.No,I don't want to map
subsets over the same texture.
I was hoping I could avoid doing subsets all together.
But the way it looks,I've no choice.
I'll try out your suggestions and see what happends.
Thank you so much for all your help,
I really appreciate it.
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