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Instructor
Original Poster
#1 Old 25th Mar 2021 at 2:11 AM
Default DXT3 transparency not working?
I know, I know, my item's quite high-poly, but to try to keep it down as much as possible (I'm still going to reduce it), I'm trying to use alphas to keep the flowers simple. However, despite using DTX3 at 512x512 to get the flower to look decent, the transparency just doesn't work for some reason? It was working when I was cloning from something else (that turned out to be recolorable), but not now.
Screenshots
Attached files:
File Type: zip  azaleawhite.zip (159.3 KB, 3 downloads)

Requests? Yes! See my journal entry for palette options! Shameless plugging of my Sim sites: (TS2) · TS4
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Mad Poster
#2 Old 25th Mar 2021 at 2:58 AM
Make sure you have the proper settings in the TXMT. Transparency/alpha should usually have one of these pairs of settings:

Cutout (black/white alpha) -- for plants and similar (You can use DXT3 or 5)
-stdMatAlphaBlendMode: none
-stdMatAlphaTestEnabled: 1

Transparency (greytone alpha) -- for glass and similar (use DXT5, it works better with transparency)
-stdMatAlphaBlendMode: blend
-stdMatAlphaTestEnabled: 0
Instructor
Original Poster
#3 Old 25th Mar 2021 at 3:10 AM
Thanks for the info on both, I was actually working with a partial transparency item while I was trying to clear my brain. Worked perfectly, except I now have to fix my recolors.

Requests? Yes! See my journal entry for palette options! Shameless plugging of my Sim sites: (TS2) · TS4
Mad Poster
#4 Old 25th Mar 2021 at 3:36 AM
Another thing with transparency is to make sure you layer the mesh properly, because this can be a problem sometimes. The Blend setting has a tendency to mess with the layering ingame, so iif you run into that problem you'll want to put all the transparency parts in one group and layer the group where it "should be" in the order, and split up the mesh so things make sense (groups will act as one subset as long as they have the same name). .

If you're working in Milkshape this is relatively easy. If you're making a vase with flowers and some deco on the vase, you can layer it something like this:

Flowers (cutout, can share TXMT and texture with decoration)
vase (glass, separate TXMT)
Flowers (Decoration on vase, plain mesh, can share TXMT and texture with flowers)

You can also use Opacity setting in the Comments in Milkshape along with the layering. You can use Unimesh to export/import the mesh (SimPE usually messes it up via OBJ), but make sure to keep the original internal filename (copy the original before importing, paste before clicking "commit")

(In blender this layering process is near to impossible, it seems...)

Non-transparency/alpha items can have the "stdMatAlphaTestEnabled: 1" setting without it showing, but avoid setting it for objects/recolors that don't need it, because it's a drag on resources when used unnecessarily.
Field Researcher
#5 Old 25th Mar 2021 at 9:55 AM
Quote: Originally posted by simmer22
(In blender this layering process is near to impossible, it seems...)

With the layering, do you mean the opacity setting in combination with different groups?
You can do that by having multiple meshes under the GMDC container and setting their opacity, I've managed to make a working alpha skirt with it in the past.
Perhaps I should make a tutorial for my undocumented tool :P
Screenshots
Mad Poster
#6 Old 25th Mar 2021 at 1:13 PM
^ That's very useful to know for those who use Blender. I know those who make/fix hairs have had a lot of issues with layering in Blender, for instance.

Does it work for furniture, too?
(OBJs can't hold opacity, but Unimesh can in Milkshape, so it would depend on which formats you can export as)
Field Researcher
#7 Old 25th Mar 2021 at 1:19 PM
Yeah it should work for furniture as well, there's not much of a difference between sim and object meshes in TS2, they both use the GMDC file format.
Mad Poster
#8 Old 25th Mar 2021 at 1:21 PM
The difference is how you import them, I guess (via Unimesh/GMDC or OBJ).
Field Researcher
#9 Old 25th Mar 2021 at 1:23 PM
Yeah, you'd definitely have to import them as GMDC, not as obj
Instructor
Original Poster
#10 Old 26th Mar 2021 at 6:26 AM
The way I've done it in Blender is just to delete overlapping faces in an object with overall partial transparency. Bit clumsy, but I've been waiting for a week for my MilkShape registration and I'm used to Blender anyway.

Requests? Yes! See my journal entry for palette options! Shameless plugging of my Sim sites: (TS2) · TS4
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