Transparent Material (Texture) _OP and _BC

StolleJay · Nov 22, 2018

Hello,
i have 2 Objects.
The first Objects behind the second Objects has a Material named light (Texture: light_EM.png) which Lights at Night which is Working.
Now i want to assign a Transparent Material to the second Object (the one in front of the "Lightning Object") which should be half Transparent with a Basecolor (ex. Red like Red Glas)
How i should now assign this Textures (base_BC and alpha_OP) to get this "Glas-Effect" working so the Light of the Object behind is shining trouught this "Glas"?

I dont own Maya or Max and also dont have Blender because Blender is the User unfriendliest 3D Program which exists.
I use Cinema 4D for many of many Years and never have any Problems on Modding.

But i hope you can explain it a bit friendlier like in the User unfriendly User-Guide then one time this says you need a _BC Materials and a _OP Material and on the bottom of the Page there is anything like _OP_BC or something... so WHAT??? What is now the right way?

BeckysFootSlave · Nov 22, 2018

MaterialName_OP_BC.png should be the right name for your transparent object!

Nupol1 · Nov 22, 2018

i also ad a _OP to my material name inside Blender. (wich is very userfriendly for me. hate the ui of C4D / Maya & 3DS Max

)

StolleJay · Nov 22, 2018

I give it up currently. It makes no sense.
I need to wait (if any) till the Example Scenes are downloadable.

But Thanks for answer.

Nupol1 · Nov 22, 2018

Transparent rhymes with apparent, and both mean, roughly, clear or easily visible. Since transparent objects are clear and light is easily visible through them, this mnemonic should help you remember when to use transparent.

If light still passes through but is less easily visible, the object would be translucent.

If no light passes through, the object is opaque.

-----------------------------

For translucency:

Translucency (AL)

Translucent materials cannot use the following:

Emissive (EM)
Glass (GS)
Opacity (OP)

For specular translucency:

Glass (GS)

Transparent materials cannot use the following:

Translucency (AL)
Opacity (OP)

dont know exactly but i think you should try to use _AL / _GS for glass materials.

BTW. i cant get Felxicolors and Alpha Clip to work at the same time (mesh turns white)
Alpha Clip and Flexicolor work flawless if used alone.

StolleJay · Nov 23, 2018

I think you understand me wrong. I know you cant use _EM and _OP Materials beside.
I have 2 Materials for that. The behind Object has the _EM Material which will Glow White ingame (which work)
Directly in front of this Object is another Object (around 1 meter in front of them) which should have the 50% Transparent (my _OP Material) so Glass where the Glowing from the Object (_EM) behind can go through as ex. Red Light/Glow (if the Glass is Red).

Asgaurd · Dec 10, 2018

As for the _OP from my tests is either on or off there is no % as there is in all 3D programs. its more of a binary system, 0 you can see through it, 1 you can not. (I.E White its fully opaque, Black its fully Seethrough (No specular though which means "glass") You need to use the _GS for that and nobody seems to have it working atm.

ArtiX · Dec 10, 2018

Ok, there's two important things when you test, firstly, if you overwrite the pcugc file on your drive,
you need to restart PlanCo, otherwise the new object still uses the old maps (still in cache).
I learned it the hard way by wasting a few revisions on fine-tuning just to find out the textures never updated.. *insert facepalm cat meme*
(nowadays i increment until i got it all done and then delete the revisions on the hd and replace them with the finalized asset)

Secondly, and this might be related to the transparency issue, or touch the same issue at least.
There seems to be a misexplanation in the TMT guide, in particular it has to do with transparency, color and animation.
Animation+transparency works (tested), but if F1-F4 are filled the object suddenly loses its transparency.
I'm testing parallel to writing as to what causes the opacity channel to vanish.
Probably a limitation (but since i like transparent animated objects that can be controlled in colorisation,
let's just call it an annoying bug that needs thorough fixing.. )

For me it works when i don't use animation (that includes switching it off on the fbx too) and with animation the Flexi color slots just don't seem to work.

On a side note:
When you have a static scene with Flexi color, and you use more than one material/map try filling all the F-maps (If texture A has _F1 and _F2 then add BLACK textures (same map size as all other F-maps) to all other texture sets as well (texture A _F1, _F2 ----> texture B (no flexi) <add> _F1 and F2.
It sounds silly, but back when i tested it for my Cage Lights it only then started to distribute all maps correctly (before it was as if slots were shifted)

Hope one of these brainteasers helps!

cheers,
ArtificialArtist