Material Rectangle - new issue to me 2004-05-11 - By Kris Krieger
Back
Since I never could get "channels" to work worth a hang (and, yes, I
followed all instructions, but always got these ugly "black halos" outlining
everything), I've resorted to "Stupid Graphics Ttricks" and make a simple
black-and-white mask for transparencies.
There are various ways to make the B&W image but, once you have it, what
I've found works best is to reduce colors to two but then increase them
again to 16 and save as a *.BMP file. The reason is that the BMP format
*only* stores that info, whereas TGA and JPG insist on saving every image as
either a 16-million color image or a 256 color greyscale image. I've found
the the BMP files are the "smallest" and also that they load and render the
fastest. WHen using this sort of "stencil", "transparency map", or whatever
it's technically called, remembner to UN-check "filter" in the materials tool.
ALSO: Note that, if you use Layered Materials (which I do all the time),
White is the opaque area that shows up, *but* on layers 2 and above, *black*
is opaque. I have no idea why it works like that, it just does.
Don't forget =:-) that these "transparency maps" can also be applied to
layers 2 and above of the bump tool and the reflectance tool!
For making odd and/or complex material effects, you also can use a greyscale
(16 shades or higher, as you like) image to "phase in/out" bump and
reflectance effects over a material's surface. For example, you can make a
"scrubby" desert-type ground by layering different "transparency maps" using
different textures, bumps, and reflectances on each layer. The height of
your bumps also influences what will and will not show.
HTH for any other "alpha-channel challenged" folks out there =:-o <G!>
- Kris Krieger
At 11:46 AM 10-05-04 -0400, Michael C Horner wrote:
>A long question deserves a short answer: Use a TGA file with the areas you
>want transparent masked off for your Material Rectangle. A JPG file can't
>store any mask channels like a TGA can. Creating the TGA is something you'll
>have to do in your 2D program of choice (Photoshop, etc).
>
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