Help needed with architectural texture transparency

[saajveh]

First of all I'd like to apologise if this has already been adressed somewhere and I've overlooked it. I've done some research, but I lack the experience to make sense of all the information I find.

 

I'm working on a mod featuring an observatory/planetary. For this, I want the walls and ceiling transparent to make the impression that you're inside and not just standing on a rooftop looking up at the sky. It would be easy enough if I just wanted the walls transparent. But to make things difficult - I want the transparency to gradually increase so that the lower part of the wall is fully visible and the upper parts completely transparent.

 

Is this possible to do with nifskope only, and in that case, how? Are there any guides or tutorials that can transfer to this particular problem?
Or would I need to tweak alpha-channels in photoshop? In that case, I have loads of experience with it but would need help with the process after preparing the textures in photoshop.

Is there another solution I'm not familiar with?

 

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[ToppDog]

I am no expert at all, but I can tell you that you will most likely need to create the textures you want in a program such as photoshop or Gimp, etc, then use Nifscope to edit the mesh & have it linked to your new texture. Nifscope doesn't really allow you to create or edit textures on its own.

[Tamira]

I suppose you know about the alpha setting in the BSLightingShaderProperty? (see here : http://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php?/topic/1188259-bslightingshaderproperty-basics/)

By default it is set to 1.0 which is fully visible/ intransparent. If your building wall has several pieces you could change the alpha of each piece, decreasing from 1.0 to 0.0, which is fully transparent.

 

Other than that you can achieve gradual transparency with the alpha vertex painting. This is usually done in the 3d creation program. You CAN do this in Nifskope too but considering the amount of vertices you probably would go insane LOL.

 

Have a look for instance at the dweastrolabechamber01.nif that is used in Mzark:

You can find the Alpha vertex painting in the NiTriShapeData. Here is where it is used:

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/aRuIEEaekEo7YVm4ULdUPxCFLCnzsD7qR454jiW1kGM?feat=directlink

And on these vertices the vertex alpha is set to less than 1.0:

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/6Y8oNFxcFe5WN_HtEloN8hCFLCnzsD7qR454jiW1kGM?feat=directlink

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/rN3SyJTbty9r-R-U2yYrfRCFLCnzsD7qR454jiW1kGM?feat=directlink

This is how it looks with vertex colors disabled:

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/fX_CjUIigNX1rix0c1V7GBCFLCnzsD7qR454jiW1kGM?feat=directlink

You see that it uses a normal Dwemer texture.

[saajveh]

Thank you for your tips. I would want to look into blender or 3DS max then, I suppose?