3ds Max, Oblivion, .dds, and Transparency

[NuclearArbitor]

I am having major issues getting transparency to work in Max; alpha channels don't seem to work although I know that alpha masks do. While this isn't a major problem I'd like to get it to work. I have transparency set to best in the view port and Max is using directx9 because I've had issues with 10 but I can't think of anything else that would be causing issues.

 

I have photoshop and I created a channel called "Alpha" put white on the part I wanted transparent and black on the part I wanted opaque, and then saved as a .tga. Max doesn't show the transparency at all.

 

This isn't going to ruin my project as long as it looks fine in Oblivion but I'm not sure how .dds use transparency either. right now I'm assuming that they have RGB, R, G, B, and Alpha channels but I would like to double check that if anyone knows the answer.

 

If anyone has any idea what my issue with max is please don't hesitate to tell me; i haven't been able to find anything on the web.

[LHammonds]

I don't know about the max tool but I can tell what is necessary to make it work (outside of max).

 

#1 - Using NIFSkope, open the NIF file and make sure a "NiAlphaProperty" exists under the NiTriStrip (or NiTriShape) branch of the object you want transparency on. If not, right-click the NiTriStrip and select Node --> Attach Property --> NiAlphaProperty. Then change the Flag value from 237 to 4845 and save the NIF file.

 

#2 - In the alpha channel of the diffuse texture, control how much transparency the model will receive by painting greyscale....white for opaque, black for 100% transparent and everything in between IIRC (colors might be reversed...can never remember).

 

LHammonds

[NuclearArbitor]

Thanks, I'll give it a shot

[jaysus]

@max transparency

-max has some problems displaying transparency correctly, check speculars, transparent objects shouldnt have any spec maps assigned to them and you shouldnt have too many lights in your scene and so on... many reasons for them behaving wonky, could also be atmospheric effects and so on... sometimes god just doesnt want you to see em lol

-but anyway to actually make it being rendered/displayed you need to assign an opacity map to your material, you can use the alpha channel of a bitmap for that or simply make a seperate picture for that (see max help for more info on how to properly set such a thing up if you struggle)

 

@opacity maps in general:

-black = invisible, white = opaque!! :P

 

@transparency in oblivion/nifskope

-just attach such a nialphaproperty to your nitristrip/shape and make sure the assigned texture has an alpha channel with your transparency mapping (never had to set a flag like LH describes, maybe very old nifskope versions need you to do that, the new one definately doesnt)

-if you right click a nialphaproperty and select "flags" or somin along those lines you can toy around with a bunch of transparency settings, some lead to a crash, some work well, some seem kinda pointless, some dont work with nvidia cards...

-enjoy the fun -.-

[LHammonds]

This is the article where I first learned about the proper 4845 flag regarding transparency. It says that it's dumb luck that 237 happens to work in Oblivion because that number is for Civ4

 

NifSkope: Multilayered Transparency

 

LHammonds

[jaysus]

that is probably due to the fact that this tutorial uses the civ4 exporter which you only need for some animations and particle systems, or if youre saiden storm to do do magic lol...

 

i however use niftools most of the time and there you can set for which game you export, nifskope then realizes which version of a nif you use and seemingly takes that into count when creating nodes, in my last bow for example the flag was set to 4844 by default and it works :?

 

what i often do however is to simply copy the alphaproperty from a vanilla model over and just adjust it to my needs, as i said, i never bothered with this flag but it is probably a valid point to check if somin is not working :)

thx for the heads-up

[LHammonds]

that is probably due to the fact that this tutorial uses the civ4 exporter

But the step I described above using NifSkope to add the NiAlphaProperty will set it to the same 237 value. Only YOU can change that value to 4845 in that scenario. The NIF Script export for various 3D modeling tools is a different matter and subject to change with each version however the NifSkope method has acted this way for a VERY long time.

 

It may very well be a moot point if 237 will work but I thought I'd just point out that 4845 is Oblivion's "proper" transparency value from what I've read.

 

LHammonds

[NuclearArbitor]

very enlightening, now i need to get the model to a point i can actually use it in-game. ty all the same

[LHammonds]

Yes, jaysus and I do enjoy finding and throwing out nuggets of info wherever the wind takes us. :D

 

Have fun with it. You'll probably spend most of your time fiddling with the right amount of gray to give the desired transparency effect in-game...because you can only see how it looks "exactly" while in-game.

 

Don't forget that you need to see how it looks in 1st person, 3rd person, indoors, outdoors, in daylight and at night to get the full effect.

 

Keep in mind that the game engine doesn't take kindly to multiple items having overlapping transparency. Take for example a roman helmet with a plume on top. If you make the plume with several rows of transparent planes, it might freak out the engine at certain angles and make the helmet disappear...or if you have a transparent sword and your view of the sword lines up with the plume, it could also "blink" objects in and out of existence. This is a known issue regarding transparency...and a reason why only my weapons will be transparent in the Vvardenfell Glass mod and the glass on the armor will remain opaque. ;)

 

LHammonds

[NuclearArbitor]

i actually probably won't be, simply because I'm using it for fur. although what you've said does bring up the issue of having a whole bunch of fur planes over lapping... might have to find a way around that.

 

the armor looks pretty cool though, nice work