Is it possible to make a weapon reflective or transparent?

[devinpatterson]

Is it possible to make a weapon reflective or transparent?

 

I was wondering about making a weapon reflective because I wanted a shiny/reflective brass plated receiver for a ranger brushgun retexture I did.

 

The transparent question would be for a giant shard of acrylic/glass (shattered in a nuclear blast) that would be used by a super mutant as a sword. I just started using gimp recently and I wonder if some sort of alpha layer (correct term?) could be used?

[Moraelin]

Well, at least the shiny part is easy. That's what the alpha channel of the normal map is for. The lower the alpha, the more reflective the surface. If you also replace the ShinyBright_<something> effect with the Reflection effect, you even have a cube map reflection.

[devinpatterson]

Well, at least the shiny part is easy. That's what the alpha channel of the normal map is for. The lower the alpha, the more reflective the surface. If you also replace the ShinyBright_<something> effect with the Reflection effect, you even have a cube map reflection.

 

Hmmm interesting. I'm using gimp to retexture the brushgun (and AM rifle), but having just started I'm not familiar with an alpha channel. Thanks for pointing me in the right direction.

[Fumofumo]

As for Transparency, use an Alpha Mask on the Diffuse texture forming that checkerboard thing or adjust the NiMaterialProperty alpha level. I ain't no texture expert so.. You'll have to figure that part out but there are probably a ton of guides on it. Anyway, you will need to add a NiAlphaProperty to the NiTriStrip or Shape also. Then you simply hit the paint button next to the NiMaterialProperty and adjust Alpha from 0 to 1. 0 being invisible 1 being completely visible. You can leave it at one if you already created a texture with an Alpha Mask because then that mask will take effect or you can do without and try adjusting the alpha level through the property.