Transparent Textures

[wilting]

This may be a stupid question, but how do I make a transparent texture (so that the object/area is made transparent by nifskope NiAlphaProperty) ?

 

Do I just need to make it a particular colour or what?

 

For example: Lets say I wanted to make a part of the hide armour texture transparent, what would I do to it?

[Fatalmasterpiece]

The alpha channel of your texture achieves transparency.

[Callmeflare]

The alpha channel of your texture achieves transparency.

 

Can you explain what that means please? I'm looking for the same answer.

\

[pauderek]

You have to add an alpha channel to the texture (with photoshop or gimp or any program that edits .dds files) so the NiAlphaProperty in the .nif file can read it and know which areas are transparent.

[Perraine]

The DXT5 .dds file format (used for textures in Skyrim) has 4 channels R,G,B (Red, Green, Blue) which make up the colours of the image and 1 "Alpha" channel which can be used for various things.

 

For 'diffuse' or 'texture' maps which are the files that determine what your item looks like, the Alpha Channel can be used to indicate "Transparency" ... Basically you set parts of the armor to be completely 'invisible' 100% transparency (no texture) translucent say 50% transparency or totally visible 0% transparency

 

Open up one of the texture files that has 'fur' on it like the Bandit Armor and you'll see parts of the texture seem to be 'missing' this is the tranparency.

In you .nif file you need to add an "Alpha Property" to the NiTriShape

 

= Right lick your NiTriShape -> Node -> Attach Property -> NiAplhaProperty ... This will ad an NiAlphaProperty to the very bottom of the list with a reference number before it, you then need to make it a 'child' of your NiTriShape

= Left click your NiTriShape -. Scroll down in the BOTTOM window -. click the little arrow beside 'Properties' -> You should see ...

 

Properties | ref<Ni object> | BSLightingShaderProperty

Properties | ref<Ni object> | None

 

Double click the 'None' and type in the reference number displayed before the NiAlphaProperty and hit "enter"

 

You should now see the NiAlphaProperty move up and be a 'child' of your NiTriShape

 

Right click on the NiAlphaProperty and click 'Flags' ... This will bring up a dialogue box with several options ...

 

If you simply wish to make parts of the mesh disappear UNTICK "Enable Blending" and TICK "Enable Testing" -> set "Alpha Test Function" to 'Greater or Equal' -> and set 'Alpha Test Threshold" as 128 -> click accept

Then you can 'delete' parts of the texture file and that part of the mesh will become 'invisible' in game (and in Nifskope) and make sure to save the file in DXT5 .dds format

 

If you want to make a part of the mesh 'opaque' or 'seethru' like glass (or some of the skimpy lingerie mods :wink: ) Leave the "Enable Blending" ticked

On your texture file, experiment with different levels of 'transparency' on the various parts to get the desired effect on your mesh (i.e. try 20% transparency, 25%, 40% and so on ... Anything more than 50% transparency doesn't really display properly in Skyrim as it usually looks basically invisible anyway, which is why I set the "Alpha Test Threshold" at 128 (half way or 50% between 0 no colour and 255 full colour)

[rhaziel1981]

The DXT5 .dds file format (used for textures in Skyrim) has 4 channels R,G,B (Red, Green, Blue) which make up the colours of the image and 1 "Alpha" channel which can be used for various things.

 

For 'diffuse' or 'texture' maps which are the files that determine what your item looks like, the Alpha Channel can be used to indicate "Transparency" ... Basically you set parts of the armor to be completely 'invisible' 100% transparency (no texture) translucent say 50% transparency or totally visible 0% transparency

 

Open up one of the texture files that has 'fur' on it like the Bandit Armor and you'll see parts of the texture seem to be 'missing' this is the tranparency.

In you .nif file you need to add an "Alpha Property" to the NiTriShape

 

= Right lick your NiTriShape -> Node -> Attach Property -> NiAplhaProperty ... This will ad an NiAlphaProperty to the very bottom of the list with a reference number before it, you then need to make it a 'child' of your NiTriShape

= Left click your NiTriShape -. Scroll down in the BOTTOM window -. click the little arrow beside 'Properties' -> You should see ...

 

Properties | ref<Ni object> | BSLightingShaderProperty

Properties | ref<Ni object> | None

 

Double click the 'None' and type in the reference number displayed before the NiAlphaProperty and hit "enter"

 

You should now see the NiAlphaProperty move up and be a 'child' of your NiTriShape

 

Right click on the NiAlphaProperty and click 'Flags' ... This will bring up a dialogue box with several options ...

 

If you simply wish to make parts of the mesh disappear UNTICK "Enable Blending" and TICK "Enable Testing" -> set "Alpha Test Function" to 'Greater or Equal' -> and set 'Alpha Test Threshold" as 128 -> click accept

Then you can 'delete' parts of the texture file and that part of the mesh will become 'invisible' in game (and in Nifskope) and make sure to save the file in DXT5 .dds format

 

If you want to make a part of the mesh 'opaque' or 'seethru' like glass (or some of the skimpy lingerie mods :wink: ) Leave the "Enable Blending" ticked

On your texture file, experiment with different levels of 'transparency' on the various parts to get the desired effect on your mesh (i.e. try 20% transparency, 25%, 40% and so on ... Anything more than 50% transparency doesn't really display properly in Skyrim as it usually looks basically invisible anyway, which is why I set the "Alpha Test Threshold" at 128 (half way or 50% between 0 no colour and 255 full colour)

 

it worked thanks!!! :)

[heyiforgot]

Stumbled across this and it helped me a lot too, Thanks! (though my version of nifskope seemed to handle a couple of steps by it self...)

Edited May 7, 2014 by heyiforgot

[Samustus]

Thank you for the advice, Perraine! Really helped me out. Appreciated.

[OzKing333]

The DXT5 .dds file format (used for textures in Skyrim) has 4 channels R,G,B (Red, Green, Blue) which make up the colours of the image and 1 "Alpha" channel which can be used for various things.

 

For 'diffuse' or 'texture' maps which are the files that determine what your item looks like, the Alpha Channel can be used to indicate "Transparency" ... Basically you set parts of the armor to be completely 'invisible' 100% transparency (no texture) translucent say 50% transparency or totally visible 0% transparency

 

Open up one of the texture files that has 'fur' on it like the Bandit Armor and you'll see parts of the texture seem to be 'missing' this is the tranparency.

In you .nif file you need to add an "Alpha Property" to the NiTriShape

 

= Right lick your NiTriShape -> Node -> Attach Property -> NiAplhaProperty ... This will ad an NiAlphaProperty to the very bottom of the list with a reference number before it, you then need to make it a 'child' of your NiTriShape

= Left click your NiTriShape -. Scroll down in the BOTTOM window -. click the little arrow beside 'Properties' -> You should see ...

 

Properties | ref<Ni object> | BSLightingShaderProperty

Properties | ref<Ni object> | None

 

Double click the 'None' and type in the reference number displayed before the NiAlphaProperty and hit "enter"

 

You should now see the NiAlphaProperty move up and be a 'child' of your NiTriShape

 

Right click on the NiAlphaProperty and click 'Flags' ... This will bring up a dialogue box with several options ...

 

If you simply wish to make parts of the mesh disappear UNTICK "Enable Blending" and TICK "Enable Testing" -> set "Alpha Test Function" to 'Greater or Equal' -> and set 'Alpha Test Threshold" as 128 -> click accept

Then you can 'delete' parts of the texture file and that part of the mesh will become 'invisible' in game (and in Nifskope) and make sure to save the file in DXT5 .dds format

 

If you want to make a part of the mesh 'opaque' or 'seethru' like glass (or some of the skimpy lingerie mods http://forums.nexusmods.com/public/style_emoticons/dark/wink.gif ) Leave the "Enable Blending" ticked

On your texture file, experiment with different levels of 'transparency' on the various parts to get the desired effect on your mesh (i.e. try 20% transparency, 25%, 40% and so on ... Anything more than 50% transparency doesn't really display properly in Skyrim as it usually looks basically invisible anyway, which is why I set the "Alpha Test Threshold" at 128 (half way or 50% between 0 no colour and 255 full colour)

This was easy to follow, thanks!

[timsterse]

 

The DXT5 .dds file format (used for textures in Skyrim) has 4 channels R,G,B (Red, Green, Blue) which make up the colours of the image and 1 "Alpha" channel which can be used for various things.

 

For 'diffuse' or 'texture' maps which are the files that determine what your item looks like, the Alpha Channel can be used to indicate "Transparency" ... Basically you set parts of the armor to be completely 'invisible' 100% transparency (no texture) translucent say 50% transparency or totally visible 0% transparency

 

Open up one of the texture files that has 'fur' on it like the Bandit Armor and you'll see parts of the texture seem to be 'missing' this is the tranparency.

In you .nif file you need to add an "Alpha Property" to the NiTriShape

 

= Right lick your NiTriShape -> Node -> Attach Property -> NiAplhaProperty ... This will ad an NiAlphaProperty to the very bottom of the list with a reference number before it, you then need to make it a 'child' of your NiTriShape

= Left click your NiTriShape -. Scroll down in the BOTTOM window -. click the little arrow beside 'Properties' -> You should see ...

 

Properties | ref<Ni object> | BSLightingShaderProperty

Properties | ref<Ni object> | None

 

Double click the 'None' and type in the reference number displayed before the NiAlphaProperty and hit "enter"

 

You should now see the NiAlphaProperty move up and be a 'child' of your NiTriShape

 

Right click on the NiAlphaProperty and click 'Flags' ... This will bring up a dialogue box with several options ...

 

If you simply wish to make parts of the mesh disappear UNTICK "Enable Blending" and TICK "Enable Testing" -> set "Alpha Test Function" to 'Greater or Equal' -> and set 'Alpha Test Threshold" as 128 -> click accept

Then you can 'delete' parts of the texture file and that part of the mesh will become 'invisible' in game (and in Nifskope) and make sure to save the file in DXT5 .dds format

 

If you want to make a part of the mesh 'opaque' or 'seethru' like glass (or some of the skimpy lingerie mods http://forums.nexusmods.com/public/style_emoticons/dark/wink.gif ) Leave the "Enable Blending" ticked

On your texture file, experiment with different levels of 'transparency' on the various parts to get the desired effect on your mesh (i.e. try 20% transparency, 25%, 40% and so on ... Anything more than 50% transparency doesn't really display properly in Skyrim as it usually looks basically invisible anyway, which is why I set the "Alpha Test Threshold" at 128 (half way or 50% between 0 no colour and 255 full colour)

 

 

 

Super informative. But I ran into a problem with the threshold value.

Is it possible, in SSE, to achieve full 256 levels of alpha channel transparency? It appears that there is no alpha blending going on, it's either transparent or not, for areas that are painted below the threshold.