Question Alpha texture on vessels?

[wehaveaproblem]

Hey chaps,

I know the topic of transparency pops up a lot, but a few searches didn't help me on this one.

I know about how to model and manage transparent meshes/mesh groups in Orbiter. I have also succesfully used alpha dds textures on WIN, so know how that works.

However, it seems that when loaded as a vessel, a dds texture with an alpha channel will not impliment transparency on the mesh. When the same file is loaded in a base.cfg file, instead of as a vessel, the alpha channel works and becomes transparent.

So, am I to assume that vessel in orbiter cannot have transparency controlled by the texture? Does it have to be done with mesh group transparency? Or am I missing something?

Any knowledge would be grately appreciated.
WHAP

 

[Donamy]

You have to make sure, the group with the Alpha texture, is after the groups you want to see through the tranparency. I don't think you can use the material transparency, with a texture. I could be wrong on that.

 

[anemazoso]

WHAP, I know it's possible because Sputnik used an alpha on his [ame="http://www.orbithangar.com/searchid.php?ID=3013"]Bristol spaceplane[/ame]. Sorry can't help on the procedure though, good luck.

 

[wehaveaproblem]

You have to make sure, the group with the Alpha texture, is after the groups you want to see through the tranparency. I don't think you can use the material transparency, with a texture. I could be wrong on that.

Yeah, that's for material/mesh transparency right? But I'm trying to use a texture alpha instead. The mesh I'm using only has one object/group. I'm applying one texture to the whole thing and just want the area around the edge to become transparent (like a coastal surface tiles)... but it doesn't seem to want to play ball...

WHAP, I know it's possible because Sputnik used an alpha on his Bristol spaceplane. Sorry can't help on the procedure though, good luck.

Cheers for that. I trust you are talking about the windows? Are you sure that's an alpha texture and not a semi-tranparent mesh group?

 

[Donamy]

Yeah, that's for material/mesh transparency right? But I'm trying to use a texture alpha instead. The mesh I'm using only has one object/group. I'm applying one texture to the whole thing and just want the area around the edge to become transparent (like a coastal surface tiles)... but it doesn't seem to want to play ball...

It's only one group, Is it a scenerytile ?

 

[wehaveaproblem]

It's only one group, Is it a scenerytile ?

Essentially, yes it is, but not rendered as such. Let me explain.

For the new Ascension I am making the island topography from a single mesh, instead of seperate hills on surface tiles. So the mesh i'm using is exactly that, a single object mesh of the whole island. Now, obviously, modeling the mesh to match exactly the edge of the island is a rediculous task. So, instead, I wanted to use an alpha texture to just clean up the edge of the mash texture, exactly like the current surface tile. When the mesh is loaded in the ascension.cfg file, the alpha channel works and the edges are transparent. But when it is loaded as a vessel it doesn't. So I'm assuming alpha transparency in textures is handled differently by vessel meshes than it is by the base.cfg file meshes.

I'm keen to load it as a vessel if possible because it looks so much prettier due to the way vessels are rendered differently to surface objects in the orbiter core.

 

[Donamy]

I did something similar with my Hll-B addon. Checkout the launchsite mesh.

 

[wehaveaproblem]

I did something similar with my Hll-B addon. Checkout the launchsite mesh.

Thanks mate, but I'm not sure you are understanding my problem, since your addon doesn't illustrate a solution. Your mesh doesn't appear to have a transparency and it is loaded in a base file. Apologies if I'm missing something there.

I'm after an answer as to whether a dds texture with an alpha channel can be used to make a vessel mesh transparent. It doesn't seem to be possible, I'm just hoping I've missed something.

 

[Hielor]

I'm after an answer as to whether a dds texture with an alpha channel can be used to make a vessel mesh transparent.

Doesn't the Shuttle-PB do this?

 

[Notebook]

WHAP, I don't know if this is relavent to your question.
http://www.orbiter-forum.com/showthread.php?t=8698&page=9
#126 and onward.

I didn't pursue transparent meshes in vessels, as it wasn't what I wanted.

Any use?

N.

 

[wehaveaproblem]

Cheers N, you did help me, but maybe not in the way you intended. Your pic made me realise it is doable, so that made me look for the stupid thing I'd overlooked... and.. ta-da.. it's the bloody vessel shadow lol.. how embarrassing is that?! Well at least I think it is. I will have to get Face to remove the vessels shadow and see if that clears it up.

So yeah, hopefully, I'm just dumb and we can all move on with our lives....

Thanks everyone.

 

[Hielor]

Cheers N, you did help me, but maybe not in the way you intended. Your pic made me realise it is doable, so that made me look for the stupid thing I'd overlooked... and.. ta-da.. it's the bloody vessel shadow lol.. how embarrassing is that?! Well at least I think it is. I will have to get Face to remove the vessels shadow and see if that clears it up.

So yeah, hopefully, I'm just dumb and we can all move on with our lives....

Thanks everyone.

There's a flag in the .msh format for a mesh group which allows you to turn off shadows just for that group--you could try removing the shadow just from the groups you want to be transparent.

 

[wehaveaproblem]

There's a flag in the .msh format for a mesh group which allows you to turn off shadows just for that group--you could try removing the shadow just from the groups you want to be transparent.

Yeah that's what I just discovered, which is awesome news, for this and some other ideas I have. Thanks for the confirm though.

I will leave this thread with /facepalm

 

[Hielor]

Yeah that's what I just discovered, which is awesome news, for this and some other ideas I have. Thanks for the confirm though.

I will leave this thread with /facepalm

Hey, this was useful for me--made me realize that I need to figure out a way to include that flag in the Wings exporter!

 

[fort]

Bonjour Hielor, wehaveaproblem,

Do you mean the D flag ?

edit. i think i've found the answer: 0x00000001 for "FLAG" in a specified group ?

 

[Hielor]

Bonjour Hielor, wehaveaproblem,

Do you mean the D flag ?

edit. i think i've found the answer: 0x00000001 for "FLAG" in a specified group ?

Yes.

 

[fort]

Thank you Hielor

 

[wehaveaproblem]

Face has also discovered you can simply add 'FLAG 1' to the relevant mesh group inside the mesh file itself, that will deactivate shadows for that group. 'FLAG 9' will make it cast no shadow and be transparent also.

eg:

LABEL rect
MATERIAL 1
TEXTURE 1
FLAG 1
GEOM 1844 3461 ; rect
etc.

 

[Hielor]

Face has also discovered you can simply add 'FLAG 1' to the relevant mesh group inside the mesh file itself, that will deactivate shadows for that group. 'FLAG 9' will make it cast no shadow and be transparent also.

eg:

LABEL rect
MATERIAL 1
TEXTURE 1
FLAG 1
GEOM 1844 3461 ; rect
etc.

...Isn't that what I said?

 

[wehaveaproblem]

I guess so, yeah, I was just a bit confused by the "0x00000001" reference, so just thought I'd clarify.