[Fade]

Is it possible to create transparency in textures in Lightwave, in the same way that you can select a single colour to be transparent in gif images? I have a texture on a model i'm working on, the center of the texture is a different colour from the rest of the image, i'd like to set that colour to be transparent, how is this done in Lightwave?

Thanks

[fig]

add an alpha map in the texture editor (black and white showing where you want the image to show thru) for the color/diffuse image map and it should give you the transparency you're looking for.

chris

[Fade]

Wow, fast response! Thanks a lot

[Fade]

Does it matter what file type I use for the textures?

[rich_is_bored]

I think lightwave will accept anything as long as it's an image file. I've even loaded photoshop PSD files without having to flatten the layers.

[Kvaalen]

Originally posted by rich_is_bored I think lightwave will accept anything as long as it's an image file. I've even loaded photoshop PSD files without having to flatten the layers.

It doesn't accept gif files, And if you use a PSD file then there is no need for an alpha channel, just make sure you have the transparency.

[Fade]

Hmm, i'm having trouble with this, I'll explain a bit further what i'm trying to do.

I have an image on one square poly, what i'd like to do is have another poly in front of this one also with an image on it, except that the middle area of this image is transparent, so that if you were facing them, you'd see through the hole in the first poly to the image on the one behind it.

However, when I make up an image in photoshop with the middle transparent, save it as a .psd and then load it up in Lightwave, all I get is the area thats supposed to be transparent, white. What am I doing wrong?

Thanks

[rincewind]

I just tried this and it worked. I created a simple texture in photoshop, made 2 transparent blocks and applied it as a texture and it rendered fine.

The model is green and you can see the green through the areas where i made the image transparent.

One thing you may need to check is if the image is using the alpha channel. If you look at the image in the image editor and make sure the Alpha channel is enabled.

If you want to see the alpha channel itself, select Alpha only in the dropdown list. The alpha channel will show up as a black and white image and the white areas are where the texture will be transparent.