Hi All,
Back in October I followed a forum entry on making glass. It was suggested that in 009 some lingering problems would be addressed.

Below is a simple glass model presented with a model behind to test the transparency. I created the textures in Photoshop, each with an alpha channel. One texture (the one on the left) was saved as a DDS file (using DXT5), while the right side is the same texture saved as a TGA file.

My objective was glass which is almost completely transparent, but with a bit of texture (so the glass can be seen slightly like real glass).

In the three images below the first (left) has an alpha gray value of 66%, the center image has a gray value of 50%, and the 3rd image a gray value of 25%

As you can see, anything above 50% is completely transparent, and the background image is visible. On the 3rd image, the glass (created with the DDS file) appears to be transparent, but the background model is not visible through the glass. The Targa texture is fully transparent regardless of the gray value.

Is there a way to get the glass to a tinted value and still be able to see entities behind the glass?

Thanks

Set transparency to 5 in the fpe and make sure you place the glass after any entities that are visible through the glass.

For now that works the best. Also making the glass objects there own entity mostly takes care of the problem.

If you have a house with 6 windows, have the 6 windows be there own entity, set them last, Export all the pieces to said building from the same spot so they can be placed at the same snap point in the editor.

Thanks Guys for the advice.
I added the Transparency = 5 to the FPE and as predicted I was able to see entities behind the glass. I also tested the idea of placing the entities before and after placing the glass and found that regardless I was still able to see the entities through the glass. In the below image the buses were placed after the glass elements.

I also experimented with trying to achieve different levels of transparency based upon the gray values I used for the alpha channel. The below image shows 4 different alpha settings, and while I did achieve some differences between each setting, the levels differ only slightly despite major differences in the alpha gray level. Also, once I got to a 50% gray, the transparency is completely clear. I assume anything darker than 50% will react the same way.

For your reference... The 192 = 25% gray, 160 = 33% gray, 150 = 59% gray, 128=50% Gray

Thanks for your help

ok now put glass opposite the already placed panels and see if you can see the panels already there, just to test

Hey Science Boy... Good Call

I did the test and the results are below.

All of the buses where placed first before loading the window glass.

In the first image the front glass was placed first and the back glass was placed 2nd. As you can see the window in the back cannot be seen through the front window, however the buses behind can be seen.

The 2nd image is the same layout but looking the other way, The rear window was placed 1st and the front window was placed 2nd. Unlike the other view, Here you can see the frame of the rear window, and the buses behind.

I tried placing the glass 1st and then the buses but regardless of the direction, the buses were always visible through the windows.

Does this mean that the issue is with the placement order of the glass windows and how they effect each other, but other entities react correctly? I tried it with a character and another building with the same results???

Something that needs to be considered when using multiple windows which may react with one another.

i have already sent lee bamber my houses to show this exact problem. i am hoping he will have a fix in the near future

is there any fix to this topic?

Hi,

I have had some luck with this, by using different shaders.

See link below.

https://forum.game-guru.com/thread/212060


I can give you my glass files if you want to experiment more with this.