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Janie Marlowe
Mischief Maker
Join date: 5 Apr 2005
Posts: 630
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05-22-2005 09:28
To save on prims, I used photoshop to create a wall color, window frame and the transparent window area all on one texture. I'm wondering if there is a way to avoid the way the textures seem to flicker and vanish at certain angles, especially when i place an object next to one of these walls that also uses the same technique. Would it help if the window "glass" wasn't a completely clear alpha layer?
Any tricks to this, or is this something you just have to deal with if you don't want to eat up all your prims using seperate windows?
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Chosen Few
Alpha Channel Slave
Join date: 16 Jan 2004
Posts: 7,496
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05-22-2005 10:27
The phenomenon you're experiencing is called alpha sorting (or lack there of). When two objects with alpha textures are placed close to eachother, the viewer has trouble determining which one to display. This is very common in video games. There is no way around it short of rewriting the way the viewer works.
The good news is certain objects can be built to take advantage of this viewer behavior, like trees, bushes, fire, etc., and actually work better because of it. The bad news is it causes issues with other objects like the ones you are describing.
The best thing to do is to learn where alphas are well suited and where they are not. If the walls of your house have alpha textures on them, try to avoid putting other things near or on the walls that also have alphas. So, for example, if you have a house plant, don't put it in a wall-mounted vase. Instead put it somewhere in the room away from the walls, like maybe on an end table.
As for your question about would it help if the glass were not completely transparent, it doesn't matter. You could have a texture with a completely white alpha, meaning zero transparency anywhere on it, but it will still behave just like any other 32 bit texture when it's placed near another one. It's the fact that the alpha exists at all, not what's on it, that is the issue. That's why you should NEVER use 32 bit textures unless you have to. It's not uncommon for people who are new to texturing to save everything as 32 bit, under the assumption that more bits must somehow be better than less bits. Don't do that. Use 24 bit formatting always, unless the object actually needs to be transparent.
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Torley Linden
Enlightenment!
Join date: 15 Sep 2004
Posts: 16,530
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05-22-2005 10:52
From: Chosen Few That's why you should NEVER use 32 bit textures unless you have to. It's not uncommon for people who are new to texturing to save everything as 32 bit, under the assumption that more bits must somehow be better than less bits. Don't do that. Use 24 bit formatting always, unless the object actually needs to be transparent. |