Window/Glass texture.

Hello all! You guys were such a great help last time I posted, teaching me how to upload tga files (keeping them transparent). Now, my new question is, how exactly would I make a texture that was not fully transparent (50% with tint). The window/see through look.

Is there a different process for this look? Sorry, still learning. I can make an item transparent with a window look, I just can't get it on SL in tga format that way.

2 ways...

within SL, change the transparency under texture to about 50% or more (or less) to see thru a prims of any color...

or in PS..

In the alpha channel, BLACK in 100% see thru, white is 0% see thru...so pick a grey (grey is 128,128,128 as that is 1/2 of full black (255,255,255)) for your alpha channel and will be 50% see thru..

Just for clarification, you don't want to just "pick a gray" if you want 50% transparency. You must be specific in your choice. If 50% transparency is what you need, then you must use 50% gray, not any old gray. You need the gray that is half way between black and white. If you want 25% transparency, then you must use the gray that is 75% white and 25% black, 1/4 of the way down the scale from white to black. If you want 90% transparency, then you must use the gray that is 90% black and 10% white, 9/10 of the way down the scale. In other words, the darker the gray, the more transparent, the lighter the gray, the more opaque. Every step along the way represents a specific value of transparency.


On another note:

Obviously, the people who take the time to answer people's questions here are generous and have a real interest in helping others and that's wonderful, so I don't mean to nitpick, but just so no one is confused, remember, it's alpha channel, not alpha layer. There's no such thing as an alpha layer. Layers and channels are not synonymous; they have absolutely nothing to do with eachother.

It's become so common here to use these two unrelated words interchangeably that I think most people who do it don't even realize they're doing it, but try to think about it from the new reader's perspective. It can be very confusing for those who have never encountered the terms before, and I believe it's one of the reasons many new people have trouble grasping the concept of channels.

Please understand, I'm not trying to single anyone out here or to discourage anyone from offering their help to others in any way. As I said, this reversal of words happens all the time here for some reason. I'm trying to make a conscious effort to correct the problem, so I'll be pointing it out whenever I see it from now on. I posted a lengthy description of the differences between layers and channels, and the dangers of mixing up their names a week or two ago if anyone wants to look for it.

Thank you so much for this.. you just helped me more than I can say... I have racked my brain on how to do this... like for cabinet doors etc. Thanks again.



Z

Thanks you guys, great help. I missed the transparency option inside SL. OOps.