Elvas Tower: Alpha visiblity in Passenger view - Elvas Tower

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Alpha visiblity in Passenger view Behaves like 1bit Alpha Rate Topic: -----

#1 User is offline   Hamza97 

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Posted 15 May 2022 - 09:39 PM

Hello All .. !!

Working on a passenger view shape., I have ran into a weird issue where alpha mapped glass on windows is not being drawn with slight transparency (as normally a glass would be), Instead its either being drawn fully transparent (invisible) or fully opaque, totally ignoring grey values in alpha channel. Tried everything which I can possibly think of ., ALPHA SORTED vs ALPHA BLENDED in MSTS Material Panel, DXT3 (Interpolated Alpha) vs DTX5 (Explicit Alpha), even tried increasing the VOL SPHERE value in shape file through Word pad , but unfortunately no use.

Tried latest MG, latest testing version as well a couple of revision old MG version. Still no resolution... :furiousPC:

I even tried copying the glass from my previous 3D cab ( which works perfectly in 3D cab view mode ) and pasted in passenger view and even that glass doesn't render normally.. :help:

NOW ., Here the weird bit of this whole story, As a last resort, I used the SAME SHAPE FILE in the external view just to check if its visible in there and to my utter surprise the glass was VISIBLE properly... :ko2: :ko2:

Log file states absolutely nothing in regards to alpha texture file or shape file itself.

If anyone have any solution or had same issue in past, any pointers would be appreciated.. ^_^

Blender version is 3.0. Using Wayne`s lovely exporter. Textures in DDS Format.

Attached File  Glass_screenshots.zip (750.32K)
Number of downloads: 150

attached are screenshots showing glass visible in external view but same shape file used in passenger view, it becomes invisible.

#2 User is offline   superheatedsteam 

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Posted 16 May 2022 - 12:05 AM

Or this post?

http://www.elvastowe...988#entry284988

In short, move the origin point to within 1 metre of the camera view and report if it makes a difference.

#3 User is offline   Hamza97 

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Posted 16 May 2022 - 02:54 AM

Quote

Very similar topic was started here earlier this spring.
Has sense to refer with.
Here it is:
http://www.elvastowe...t-alpha-channel
See also topics, popping-up by "sorting textures" search - there are many of them over here.


Here there are multiple alpha planes one behind another. In my case there is just a single plane which is not displaying transparency ( Or rather , displaying more transparency than required :p :( )


Quote

Or this post?

http://www.elvastowe...988#entry284988

In short, move the origin point to within 1 metre of the camera view and report if it makes a difference.



Would try this and see if it helps .. :good2:

#4 User is offline   Hamza97 

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Posted 16 May 2022 - 08:20 PM

 superheatedsteam, on 16 May 2022 - 12:05 AM, said:

Or this post?

http://www.elvastowe...988#entry284988

In short, move the origin point to within 1 metre of the camera view and report if it makes a difference.



I tried this by moving the origin point within 1 meter of camera view unfortunately still issue is not solved and glass is invisible .. :(

#5 User is offline   superheatedsteam 

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Posted 16 May 2022 - 09:03 PM

 Hamza97, on 16 May 2022 - 08:20 PM, said:

I tried this by moving the origin point within 1 meter of camera view unfortunately still issue is not solved and glass is invisible .. :(


What about OR release versions v1.3 and v1.4?

#6 User is offline   CrisGer 

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Posted 17 May 2022 - 07:28 AM

We have had the same issue with our passenger car views..total transparency no glass. so this is a topic of interest for me too.

Chris

#7 User is offline   wacampbell 

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Posted 17 May 2022 - 08:34 AM

I see some of you are using Blender for your modelling. I wonder if this problem is related to the mesh merging behavior of the MSTS/OR exporter.

Here's how it might be implicated:

- for translucency to work, those surfaces must be rendered in the correct order ( far surfaces before near surfaces )

- Open Rails does this sorting based on the origin of each mesh object. Its an approximation, but as long as the origin of the window pane is close to the center of the window surface, the method works.

- also to work it requires that each window pane have its own origin, ie each needs to be its own Blender object.

- BUT - if the exporter merges all window panes into a single mesh, each pane no longer has an origin ... there is just a single origin for the entire merged mesh.

- this could result in the window panes being drawn in the wrong order, and translucency not working

The test would be to export the model with 'Retain Names' checked. This disables the merging behavior ( for all objects ) to see if that fixes the translucency issue.

If it turns out this is the problem, then the fix may be to update the exporter to disable merging of objects that use a translucent material.

Please explore this and let me know what you think.

Wayne

#8 User is offline   superheatedsteam 

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Posted 17 May 2022 - 07:57 PM

Hi Wayne,

I normally export with retain names and the issue is still present. The 3D cab I uploaded in my post has all the 'fixed' forward and rearward facing glass as a single object. In my post I also included an image of the origin points for all the panes of glass. As requested, I just tested now by making each pane of glass as it's own individual object the the same issue occurs. The distance of the camera position from the origin point for the pane of glass is the influencing factor in my model.

I also tested with 'Retain Names' unchecked which made it worse. All glass panes were were displayed as 1-bit with the exception of the drivers 2 side windows, but they also went 1-bit when the camera was moved more than ~1 metre from their origin point.

Of interest, when exporting with retain names, if I use the ALT + Right Cursor Key to move the view outside just outside the drivers side of the cabview, the 8-bit alpha goes 1-bit as expected for all panes. However if I use ALT + Left Cursor Key so the camera view is a couple of metres outside the conductors side of the cabview, the 8-bit alpha remains for the forward and rear facing windows but not the side windows or the left front door window.

Note that none of this occurs in OR v1.3.

Do you want the Blender source file?

Cheers,

Marek.

#9 User is offline   Hamza97 

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Posted 17 May 2022 - 08:24 PM

Quote

What about OR release versions v1.3 and v1.4?


Tried 1.4 Testing but same .. Latest MG too ( rev 124 )

Quote

I see some of you are using Blender for your modelling. I wonder if this problem is related to the mesh merging behavior of the MSTS/OR exporter.
...
...
...

Please explore this and let me know what you think.

Wayne


Hello Wayne., If the merging case is the issue then glass should not render properly in outside view too. But it renders perfectly in outside ( 2 / 3 ) view. However I would tried adding a single keyframe to the glass and export it so that exporter doesn't join the glass mesh and see if it resolves the issue.

#10 User is offline   superheatedsteam 

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Posted 17 May 2022 - 09:05 PM

 Hamza97, on 17 May 2022 - 08:24 PM, said:

However I would tried adding a single keyframe to the glass and export it so that exporter doesn't join the glass mesh and see if it resolves the issue.


On my cabview, the drivers side windows and left front door have animation but still have the issue.

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