I expect that Anthanasius is using the Lace Map built into the shader.

I did not code it as a transparency map. I coded it to be a lace map, indicating how thick the lace was, which is sewn into or on top of the nylon substrate.

This means that the gray-to-white levels do not control opacity of the lace. They control the height of the lace! If you were to use a lace map and think of it as a bump map, not a transparency map, then all will be revealed and understandable.

The transparency of lace is not a concept built into this shader - lace is opaque, always. It's not made of nylon - it's made of cotton or other opaque fibers.

If you wish to simulate a variation in the density of the nylon fiber weave, well then you should be modulating the PM:Density node. You want to plug your map that you are thinking of as transparency into the Density. Why not into Opacity? Well you could do that, but it would have no corresponding basis in reality. Nylon clothing is not made from nylon threads with various opacity. Instead, variable opacity is accomplished from a single type of nylon, but by weaving it tighter or looser in different places.

So - if you wish to create a situation where the map you use is a density map, then you must simply decide what the black level minimum density represents, and the white level maximum density.

Then you would hook it up to one of the PM:Density values, such as Value_2.

In Value_1, you place the minimum density - this is the low value - what to use when the map equals 0.

In Value_2, you place how much the map increases the density - the high value minus the low value.

For example, if you want to indicate that black map (0) is .25 (25%) density, and that white is .7 (70%) density, then

• place .25 in PM:Density Value_1.

• connect your map to PM:Density Value_2 and set that to .45 (.7 - .25)

Thus, when the map is 0 (black), density will be .25 + .45 * 0 = .25

When the map is 1 (white), density will be .25 + .45 * 1 = .7

When the map is gray, the density will be somewhere between .25 and .7

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Renderosity forum reply notifications are wonky. If I read a follow-up in a thread, but I don't myself reply, then notifications no longer happen AT ALL on that thread. So if I seem to be ignoring a question, that's why. (Updated September 23, 2019)