I want to add a plane with a pattern to my scene, but I want the pattern to be opaque with the plane itself transparent. Is this possible? PP2014

Attached Link: http://www.drgeep.com/p4/sm/sm.htm

*(click the image to view full size)*

yes... details above ...

Done for Poser 4 but the  idea is the same for all versions of Poser.

cheers,
dr geep
;=]

Dr. Incredible Strikes Again!!!!

Thanks Doc! :biggrin:

 

Note. The correct way to make transparency with specular is:

Plug the transparency into specular value as well. Do not just turn specular off.

Poser does this because a transparency map can mean two different things.

It can mean:

1. nothing here at all (plug it into specular value)

2. something here made of clear plastic or glass (leave specular unmodulated)

An illustration. This shader implements glass or plastic. The tile is used here as a transparency map. It is set to modulate the surface so that the transparent parts do not bounce any light at all - as if there is nothing in the window panes. Yet we still have specular reflections where there is something.

If you remove the indicated connection, then even the window panes will bounce light specularly.

Here is a render.

The blue box has a surface in the window panes. (The specular wire is disconnected from transparency)

The red box has nothing in the window panes. (The specular wire is connected to transparency)

Turning off specularity is rarely going to be appropriate because in real life even things we consider "not shiny" are still doing some shine.

Here I modulated the blue box so that the window panes are still highly specular, but the blue plastic is not. Yet it has a realistic non-zero amount of shine. It's just very low and very spread out.

If you took that away completely, it would not look real.