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Virtual gardener
staff: administrator
Original Poster
#1 Old 23rd Feb 2017 at 9:33 PM
Default Can't seem to get the transparency to work
Hi all!

I've been working on a new dress which uses a second group that's suppose to be transparent. The effect I was going for, is suppose to be a bit like this: https://www.chotronette.com/shop/praline-caramel/
(Black bits of the skirt part)

Sadly, it doesn't really matter how I change my alpha channel in my multiplier texture or transparency map (well not the alpha channel in my transparency map because that one's a DXT1) , it just doesn't want to show up at all, or well... it's there but it doesn't seem to show up the way it shows up in milkshape.
What i've done so far is:

  • I splitted the groups in 2. Group 0 is the non-transparent group. Group 1 is the transparent group.
  • I edited my multiplier's alpha channel (see images at the bottom)
  • I edited my transparency map and is saved as a DXT1 (see images at the bottom)
  • I made sure that group 1 has a simhair shader (which usually works)

The only thing I could think of is the fact that it's either the shader, or I should make Group0 the transparency group.

Note: my transparency map used to look like my alpha channel, but then I just thought it might be better if I made it all white.
Screenshots
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Alchemist
#2 Old 26th Feb 2017 at 8:02 AM
Are you trying to make the lace on the hemline wavy? (It looks straight and stretched in the pics.)

Maybe increasing the tiling of the texture on that part of the skirt will help?

I am not quite sure if it's the same thing or if it helps, but I ran into a similar texture issue when redoing the basegame laptop. The textures looked fine in CASt but blurry in-game, and this looks similar to the screenshots you've posted on Tumblr.

Edit: also, I would recommend working with the pencil brush (or the equivalent of, for any program other than PS) for small details, because the regular brush tends to create small "gradient points" (pixels with varying opacity) that translate very poorly to DDS format (overlapping channels, blurry borders).

Tumblr - more downloads! ◾ CC reuploads / creator backupsTS3 CAS Conversion Catalog - for basegame, EP, SP, and Store clothing!
Virtual gardener
staff: administrator
Original Poster
#3 Old 26th Feb 2017 at 11:28 AM
Nope just the transparency, this is just one of the early versions of the dress so the lace part is basically just there to see if it looks nice with the dress, I haven't really edited the actual details in it yet and uhm... making it game-friendly It's actually the transparency that I can't get to work for me. Or well, a part of it. The actual lace is on the, well lower layer. The transparency is the upper layer. As you can see in the texture maps, there is this see-through kinda layer with some darker bits in it. That's the layer that refuses to be transparent.

You can kinda see it in this progress post I made: http://greenplumbboblover.tumblr.co...ut-pain-but-ill
Alchemist
#4 Old 26th Feb 2017 at 1:01 PM
Ahh I think I understand now (frankly this dress - although lovely - has too many transparent bits, haha).

I do see the see-through one - it's the veil above the skirt, right? And if I'm seeing this right, the texture section that is assigned to it is the gradient bit, right? Have you tried copy/pasting that section from the multiplier over to the transparency map? And this may be a silly thought, but try saving the transparency map as DXT5 and maybe it'll do something?

Um, does this tutorial help? http://modthesims.info/t/447671
How does the mask look?

Edit: Anubis made these clothes with transparent layers, maybe they can be useful as reference?
Night Charm Dress
Pure Intuition Asymmetrical Dress

Tumblr - more downloads! ◾ CC reuploads / creator backupsTS3 CAS Conversion Catalog - for basegame, EP, SP, and Store clothing!
Virtual gardener
staff: administrator
Original Poster
#5 Old 26th Feb 2017 at 3:34 PM
Turns out I didn't even had to make the actual texture on the multiplier map transparent, but just the alpha channel! It seems to be working fine, and seems to be functioning okay with the mask as well:



Thanks for your help again! ^-^

I really do need to tweak the veil mesh part though because uhm... it's going right through the other part of the dress
Alchemist
#6 Old 26th Feb 2017 at 3:47 PM
Yay, glad you managed to sort it out :lovestruc:

That's kind of beyond my knowledge but I assume you just have to place the veil layer a little bit farther from the skirt, right?

Tumblr - more downloads! ◾ CC reuploads / creator backupsTS3 CAS Conversion Catalog - for basegame, EP, SP, and Store clothing!
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