Transparent .tga texture
by Nmuta Jones · in Artist Corner · 06/29/2008 (3:58 pm) · 24 replies
I have a tree... a beautiful palm tree, in 3ds Max.
It had leaf planes with a transparent .tga textures. If you open the .tga texture in Photoshop, it looks like it has a green background, but there is an alpha channel and the leaves have alpha.
At one point in time, I remember having the palm in TGE with the alpha transparency for the leaves. I DID NOT use black/white alpha channel. I remember using the .tga for transparency.
I simply CANNOT seem to remember how I did it.... how I got the alpha to show up. But I do remember I was using either .tga in torque or .png. Regardless, the alpha is not showing up. Anyone have any ideas?
I am using exporter Pro for 3ds Max 9.
Torque 1.5.2
It had leaf planes with a transparent .tga textures. If you open the .tga texture in Photoshop, it looks like it has a green background, but there is an alpha channel and the leaves have alpha.
At one point in time, I remember having the palm in TGE with the alpha transparency for the leaves. I DID NOT use black/white alpha channel. I remember using the .tga for transparency.
I simply CANNOT seem to remember how I did it.... how I got the alpha to show up. But I do remember I was using either .tga in torque or .png. Regardless, the alpha is not showing up. Anyone have any ideas?
I am using exporter Pro for 3ds Max 9.
Torque 1.5.2
About the author
Lead Developer for MediaBreeze Multimedia
#22
a screenshot may help and later I may try it myself to remember the problem i had when using your method.
07/15/2008 (8:31 am)
Yes, what you are doing SHOULD work, but from my experience with Torque, for some reason in Max 9 and above, the only thing that's worked for me is using pngs for this sort of thing. I remember using just jpegs in previous versions of Max with torque similar to what you're doing with the bmps and it worked out fine. a screenshot may help and later I may try it myself to remember the problem i had when using your method.
#23
I looked at the materials themselves in showtool and they appear the same way. Yet in the folder and in max, the materials are fine. I'll try converting them to a different file format and re-apply and see if that fixes it, but I would think that .bmp would always work.
I'll let you know what i find, and if there are any suggestions in the meantime (or better yet, explanations), lemme know!
* * * * * * * * * * *
Turned them to pngs. Worked absolutely fine. Strange, but cool!
Everyone, I have officially stepped into the realm of TGE...after a WHOLE YEAR of fussing, aggrivation, false leads, and long periods of anst, I have FINALLY found the correct exporters and grouping of tutorials to learn how to successfully export an animated model from 3dsMax 9 and into TGE...woohoo! I am going to make some documentation for this and try to host the correct exporters, but if anyone else is having trouble let me know!
Thank you, forum, for your advice and help!
07/15/2008 (9:14 am)
Thanks for the quick response - well, they're all .bmp No transparency maps. Should be pretty straight forward. In the show tool, yes, i get the same lines. I can almost see the materials underneath a few of them, but it looks almost like color bars on a TV except black and white.I looked at the materials themselves in showtool and they appear the same way. Yet in the folder and in max, the materials are fine. I'll try converting them to a different file format and re-apply and see if that fixes it, but I would think that .bmp would always work.
I'll let you know what i find, and if there are any suggestions in the meantime (or better yet, explanations), lemme know!
* * * * * * * * * * *
Turned them to pngs. Worked absolutely fine. Strange, but cool!
Everyone, I have officially stepped into the realm of TGE...after a WHOLE YEAR of fussing, aggrivation, false leads, and long periods of anst, I have FINALLY found the correct exporters and grouping of tutorials to learn how to successfully export an animated model from 3dsMax 9 and into TGE...woohoo! I am going to make some documentation for this and try to host the correct exporters, but if anyone else is having trouble let me know!
Thank you, forum, for your advice and help!
#24
Hey, well... "I told you so". :) Strange, but that was my exact experience also.
I can totally relate also. I first started with TGE a few years ago....and steadily chipped away at the several issues with the art path. Now the art path which once looked so daunting seems refreshingly easy and manageable......now that I know the pitfalls involved.
I too had exporter issues. I thought that exporter "Pro" was the way to go and this cost me a week of frustration. Then also the transparency issues, etc. but at this point I can say its the best engine I've ever worked with, and I've worked with more than a few.
Everyone's needs are different, but TGE suits my needs very well.
07/15/2008 (9:59 am)
Quote:
Turned them to pngs. Worked absolutely fine. Strange, but cool!
Hey, well... "I told you so". :) Strange, but that was my exact experience also.
Quote:
into the realm of TGE...after a WHOLE YEAR of fussing, aggrivation, false leads
I can totally relate also. I first started with TGE a few years ago....and steadily chipped away at the several issues with the art path. Now the art path which once looked so daunting seems refreshingly easy and manageable......now that I know the pitfalls involved.
I too had exporter issues. I thought that exporter "Pro" was the way to go and this cost me a week of frustration. Then also the transparency issues, etc. but at this point I can say its the best engine I've ever worked with, and I've worked with more than a few.
Everyone's needs are different, but TGE suits my needs very well.
Joe Granato
I looked at the materials themselves in showtool and they appear the same way. Yet in the folder and in max, the materials are fine. I'll try converting them to a different file format and re-apply and see if that fixes it, but I would think that .bmp would always work.
I'll let you know what i find, and if there are any suggestions in the meantime (or better yet, explanations), lemme know!