Q: Alpha Channel and Clipping?

[Silverhawk2000]

Hi,

 

I don't recall if the game has a texture that you can see through and shoot/move through.

 

As far as I recall (for example) there is a grate you can see through but you can't shoot through the holes to the other side.

 

Is there a texture in the game that you can see through and shoot/move through?

 

If you know, please let me know the texture name so I can go have a look at the properties of it's shader.

 

 

 

 

 

[Leslie Judge]

I don't know about a shader in the game like that you want, but I can give you some tips.

 

surfaceparm nonsolid in the shader code means you can shoot and walk through the brush / patch face covered by the shader.

 

surfaceparm trans makes the face transparent to lights.

 

Using a 32 bit TGA texture gives you the possibility to use it's alpha channel to make it see through where you want. But you have to specify the blending mode in the shader. For example:

 

textures/test/seeandwalkthroughtexture

{

surfaceparm nonsolid

surfaceparm trans

{

map textures/test/seeandwalkthroughtexture.tga

blendFunc GL_SRC_ALPHA GL_ONE_MINUS_SRC_ALPHA

}

}

 

In this example where you have whiter in the alpha channel of textures/test/seeandwalkthroughtexture.tga the more the texture will cover the face, so the black in alpha channel is fully see through.

 

 

Hope I didn't make any mistakes.

[Silverhawk2000]

Well, I tried your suggestion but to no avail.

 

Experimenting with the various shaders yielded some interesting

results, but so far not the one that I am after.

 

The experiments go on (muh ha ha *evil scientist laugh*)...

 

I will do some more research and keep trying. I hope that it is possible. Mostly my goal is to be able to shoot through the texture.

 

If you get the urge to tackle this one and meet with any success then please let me know.

 

Thanks Leslie, your so for helping.

[Eldritch]

If Leslie's attempt to explain it didn't work for you, you could always just make the brush into a func_breakable with a health value - that way you can destroy it, then move thru where it used to be. If this is a grate, it my be a bit more realistic than just walking thru it.

[Silverhawk2000]

Originally posted by Aru-Wen

If Leslie's attempt to explain it didn't work for you, you could always just make the brush into a func_breakable with a health value - that way you can destroy it, then move thru where it used to be. If this is a grate, it my be a bit more realistic than just walking thru it.

 

I know all about using func_breakable. The reason I am after a Texture that has some Solid Parts and Some Non-Solid 'Holes' is to create some walls where you can see trough and shoot through parts (like a cross beam texture for example).

 

This wall section would be used over and over again throughout the map.

 

I know that I could always create wall using a Series of Brushes, this would also give the added benefit of having some 3-D aspect to the wall section. Only drawback may be rendering to .BSP time If I add lights and don't use FullVis.

 

Just to give you a bit of info on stuff I researched / found out lately.

 

The limit to the number of brushes is 32,768 (or so). That's a lot that most people won't hit. Like I said, compiling in FullVis is not a problem, but the more brushes you have, the longer the compile, especially when the engine has to figure out where all the light falls (if you add lights)

 

Recently I created a SkyScraper Floor that had 52 Breakable Windows (smoky opaque windows). Actually It was my dream to create a level with all breakable windows. Also some elements of the Structure (Iron Beams) would also break, provided they sustain enough damange.

 

Well, when I Copied the floor over and over again, Creating a 10 Story Building. BOOM! It does not run in Multi Player.

 

After some research, I found that there is a limit to the number of Brushes you can Make into 'Objects' by making them Breakable or Platforms, etc... The number apparently is about 256 for MP and 512 for SP.

 

There go my Dreams for Breakable Carnage level are shot down. I will have to selective in how many brushes I make breakable.

 

I never like to take the easy way out or admit defeat, so I will still try to see if it is possible to create a texture where you can shoot/walk through the transparent parts. Shoot through is my focus right now.

 

 

[Leslie Judge]

If I understand...

 

So, take a grate. You want to be able to shoot through the holes but not where the actual grate is? You can't make that with textures (or shaders). If you give the shader a surfaceparm then it will affect all the surface it is covered with.

 

So - in my opinion - the best solution is if you make it from burshes as you wrote. I know a big impact on compiling time, but it might worth it...

 

Hey, do you guys know that q3mqp2 2.5.2 is released? New raytracing code and faster lighting is in the readme...

[Silverhawk2000]

Originally posted by Leslie Judge

If I understand...

 

So, take a grate. You want to be able to shoot through the holes but not where the actual grate is? You can't make that with textures (or shaders). If you give the shader a surfaceparm then it will affect all the surface it is covered with.

 

So - in my opinion - the best solution is if you make it from burshes as you wrote. I know a big impact on compiling time, but it might worth it...

 

 

You got it exactly Leslie, That's what I wanted to do, but I suspect you are right and it can't be done. Guess I will have to stick to making my wall out of a number of brushes. It has the added benefit of giving the wall a 3rd dimension instead of just being a flat texture.

 

Thanks for all the input and suggestions.