Transparent "Glass" in 3D shaded mode

[MSArchi]

We use 3d in our work and the "walk" mode (ie the footprints button) is very useful when presenting live to some of our larger church clients, say about 300 people, this tool is great but all the glass is opaque. Can you fix this ?

Presently we get around this by a fudge but it is not a good solution, could you apply the % transparent fill linestyle in this mode?

MSArchi

[James McClymont]

We use 3d in our work and the "walk" mode (ie the footprints button) is very useful when presenting live to some of our larger church clients, say about 300 people, this tool is great but all the glass is opaque. Can you fix this ?

Presently we get around this by a fudge but it is not a good solution, could you apply the % transparent fill linestyle in this mode?

MSArchi

Hi,

By definition, "3D Shaded" ignores transparency and other material attributes that require rendering.

There are ways to generate pre-determined "walk-thoughs" by rendering a sequence of views, but a real-time rendered walk-through is another thing! I don't think anyone has cracked that one yet!...

I'll sleep on it, but I think your best option is to exclude the glass material from the inclusion list, probably the existing fudge you mentioned.

The problem is that materials with transparency and/or reflection are not "static", in that they interact with other items relative to the view angle... I'm sure the software can handle it, but the hardware is just not there... Yet?!

I'd bet a few defence ministries and/or space agencies have developed the kit required so its only a matter of time before that technology filters down...

Regards,

James.

[MikeF]

To keep the forum interaction lively I thought I would chip in here.
Google Sketchup is quite happy to display trans-parency/lucency during interactive eye/model movement! It's not unreasonably for MGDS users to hope for similar.
Sketchup is a surface modeller, not a solid modeller, so the fundamentals are quite different. Therein may lie the problem.
I don't think it's true to say that transparency is not 'static'. Reflection and refraction are certainly affected by view point, but I'm not sure that transparency has to be re-rendered with every view change.
It would be nice if a form of 'pseudo-transparency' could be achieved, but maybe the nature of a solid entity make this impossible.

[James McClymont]

Hi Mike!

Thank you for "chipping-in"!

Good point on Sketchup. Consider my neck "wound in".

Do you see it as feasible that mgds could offer a solution?...

"It would be nice if a form of 'pseudo-transparency' could be achieved, but maybe the nature of a solid entity make this impossible"

Who would know the answer to that question, i.e. Could the mgds "structure" handle it?

Brian, any input?

Best regards,

James.