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Simmers' Paradise => Content Creation & Recoloring Help => Topic started by: Theraven on October 07, 2009, 10:18:40 pm



Title: Material trouble on object meshes
Post by: Theraven on October 07, 2009, 10:18:40 pm
I've made a couple of meshes that have some items I want to make alpha editable. I saw a simple tutorial where the only thing to do was to change the "stdMatAlphaBlendMode" in material definition to "blend", and use PNG pictures with transparency. It seemed to work on another (simpler) mesh, so I tried it on these more complex meshes, too.

The problem is that when I change the material definition to blend, the entire object looks like the mesh has been turned inside out.
When it is set to "none", the object looks normal.

Does anyone know any solutions?

Thanks for any help :)


Nevermind - I made it work :)


Title: Re: Material trouble on object meshes
Post by: BlooM on October 08, 2009, 05:56:07 pm
Maybe you should try a few more times before you post questions....
Same with the other 2 or 3 threads were i helped you, when i bring you a solution you just figired it out at the same time....wat a coincidence.


Title: Re: Material trouble on object meshes
Post by: caffeinated.joy on October 08, 2009, 05:59:40 pm
There's nothing wrong with people posting a question and continuing to try working it out on their own. :) There's always a chance someone might post a solution before they can figure it out on their own.

What would have been great though, theraven, was if you posted how you made it work, so other people who may have the same problem can find the answer here.


Title: Re: Material trouble on object meshes
Post by: BlooM on October 08, 2009, 06:02:25 pm
Check out the other posts.....you know wat i mean...


Title: Re: Material trouble on object meshes
Post by: Theraven on October 08, 2009, 06:09:11 pm
And I did try several times. Sitting for several hour testing different stuff (went in and out of the game at least 15-20 times...), and trying to find a solution both on MTS2 (couldn't find anything there) and with google. Found the answer in the end, though...  :-\

I first tried to set the stdMatAlphaBlendMode to "blend" - but that's really only for transparent objects. Didn't work, and left the mesh looking like the normals were turned. I tried a couple of other things, too - but none of them worked.

What worked in the end, was to let the stdMatAlphaBlendMode be on "none" and instead change "stdMatAlphaTestEnabled" from "0" to "1" - since I was trying to actually hide those parts of the mesh, not make them transparent. Also, use PNG files - with the texture parts I wanted to hide completely deleted (transparent). Worked like a dream  ;D

I'm not very experienced with SimPE yet, so it takes a lot of tries to figure out how to do new stuff  :-\


Title: Re: Material trouble on object meshes
Post by: caffeinated.joy on October 08, 2009, 06:09:32 pm
It doesn't matter, BlooM. Besides, I did take a look and this is the first thread she's made that I can see where she figured it out on her own before someone came in to post help.

The fact that you came in here to post and discovered she'd already solved it isn't her fault. She figured it out over ten hours ago while your reply to her is less than an hour ago. How does that equal her solving it at the same time you came to help her? Your effort is appreciated, definitely, but keep in mind you don't know how many times she'd tried it before posting here. For all you know she'd been hammering away at it for hours without success.

ETA: Unless a person is obviously being blatantly lazy by not searching out easily found solutions or refusing to read things in plain sight or we have proof positive they're only trying something once or twice before giving up and posting here for help, then we can't tell a person what to ask help for or not.


Title: Re: Material trouble on object meshes
Post by: BlooM on October 08, 2009, 09:34:33 pm
True, people can ask as many times they wish...and its cool when they figure it out themselves.
But thats not wat i meant, but instead of moaning in this thread i be better of keep my mouth shut and staying away from it next time.


Title: Re: Material trouble on object meshes
Post by: Paden on October 09, 2009, 11:30:56 am
That would be a great idea, BlooM, it really would be. If you took a look at the time stamps you'd see that it was posted at one time and then edited several hours later. She continued to work on it, without the benefit of your guidance and figured everything out. What, is there a problem with lesser mortals getting to the conclusion on their own that bothers you? Lay off. By all means, read the thread and read it carefully, and go ahead and leave advice that could help them the next time, but you needn't take the attitude that they're crying wolf in the dark when you are nowhere around when they do post. TheRaven is a talented person but just like some of the rest of us, she gets stuck at times and asks for help, but she doesn't give up when there is no one there to hold her hand and walk her through it. We need more people like her around to make shiny stuff, that's part of what the site is about. Making, sharing, discussing and having fun with the shiny. As well as being friends and part of the community that we call InSim.


Title: Re: Material trouble on object meshes
Post by: BlooM on October 11, 2009, 03:52:35 pm
i got the message....
I hope you also understand my point of view, its frustrating when you spent time to help somebody and the moment you bring a solution you get answers as:
Trashed it, got it already, i figured it out myself or found another way.....that happened to me atleast 3 times with her, thats why i jumped....srry, wont happen again..


Title: Re: Material trouble on object meshes
Post by: caffeinated.joy on October 11, 2009, 06:15:15 pm
It just seems to me, BlooM, you're taking it personally when there is no reason to. OK, so she found it on her own and didn't post that she had until after you posted information. I don't think she was doing it on purpose and you make it seem (to me) that this is how you're feeling about it. Regardless of whether theraven ended up needing the help or not, the point is you gave it, and someone else looking for help with the same issue will be glade you did. The help you gave won't be useful to her alone. It's all how you choose to look at it. Someone else might stumble upon any one of those threads and go "Oh so THAT'S what I'm doing wrong!". I think it's great she wasn't afraid to continue working at it on her own. We really need need more people like that.


Title: Re: Material trouble on object meshes
Post by: BlooM on October 12, 2009, 05:37:38 am
Are you her mom by any change? :D


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