Transmap Problems in PoserPro 11

[Miss B]

OK, I'll try and make this a short description of the problem I'm having. I ran a number of textures containing transparency in some areas of a piece of clothing in Poser9, and everything rendered beautifully.

Now I'm trying to run the same textures through PoserPro 11, and every time I try to load up a texture, the piece of clothing disappears. Now I'm not saying that it disappears from the scene, because when I hover over the item in my workspace, I can see the outline of the item in red, so it's there, but not showing, and yes I checked my Hierarchy Editor, and it's not showing as hidden.

Has anyone who's worked with transparency in PP11 had any issues, and perhaps some tips/suggestions as to what may be causing this, and how to work around it? It's possible it's a glitch in PP11's Material Room, which wouldn't surprise me as there are glitches all over PP11, though most I can work around. This one's new to me, and I can't think why it's making the whole piece of each matzone transparent, instead of following the transmap.

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[Glitterati3D]

OK, I'll try and make this a short description of the problem I'm having. I ran a number of textures containing transparency in some areas of a piece of clothing in Poser9, and everything rendered beautifully.

Now I'm trying to run the same textures through PoserPro 11, and every time I try to load up a texture, the piece of clothing disappears. Now I'm not saying that it disappears from the scene, because when I hover over the item in my workspace, I can see the outline of the item in red, so it's there, but not showing, and yes I checked my Hierarchy Editor, and it's not showing as hidden.

Has anyone who's worked with transparency in PP11 had any issues, and perhaps some tips/suggestions as to what may be causing this, and how to work around it? It's possible it's a glitch in PP11's Material Room, which wouldn't surprise me as there are glitches all over PP11, though most I can work around. This one's new to me, and I can't think why it's making the whole piece of each matzone transparent, instead of following the transmap.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Wow, yeah, that's a new one on me. Try disconnecting the trans maps to see....if they are the problem. Don't delete them, just disconnect them.

 

[Miss B]

The problem is, without the transmap, the item is solid, with the portions of the item that are supposed to have transparency, are solid black. That said, I remembered a thread about transmaps on the SM Poser forum, where BB expounded on the difference between transparency and opacity. IOW, instead of white for the areas you want to be opaque, and black for the portions you want to be transparent, it has to be the opposite, because they really aren't "transparency" maps, but "opacity" maps.

Older versions of Poser didn't b*tch about it, but PP11 is. Also the screenshots he had posted in that thread used the Physical Surface root node, and not the Poser Surface root node, so I'm going to be playing with this to see what I can come up with.

 

[quietrob]

There are two blocks to deal with. Superfly base and Firefly (Physical and Poser Surface). Are you certain you are connecting to Firefly nodes? Just a note. Bagginsbill helped with Firefly to Superfly conversion over at the SM forum.

 

[Glitterati3D]

The problem is, without the transmap, the item is solid, with the portions of the item that are supposed to have transparency, are solid black. That said, I remembered a thread about transmaps on the SM Poser forum, where BB expounded on the difference between transparency and opacity. IOW, instead of white for the areas you want to be opaque, and black for the portions you want to be transparent, it has to be the opposite, because they really aren't "transparency" maps, but "opacity" maps.

Older versions of Poser didn't b*tch about it, but PP11, is. Also the screenshots he had posted in that thread used the Physical Surface root node, and not the Poser Surface root node, so I'm going to be playing with this to see what I can come up with.

Right, I knew that wasn't how it was supposed to be, but I was trying to diagnose the problem by process of elimination.

I would suggest the fastest way to solve it would be to try EZSkin3 on the materials that require a transmap if that, indeed, is what the problem is.

You can always set the material to something like hair for those areas that need transparency in EZSkin3.

 

[Satira Capriccio]

I tried setting up a transparency in PP11, and the same thing happened.

So, I then setup the transparency in PP2014. That worked as expected. Saved the scene. And opened it in PP11. Transparency worked as it should.

I then loaded a new piece of clothing onto Dawn and set up transparency on that outfit. Clothing was invisible.

I copied my material setup from the clothing I'd setup in PP2014 and pasted it on the newly loaded clothing. Transparency worked on it.

 

[Satira Capriccio]

Keep in mind, I did this with FireFly nodes.

 

[Miss B]

There are two blocks to deal with. Superfly base and Firefly (Physical and Poser Surface). Are you certain you are connecting to Firefly nodes? Just a note. Bagginsbill helped with Firefly to Superfly conversion over at the SM forum.

Yes I've read that thread and BB's wonderful explanations and screenshots, and re-read it again today, but I've tried the vendor's "trans" map and an inverted "opacity" map, and the same thing happens in both cases. I can understand if the transparency/opacity wasn't working as I expected, but it made the whole dress, even portions that had no transparency at all, disappear. HUH?????

BTW Rob, I tried both Poser Surface and Physical Surface root nodes and had the same result with both. My problem is not rendering the dress, but actually "seeing" it in preview. It just simply disappears, and Dawn is standing their naked.

Anyway, I just posted a long-winded post on the SM Poser forum, because that other thread is 10-months old, so this may have occurred with an SR that came out since then, and not necessarily just the latest update.

 

[Miss B]

I copied my material setup from the clothing I'd setup in PP2014 and pasted it on the newly loaded clothing. Transparency worked on it.

Ohhhh, I hadn't thought about copying the material setup. Hmmmmm . . . .

 

[Miss B]

I would suggest the fastest way to solve it would be to try EZSkin3 on the materials that require a transmap if that, indeed, is what the problem is.

You can always set the material to something like hair for those areas that need transparency in EZSkin3.

You think EZSkin3 will change what we see in Preview? I didn't think it affected anything except what you see in SuperFly renders.

 

[Glitterati3D]

You think EZSkin3 will change what we see in Preview? I didn't think it affected anything except what you see in SuperFly renders.

No, it won't. That's my only complaint about Superfly.....the materials do not show true until rendered.

 

[Miss B]

Well, I've found that very true, because this puppy only has an integrated CPU and not a GPU, so I never see textures as they should look before rendering.

 

[Glitterati3D]

Well, I've found that very true, because this puppy only has an integrated CPU and not a GPU, so I never see textures as they should look before rendering.

I do have a GPU (now) and the display is the same.

 

[Miss B]

Do you have SreeD or OpenGL selected in Display Engine on the Preview tab for Render Settings?

Also do you have Enable hardware shading selected? It didn't make a difference for me, but Satira told me she has that checked, and she showed me a screenshot of one of her textures that looked the same in preview as it does when rendered, the difference being the GPU she has on her computer.

 

[Glitterati3D]

OpenGL. I have never used SreeD.

Enable hardware shading is whatever the default is and I can't check right now as I have a render going.

 

[Miss B]

OK, I think if the Enable hardware shading isn't checked, that would make a difference. I didn't have it checked by default in either P9 or PP11. I thought I would just mention it . . . just in case.

 

[phdubrov]

Glitch is in the OpenGL workings in P11. There is a thread at SM forum about it.
When Cycles Surface shaders applied - hard to see preview mesh
In short, use SreeD if you want textured preview with correct opacity/transparency, and remember that you would see only FF root.

 

[Satira Capriccio]

I wasn't using cycles surface shaders. Unlike what Miss B experienced, it was only the material zone that I applied the transparency to that became invisible. In my case, it seems to be random. Because when I opened PP11 up later in the evening and tried again, the transparency worked when I added a transmap. But when I added a new clothing item and setup transparency on it, the material zone became invisible. But again, copying and pasting the working transparency setup to the new clothing item fixed that.

This morning, I tried again, and it worked for both clothing items.

Soo ... no idea what's going on there.

 

[Miss B]

Oh thanks for that link PHD. I started a thread over at SM Poser forum about this issue, and got a couple of tips/suggestions which seem to confirm what Satira posted that it doesn't happen all the time.

One tip suggested shutting down Poser, clearing the Poser cache, which I do every night when I log off, and restarting it. Another tip suggested playing with the Transparency Value amount slightly, and then go back to what it should be. I just got up a little while ago, so haven't had a chance to try these out yet. At least now I know I'm not the only one who's experienced this.

Oh, and I also am only working with the Poser Surface root node, because the textures weren't set up specifically for SuperFly, so didn't try the Cycles root node. I did try the Physical Surface root node, since it can be used with FireFly, but that didn't work either.

 

[Me195]

Stupid question. What do you have set for display transparency settings here?