Topic: Creating a building coveret with lamellas

[jorgensen]

Hi

I'm sketching a building, and thought I could use a simple alpha texture to achieve this.

It's fine when I'm close to the building, but when I move away, the texture disappers.

Is there a way to fix this, or do I need to model the lamells?

Thanks

[Gaieus]

I won't be able to quote the post now (sunken somewhere on the forums) but as I read, this will be fixed in the upcoming release.

[Morten]

This is just to confirm that Gaieus is right - this has been fixed in the upcoming Lumion 3.0.

However, if you need a solution right now please follow the instructions in this post:

http://lumion3d.com/forum/general-discussion/problems-with-visibility-of-opacity-maps/msg37296/#msg37296

[jorgensen]

Hi Morten

Thanks for your input.

I have tried the method, but when I import the dds texture, the alpha part is shown as a black (as it is in the texture) and not transparent

I have tried adjusting the 'reflection or clip' slider with no luck :-/

I'm probably doing something wrong, but what?

Thanks

[Morten]

Hi jorgensen, can you post a screenshot of the DDS texture from Photoshop (with all the mipmap levels visible)?

Which DDS format did you save it in? DXT1/DXT3/DXT5/8.8.8.8?

[jorgensen]

Hi Morten

Here is the texture.

[Morten]

Hmm, everything seems correct.

Can you upload the DDS texture as well please?

[jorgensen]

Sure... here it is.

[Morten]

Ah, it seems that you have misunderstood step 5 in the instructions:

5) Edit the smallest mipmaps so that the pixels that you want to show up in Lumion are white on the alpha mask.

(You have edited the diffuse channels of the texture (RGB), not the alpha channel)

[jorgensen]

Thanks morten - Iv'e got it to work.

[Morten]

Good to hear that, it's quite an arcane method but it works.

In 3.0, Ferry has made sure that you won't need to do this stuff manually anymore, i.e. surfaces that use alpha clip masks won't fade out and eventually become invisible as you move the camera further away.

[jorgensen]

Sounds nice - I'm looking foreward for the update.