Alpha ignored?

[ProfessorF]

I use pngs with transparent areas on several planes to simulate plants (see first screenshot in Maya)

 

 

But when I export to Babylon, the transparent areas are black:

 

 

Any ideas? Thanks.

 

 

 

 

[Ariel Yust]

Here you go mate:

this is what I use in my project.

var Materials=[];Materials.push(loadTexture("gfx/CategoryMirror.png", true, true));        function loadTexture(fileName, backFaceCulling, hasAlpha) {        var m = new BABYLON.StandardMaterial(fileName, scene);        var texture = new BABYLON.Texture(fileName, scene);            texture.anisotropicFilteringLevel = 0;        m.diffuseTexture = texture;        m.backFaceCulling = backFaceCulling;        m.diffuseTexture.hasAlpha = hasAlpha; //this is what your looking for =]        return m;    }

[GameMonetize]

Agree with Ariel:)

Blender exporter should automatically add it. How do you generate your .babylon file?

[ProfessorF]

>.hasAlpha

 

Yeah, I saw that in the documentation. I don't mind writing code to add the .hasAlpha, post hoc, but this is something that should be handled in the exporter.

 

> How do you generate your .babylon file?

Maya -> .fbx -> BabylonExporter.exe 

 

I'll see about hacking the exporter code. (Or I could use Blender.  Although I think it's better to support Maya & 3DS Max, since most pro studios use one of the two).

 

Thanks

[ProfessorF]

(DeltaKosh, could you please add this fix to the BabylonExporter repository?)

 

Okay, I modified the exporter code to work with alphas! 

 

But I don't think it's a hack.  It should be turned on by default. That model has 500K polys and it works with hasAlpha=true by default.

BabylonExport.Core > Entities > Export > StandardMaterial.cs:
...

            babylonMaterial.diffuseTexture = new BabylonTexture();

            babylonMaterial.diffuseTexture.name = Path.GetFileName(DiffuseTexture);

            babylonMaterial.diffuseTexture.hasAlpha = true; // <=== ProfessorF Mod

...

[GameMonetize]

Hello Prof, I cannot do that because it will force ALL material to activate alpha testing which has a cost when it comes to performance

 

When alpha testing is engaged, I must add a pixel alpha test and a discard into the shaders.

[ProfessorF]

Oh. I understand. Okay, I think I have a better fix then.

The code that determines whether a texture has alpha, is in BabylonExport.Core > Exporters > ThroughXNA > XNAExporter.cs

 

                    if (texture.Format != SurfaceFormat.Dxt1)

                    {

                        filename = Path.Combine(tempPath, texturesCount + ".png");

                    }

                    else

                    {

                        filename = Path.Combine(tempPath, texturesCount + ".jpg");

                    }

 

I experimented with many different files, tga, png, jpg, etc. If a texture had an alpha, then the texture.Format==SurfaceFormat.Dxt5, and the code would create a .png file.  Any texture without an alpha would create a .jpg file.  NOTE: even if the file was originally a .png, if it had no alpha, the code would force it to become a .jpg.

 

***** NEW FIX (POSSIBLY):

 

BabylonExport.Core > Entities > Export > StandardMaterial.cs:
...

            babylonMaterial.diffuseTexture = new BabylonTexture();

            babylonMaterial.diffuseTexture.name = Path.GetFileName(DiffuseTexture);

            if (babylonMaterial.diffuseTexture.name.ToLower().EndsWith(".png")) // <=== Do only if texture.Format != SurfaceFormat.Dxt1

                babylonMaterial.diffuseTexture.hasAlpha = true; // <=== ProfessorF Mod

...

 

I think that is the correct code.

[GameMonetize]

Great!!! I add the fix right now

 

Thank you very much