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How can I add an opacity channel to a material property?

lukon100lukon100 Posts: 803
in Technical Help (nuts n bolts)

I'm using a car paint shader from the default resources. It has no opacity channel. How can I add the opacity channel to it?

I have added opacity channels to other shaders before by just applying the iRay Uber shader to whatever it is. This usually works. But NOT with this paint shader. When I try it with this paint shader, the Uber just obliterates it, as if setting every color value to white.

So. I need to add the opacity channel another way.

Comments

  • felisfelis Posts: 4,305

    What shader is it you are using?

  • Richard HaseltineRichard Haseltine Posts: 100,747

    A lot of the shaders that come with DS are Iray examples shaders and have limited options. You could try opening them as custom MDL bricks in Shader Mixer, if they come in that form, and adding an opacity brick with texture inputs.

  • lukon100lukon100 Posts: 803

    felis said:

    What shader is it you are using?

    This one:  Shader Presets > Iray > NVIDIA MDL Examples > Car Paint - Green.duf

  • SquishySquishy Posts: 460

    those shaders aren't done to the same standards as the ones in the DAZ Uber folder, I don't think you can insert channels that aren't already built into the shader. You can save a partial from a different material but when I do that it actually just overwrites the whole shader. Probably better to just start with the shader examples in the DAZ Uber folder that have all the channels consistently defined.

  • Jason GalterioJason Galterio Posts: 2,562

    In the past I have turned on "Show Hidden Properties" in the surfaces tab, locate the property I want to use, then activate it.

    I've used this for Luminence, Bump, and Normals; when the existing shader has turned off those options and I don't want to mess with the surface too much.

  • Richard HaseltineRichard Haseltine Posts: 100,747

    Generally if a property is hidden in the Surfaces or Parameters pane it is because it is not supported in the current context.

  • Jason GalterioJason Galterio Posts: 2,562

    Richard Haseltine said:

    Generally if a property is hidden in the Surfaces or Parameters pane it is because it is not supported in the current context.

    That's why I mentioned which properties I've used it for. So far I've not had any issue adding any of those three to a shader.

  • BejaymacBejaymac Posts: 1,886

    What you are looking at is a custom MDL shader file, that has been imported into the Shader Mixer, connected to the User Parameters and MDL Surface bricks, applied to a surface, then saved as a DUF shader preset and a DSF shader asset.

    To add opacity to the shader you will need to edit the shader asset in the Shader Mixer, and add in an "Add Cutout" brick to it.

  • Richard HaseltineRichard Haseltine Posts: 100,747

    Bejaymac said:

    What you are looking at is a custom MDL shader file, that has been imported into the Shader Mixer, connected to the User Parameters and MDL Surface bricks, applied to a surface, then saved as a DUF shader preset and a DSF shader asset.

    To add opacity to the shader you will need to edit the shader asset in the Shader Mixer, and add in an "Add Cutout" brick to it.

    Thank you, I had forgotten (or never knew) that.

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