Problem exporting a .dts model with two-sided transparency
by TF · in Artist Corner · 08/20/2008 (12:00 am) · 3 replies
Milkshape versions 1.82 and 1.79
ms2dtsExporterPlus.dll created Monday, January 29, 2007, 8:17:52 AM
TGE 1.5.2
I am trying to export a cube with a two-sided transparent texture (PNG format) from milkshape using the DTS Plus exporter and while it looks great in milkshape it does not appear correct in Showtool Pro.
The picture in the link below is from a tutorial on how to remedy a similar problem exporting from 3ds max, however it accurately portrays what I am seeing. The inner and outer textures of the box render out of order given creepy inverted sort of parallax where the background is in the foreground and vice versa.
http://www.garagegames.com/docs/tge/general/images/max2dts/badsort.jpeg
From the last two days of scanning forums it seems I am not the only one who has had this issue and the general solution seems to be moving on to a different modeling program. I would greatly appreciate it if anyone could share a workaround for this problem for someone on a low budget.
Specifically what I am doing: (though I have tried every trick listed in these forums)
1. Made a box and duplicated it, reversed vertex order and then welded the vertexes together
2. Exported to wavefront .obj
3. Made a .bmp (512 x 512) with UV mapper classic 0.26b and saved new .obj
4. Used the GIMP 2.4.6 to make transparent .PNG
5. Imported new .obj and textured with .PNG
6. Looks awesome in MS
7. Exported with DTS plus (set material to translucent and everything else default)
8. Opened the dts in STP
9. Looks like the link (not awesome)
Thanks,
Travis
Edit: Single-side transparency works just fine.
ms2dtsExporterPlus.dll created Monday, January 29, 2007, 8:17:52 AM
TGE 1.5.2
I am trying to export a cube with a two-sided transparent texture (PNG format) from milkshape using the DTS Plus exporter and while it looks great in milkshape it does not appear correct in Showtool Pro.
The picture in the link below is from a tutorial on how to remedy a similar problem exporting from 3ds max, however it accurately portrays what I am seeing. The inner and outer textures of the box render out of order given creepy inverted sort of parallax where the background is in the foreground and vice versa.
http://www.garagegames.com/docs/tge/general/images/max2dts/badsort.jpeg
From the last two days of scanning forums it seems I am not the only one who has had this issue and the general solution seems to be moving on to a different modeling program. I would greatly appreciate it if anyone could share a workaround for this problem for someone on a low budget.
Specifically what I am doing: (though I have tried every trick listed in these forums)
1. Made a box and duplicated it, reversed vertex order and then welded the vertexes together
2. Exported to wavefront .obj
3. Made a .bmp (512 x 512) with UV mapper classic 0.26b and saved new .obj
4. Used the GIMP 2.4.6 to make transparent .PNG
5. Imported new .obj and textured with .PNG
6. Looks awesome in MS
7. Exported with DTS plus (set material to translucent and everything else default)
8. Opened the dts in STP
9. Looks like the link (not awesome)
Thanks,
Travis
Edit: Single-side transparency works just fine.
#2
08/21/2008 (5:08 am)
I've also solved similar problems by reordering the mesh groups (and using mesh groups). The order in which they appear is the order in which they render. I was making lots of lamps recently and needed a trans glass 'shade' and a trans lightbulb. It looked awfully wierd until I made sure the lightbulb group appeared above the 'shade' group, and it rendered correctly. This was easy to fix in UU3d or shaper in dts form. 
Associate Chris Robertson
tdn.garagegames.com/wiki/DTS/3dsmax/Z_Sorting_Explained
Basically, the issue you are seeing has nothing to do with milkshape, but is a limitation of the way Torque renders transparent meshes. For such a simple shape, you may have some success using the 'SORT' options in the Edit Mesh dialog of the DTSPlus exporter.