Softimage displaying alpha map instead of diffuse in viewport. : (

synergy11

http://img822.imageshack.us/i/ohnopoopy.jpg/

Could someone help me to fix this?

I want the diffuse displayed in the viewport not the alpha map!

However this renders perfectly fine. It's just easier too see the diffuse in the viewport!

Thanks folks!

Chris

cryrid

Open the material, and go to the OpenGL tab. You can have it track a specific image there (such as the diffuse). I think otherwise it tends to track the last clip you added. I'd be curious to see how your texture and material/render tree is set up though, as you should be able to see the diffuse+alpha at the same time.

synergy11

http://img862.imageshack.us/i/alphahelp.jpg/

I tried changing around the settings in the Open Gl tab under materials but nothing worked.

However I replugged in the diffuse so that would be the last map updated in the render tree and it kinda worked.

Now I see the diffuse but also a strange pink color which I believe is from the Tangent property I added for the Normal Map.

I attached a pic.

Thanks cryrid.

Chris.

cryrid

Switching the mode from track specific image/UV pair did nothing?

Regarding the tangent display, if you open the viewport's display options, under the display mode tab there's an option for 'vertex colors'. You can switch that to 'never show (use material)' to get rid of it.

synergy11

Hey Thanks for you responses.

I am using Version 6. Maybe that's why? I tried selecting all the different modes and then picking a clip in the open GL tab for the material but for some reason nothing happens.

I got rid of the tangent showing in the viewport also by reconnecting the diffuse texture last will fix the problem.

However the alpha still will not show in the viewport. It renders fine. But I still see the gray around my textures.

Is it possible to have the alpha cut out in the viewport?

Thanks again for all your help.

BTW were my materials and textures map's set up good in the render tree? Is that how you would do it?

cryrid

The OGL thing should work regardless of the version, and I wouldn't think the tangent display would care about the last texture added as it would normally just blend with whatever the result was until manually disabled. :S

The render tree doesn't look bad. You might be able to do without the 3 separate image nodes for the one color texture if they aren't doing anything unique, but the end result would still be the same. Personally I tend to stick with realtime shaders instead of Mental Ray.

synergy11

Thanks for your help.

I assume by using the real time shaders for rendering in xsi instead of Mental Ray you get a closer idea to what your art will look like in a game engine?

Is that the only benefit?

cryrid

The big benefit is that everything is done instantly. You don't have to wait for the render region to update just to see what the normal map looks like or how the specular is doing. Change the value on a slider and you can watch the difference.

That and Mental Ray seems to be set up weird by default (at least past v7, I forget what 6 is like). I always had to get rid of the ambiance and change the gamma and lights just to prevent textures from looking washed out and blurry.