parts semi-transparency

[Dune]

A strange title, but when I was putting this together, I thought it would be nice to be able to 'blur' certain parts of a model. Like the rotor, which was post in PS here. Perhaps a fine alpha channel for opacity could do that, but I have to dive into that again. There were some threads regarding this, but I wasn't able to find them.
The image title is also strange, as I was first making an abyss for the heli to hover above, later adding some water. And the real truth is that I just wanted to test out a new tree I made.... so never mind the ugly ground surface.

[Klas]

it would be nice to be able to 'blur' certain parts of a model. Like the rotor

Like this from swissAdA?
Try http://forums.planetside.co.uk/index.php?topic=11893.msg120328#msg120328

[Henry Blewer]

Just testing a tree I made. lol The trees look very good.
Which tree is the one you are testing?

[Dune]

The one in the top right, Henry. Just in front of the other one beside it  (it's an oak I just made)

@Klas: Thanks. I found that thread indeed, but haven't opened the file yet. I may have done so at the time, but can't remember how it was done.

[Henry Blewer]

Oh, That Tree!

All said, this is a nice test render. Quick setups can really show off a persons skill.

[choronr]

Someone once offered this droplet .tgc. Wondering if you could add it to create a ring pattern on the water below the chopper. BTW, THOSE TREES LOOK GREAT!

[Dune]

@ Klas: I opened the file and remembered I did so before. But the method is of no use to this rotor, it just takes parts out. A really blurred rotor is just impossible yet. If we could have motion blur in other items than the render cam, it would work. So, it's post for now.
@ Bob; Thanks, I know that method. But I've taken the water out and went back to my old setup with the abyss, which is rendering now. With some new black alders this time. The trees would even look better (all my renders would) if I increase detail and AA (and use soft shadows all the time), like the guys with the i7's do. My machine turns black if I attempt that.

[dandelO]

Here's how SwissAda described it to me;



The image maps do all the work.
Is the helicopter rotor one solid disc(as the Spitfire is) or, a number of blades? If it's the latter, you might want to edit the model to make it a disc and use a greyscale opacity map, when used as a blendshader opacity works very well.
The method won't work on individual blades, as you know, motion blur would be required to actually move the rotor.

[Henry Blewer]

Genius.

[Dune]

That's a good idea, Martin. For the moment I've blurred the rotors in PS. Rocky needs more work, but I doubt if I'll do that. It was just for the trees anyway. Up to the next challenge.

[Henry Blewer]

It looks like the gate to hello. That is a bery , err, very deep crater. Walli got me thinking about blackberries.  ::)Too bad they are out of season.

[choronr]

Impressive sink hole. Now the image is more dramatic ...I like this.

[Dune]

I changed the helicopter, and it works like a charm. No post here, except some color adjustments.

EDIT: I may continue with this and add something that would show the depth. The light source isn't working very well. Another helicopter perhaps...

[Dune]

I thought to take a shot upwards, but this is what happens to the transparent disc. I tried all settings of the object (like 2-sided, flip normals, etc, even turned the object 180 degrees), but couldn't get it transparent again. Does anyone have an idea? Perhaps something I have to change in the disc object itself?

[Dune]

Just obliterated the disc for the time being.