[BEGINNERS] Adding Transparency to your Imports!

[Spex130]

Alright, so you want to make parts of your texture see-through, do you? Well then, you've come to the right place!

What you'll need:

Brawlbox .71:
http://forums.kc-mm.com/Gallery/BrawlView.php?Number=35494

FitSZerosuit00.pac:
https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B4vhNdf69qaSQnZHYlZfSWNJM2M&tid=0B4vhNdf69qaSZ0N0MnBjOXFYMU0

Your import, fully rigged. If you find something wrong and have to reimport, you will have to repeat this process.

Prior Warnings:

First off, if you're applying this to a material that already is specially built (like Specular, ENV, etc), this will DESTROY the previous features. There is a way to do that, it won't be covered here.

Two, this can be done with Previous versions of BrawlBox, but don't cross files that were built with different versions. Try to import materials from .67 into .71 and the program will crash. DON'T CROSS THE STREAMS.


Step 1: Extract the Material/Shader

This step will stay the same no matter what you're doing.

First, we want to find a texture in a vanilla Brawl file that uses Transparency.

If we open up BrawlBox, and in turn open up our FitSZerosuit00.pac, we'll be able to find textures under the red TextureData[0] node.



Here, we have Fit_Nsam_Atama. That's pretty transparent. Let's use that.

So, now that we've found a texture that's transparent, let's find the Material that uses that texture!

If we click on the little plus on the MDL0 node in our ModelData[0] node, we can look at the folder representation of the individual parts of our model. We'll want to look inside Materials. Because we're looking for a Material. Remember?

In specific, we're looking for the material that's holding a reference to our Texture!



Like this guy.

Once we've found this guy, we need to find what Shader he's using.

See, texture attributes ingame rely on a combination of Materials and Shaders to achieve how they look, whether they be shiny, glowing, reflective, matte, scratched, etc.

So, in the right window, scroll until you find what Shader your material is using.



When you scroll, make sure you have the Material highlighted, and not its Texture Reference. They contain different information, and you won't find Shader details there.

In the MDL0's folder section, there should be a Shader folder as well. Look for the Shader that your Material was using.



And now that you've found both, export both the Material and the Shader to somewhere you'll remember.



And now that we have this info, we can move on to step two. You can close the Zero Suit file now.


Step 2: Apply the Material/Shader

So, open up your imported model. Nice, rigged, all that jazz. Just needs the final touches.

I'm just going to apply this process to Popo, but you can do it to whomever.


AS A NOTE:

Your texture must be compressed in such a way that it allows Transparency. Use CMPR for Extreme Compression, RBG5A3 for High Detail, and RGB5A8 for no Compression whatsoever.


First, find the material that uses the texture you want transparent:



Copy down its texture reference.

Next, use the replace function on it, and replace it with the Material you exported earlier. (You DO remember where it is, right?)






Next, once you replace it, you should see that the material name stayed the same, but the texture references got destroyed. Put them back.






Next, right-click on your MDL0 node and Create a new Shader




Replace this Shader with the Shader you exported earlier.




And then, last but not least, set your material's Shader to the new Shader you just created!




And poof. Your texture should now be transparent ingame! Probably.


Post any questions you have and I'll try to answer them if I can!

[Gamma Ridley]

If I recall correctly, you don't actually need the shader, the material will usually be sufficient. Also, this is good if you're a complete beginner and you're working on a character, but if you're working on a stage, try nabbing a transparent material from a stage element and use that, since the lighting settings will be different.

But yes, this tutorial is good. Good good.

[the_randomizer]

I should note that adding a new shader is impossible for Wolf, it's grayed out in Brawl Box 0.71, ctrl+H cannot be used at all, even after properly replacing the material, it doesn't work, I can't add the new shader at all.

[BlackJax96]

You can't have more shaders than materials.

[Mewtwo2000]

Come  on, you don't need to copy over materials nor shaders at all, with the EnableBlend and XLUMaterial properties on materials set on true you're done...

It's easier than copying over, you only need to experiment just a little...

[Spex130]

There you have it, leave it the pros you guys!