topic Re: Views through more than one layer of glass in Visualization

Views through more than one layer of glass

Anonymous — Thu, 11 May 2023 11:56:53 GMT

One layer of glass in archiCAD can be transparent, However I can find no way to see through more layers. For sun or the views. Is there a way to achieve this using ArchiCAD or can it only be achieved with other software?
Thanks,

Re: Views through more than one layer of glass

Dwight — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 23:17:59 GMT

Switch rendering method to "best" [Photorendering Settings]

Re: Views through more than one layer of glass

Anonymous — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 04:58:35 GMT

I'm not sure, but i think the problem mentioned in the O.P. occurs in the 3D window where two transparent objects overlap. I've been encountering this regularly and haven't been able to pin down the responsible settings. I also use VBE and when it occurs, the problem seems to transfer to VBE files.
In the attached image (from 3D window, rendering with openGL), i have a semi-transparent water texture to the pool and a transparent setting (no texture) to surrounding glazed pool fence; when viewing through fence towards pool, it seems that not only water texture, but also water 'object' is not visible.

Re: Views through more than one layer of glass

Erika Epstein — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 07:01:19 GMT

multiple layers of glass to see through...reminds me of Jacque Tati's Playtime

Re: Views through more than one layer of glass

Anonymous — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 14:29:38 GMT

Kombibob,

Did you see Dwight's post? Set Photorender >Method to "Best"

Method controls the reflectivity and transparency in Photorenders.
At the lowest setting = no transparency & no reflectance, at highest (Best) not only can you see through many transparent objects, but reflectance is maxed out.
Try it with each of the settings, it will help your render quickly when desired or accurately when needed. By the way, for a render this small you should set antialias a little higher, the moires are distracting, even for a scene test.

Snap

Re: Views through more than one layer of glass

Anonymous — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 01:56:51 GMT

snap,

i did see dwight's post, however it would seem to relate to renderings.

the image i attached is from the 3d window (although with textures turned on). i have done trial renders of the image with both the internal rendering engine and lightworks engine and the water texture is visible through the transparent elements of the pool fence. This doesn't seem to be an issue. In any case, we are using mainly artlantis for rendering and not had any issues such as this.

The texture not appearing through other [transparent/translucent] elements is an annoyance only in the context of the 3d window, however my main problem is that sometimes it seems to transfer to output when using VBE (see previous post archicad-talk.graphisoft.com/viewtopic.php?p=147816#147816) and i don't understand if/where it can be addressed.

rob

Re: Views through more than one layer of glass

Anonymous — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 17:08:33 GMT

Thanks all. However, no one appears to have THE ANSWER yet, short of Photoshop-ing. Frustrating as that may be. I look forward to more thoughts and ideas from the ArchiCAD community.
Paul

Re: Views through more than one layer of glass

Dwight — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 18:12:16 GMT

While testing your proposition, I did momentarily encounter the block-the-water issue.

But here is an example of many overlaid, partially transparent textures that seem to work.

Re: Views through more than one layer of glass

Barry Kelly — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 04:26:52 GMT

It hasn't been solved in version 13 either.
This is just a 3D OpenGL view.
The glass gate on the left is identical to the one on the right.
Does anyone have any ideas on how to avoid this?
Barry.

Re: Views through more than one layer of glass

Barry Kelly — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 04:28:09 GMT

And here is a view from the other end looking through identical windows.

Re: Views through more than one layer of glass

Anonymous — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 16:47:10 GMT

Thanks Barry for your confirmation of this problem
It seems Graphisoft should have heard of and solved this problem long ago. I now try to change the Material glass to be totally clear ie: empty with no reflection, etc. and it helps some. However, that view through two sets of window to see outside etc. is not one that outside of 3D fully rendered views can be shown to our clients.

Paul

Re: Views through more than one layer of glass

Ed_Brown — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 14:13:47 GMT

Barry,

Thanks for letting us look at your file.

To get the transparency perfect you do need to use the rendering interface as mentioned earlier.

Our OpenGL display has been designed to favor responsiveness over perfect rendering accuracy.

As transparent surfaces stack in a given drawing the cost in CPU cycles increases. To get it right would be to sacrifice refresh speed in the 3d window. In large models this can already get slow. So it was determined that ArchiCAD's OpenGL 3d window will get one layer of transparency correct. Depending upon the order of processing distant objects it may get two or possibly more layers correct, but this is not guaranteed.

In your swimming pool example the processing order of the tranparent polygons in the picture, by luck, get it correct, on one side or the other.

That is, this is a bug that we will live with until processors are better.

Re: Views through more than one layer of glass

jkershaw — Fri, 18 May 2018 21:27:55 GMT

It's now 2018, and we STILL have the layers of transparency issue in OpenGL. I have a glass railing, and a glass window, and when they overlap, it's as though all transparency goes away.

I understand that I can render the scene and this issue goes away, but are we the only studio that uses the 3D window (openGL) everyday for both workflow AND presentations? We love it!

Have processors gotten to the point that GS can look into a solution to this issue?