Photoworks + Transparency Problems

[diamondcat]

SWX 2006 SP 4.0

My end product needs to be a plastic cylinder with advertising on the outside and some mechanisms on the inside. I just started using Photoworks this morning and have managed to get my advertising decal on the outside of my cylinder but I am having problems with transparency. I want to be able to see the advertising well, but also lightly see the mechanisms inside the cylinder. My outer cylinder with the decal is a separate part. I am able to go into that part and make it transparent by right clicking on the cylinder extrude/appearance/color and sliding the transparency bar. When I save that and go back to the assembly, it doesn't look transparent at all and I can only slightly make out an outline on one of the inner items. I tried right clicking and 'changing transparency' in the assembly, and nothing changes.
Does anyone have any idea what I am doing wrong?
Thanks

 

[GBor]

I'll let the guru's handle this, but is your decal a bitmap that you are overlaying on your cylinder? Or is it something you have modeled...

Garland E. Borowski, PE
Borowski Engineering & Analytical Services, Inc.
Lower Alabama SolidWorks Users Group

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

Check out the X-Ray Vision example at

http://www.mikejwilson.com/solidworks/solidworks_files-02.htm

Also, have you applied a colour to the part at the assy level?


Helpful SW websites FAQ559-520
How to get answers to your SW questions FAQ559-1091

 

[rockguy]

Can you post a picture? It may have something to do with your refraction settings in PhotoWorks/option/raytracing.



Rob Rodriguez CSWP
President: Northern
Vermont SolidWorks User Group

http://www.robrodriguez.com

(updated 6/05/06)
SW 2006 SP 4.0

 

[Theophilus]

Try using a transparent material within PhotoWorks to obtain your transparency. You can tweak the properties within the PhotoWorks dialog boxes.

Decals with transparent areas are best created with the transparency as part of the file--such as PNG or TIF formats--although you can select which colors to make transparent within PhotoWorks (less effective).

Also, depending on your Options settings for PhotoWorks, you may see an opaque or transparent object in your SolidWorks view pane that will render quite differently. For example, I have the first three options checked, next two unchecked, and next two checked with the last unchecked.

There are also loads of things you can do with indirect lighting, materials, reflections/refraction settings (in options), etc. to enhance the realism of the rendering. Check the Links and FAQ (Websites link) sections for great materials to further learn about PhotoWorks.

For what it's worth, all the images on my web site (now somewhat limited) were generated using PhotoWorks.

Jeff Mowry

http://www.industrialdesignhaus.com

Reason trumps all. And awe trumps reason.

 

[diamondcat]

I think I figured it out.

When I made my decal image, I have a light blue background on it. I used the selective mask tool and picked that color. Now it shows up in my assembly as transluscent.

Thanks for the ideas.

 

[rockguy]

Just for future reference, if you have issues with the edge of your decals appearing jagged (which tends to happen when using selective color mask)you can overcome this issue by creating your own image mask and using the mask from file option.

Rob Rodriguez CSWP
President: Northern
Vermont SolidWorks User Group

http://www.robrodriguez.com

(updated 6/05/06)
SW 2006 SP 4.0

 

[diamondcat]

Thanks.

The Photoworks seems real cool, I wish my company would allow more work time to investigate it. I think our customers would really like it.

 

[ctopher]

At my last job, we won a major aerospace contract partly because of some PhotoWorks pics I did. IMO, well worth the time to learn.

Chris
Systems Analyst, I.S.
SolidWorks 06 4.1/PDMWorks 06
AutoCAD 06
ctopher's home (updated 06-21-06)

 

[Theophilus]

If you check into some of the sites, tutorials, etc. mentioned above, this will help you greatly reduce time necessary in learning how to make excellent rendernings. The render engine PhotoWorks uses is extremely powerful.

Jeff Mowry

http://www.industrialdesignhaus.com

Reason trumps all. And awe trumps reason.

 

[diamondcat]

I was looking at Rob's website and was amazed at some of the things that are possible. I think I will try some tutorials and see where I can go with it.