Can I make my modeling object transparent to see my reference image better?

Support Modeling
#1

I watched a video of Blender 2.72 where the guy made his cube semi-transparent by going to the Shading menu and choosing GLSL instead of Multi-texture and then adding a diffuse texture and turned down the alpha. Then he took it from solid mode to textured and it was see through in the viewport.

Well I don’t see the option in 2.77a to select GLSL. I tried various approaches following this but my object still remains a solid opaque. I know I have the wireframe option but I would like to see the skin of my subdivided surface as i go.

Is there a way to do this so I can see my reference image through the object I am modeling?

Thanks for any help on this.

#2

First go to “Object” in the properties panel and enable “Transparency” under display
Add a material to the object and check the transparency option, then lower the alpha

#3

I do not know how to make it work in edit mode but in object mode you can go to the object tab, navigate to display and then turn on transparency, then go to the material tab, create a new material or use and existing on and then navigate to the settings tab where you will find an option to change the alpha transparency.

#4

Glsl is available when blender render is active. You don’t have to switch texturing mode to glsl as material viewport shading mode already uses it. That wasn’t available in 2.72.

If you’re using background images (listed in 3d view properties), those have an option to show them in front of the object instead of behind.

Make a custom to use screenshots of the whole Blender interface to help you explain and show what you’re working with, just like in other threads you’ve posted before. An example .blend relays even more information and is usually needed for troubleshooting and for communicating, and screenshots aren’t a substitute for it.

#5

DCBloodHound, guess I am not following what you said. I did as you instructed but nothing became transparent.

But changing the reference image to “front” did the trick.

Thank you both.

#6

JA12’s method is the better one.

For the other method, hopefully this will explain it better:

Bit.jpg1366×2216 576 KB

#7

Thanks DCBloodHound. I appreciate your taking the time to make the screenshots for me. It let me know that i had done it properly. But for some reason my object remained totally opaque.

Here are two screen grabs. I used cycles render and made the setting changes indicated in your samples.

I lowered my object so you can see the reference image behind the mesh and you can see that the mesh is not transparent as your cube is.

Again thank you. I will experiment further but at least I can get the effect I want using JA12’s method…as you also stated.

TransparencyProb.jpg1851×2089 1.19 MB

#8

You just have to use background image and turn on the option front instead of back so your image will display in front of your model and you can control the opacity of the image.

#9

That is very odd, could you test it with a new file that is on factory default settings when you have time?

That might narrow it down if it is simply a setting that was changed or if it is a driver or hardware issue.

#10

Servapunk…that was what JA12 recommended and yes it is the method that worked.

DCBloodHound, i will do it now…with the default cube.

Edited: The cube does become transparent with those settings…as long as it is in object mode. Then I put in the background ref image and it was still transparent.

BUT, when I switched to Edit mode the cube went back to solid opaque.

Funny that my marlin mesh object would not even show transparent when in Object mode…but the default cube would.

#11

Yeah it doesn’t work in edit mode unfortunately.