Could somebody please point me in the direction of how to create a backlit illuminated sign which is using an image rather than blender material - much like you would have above a shop front display. I have played with transparency/translucency nodes and alpha channel of the .png image but I am not getting the desired result.
The .png image I am using has letters and logo set to a transparency of 90%. I have created a plane with an emission material ‘behind’ the image but the light doesn’t ‘shine’ through
For this to work irl you’d need some kind of transparent material you’d paint using transparent or translucent colors. This is not much different in Blender, Cycles or BI renderer.
Since you mention plane with emission material i assume you are using Cycles. You have to have Glass, Translucent or Transparency BSDF.
You can not feed color information directly to material Output node.
You could use Emission directly if image color goes to color input and alpha sets emission strength. http://ctrlv.in/739631
Hey RiChap52, for some reason I couldn’t upload an image here, something to do with permissions, but here is a link to something I’ve tried in the past that seemed pretty close to what I think you’re after. http://twicemike.tumblr.com/post/142950708461/shop-light-cycles-material-anyone-gotta-a-good
Hope it helps, I got close, but I’m sure someone can come up with a better solution.
Well after I posted this I see my image appear…wtf?
Thanks MykeC. It’s not quite the effect I am after, as I want the words/letters to illuminate rather than the surrounding BG but it has certainly pointed me in the right direction for which I am grateful to you.
