I am trying to model a face with a reference image. (I am using the offical build 2.57) and have loaded in my reference picture, which I can see in the back ground. The problem is that it is not blending with the object in front of it in the 3D view. Making it really difficult to use as a reference. I have tried adjusting the opacity slider to no effect. I can see the reference image if I switch to wireframe mode, but this is inconvient.
Am I missing something?
I only use Blender 2.49, so Im not sure that “reference image” is the same with “background image”.
If yes, then it is reasonable it doesn’t work, since the background image is always rendered first, i.e. nothing is ever going to be “behind” it.
What you need is to create a plane (Space -> Mesh -> Plane) and map a Texture of type “Image” and file “Your image”, on it.
Then you got a plane that is indeed a 3D object and you can move it, give it Alpha (transparency), put it in front or behind things, etc.
I hope this is helpful.
With dtrips suggestion for blender 2.57 you can use the Import Images as Planes addon http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Extensions:2.5/Py/Scripts/Add_Mesh/Planes_from_Images
How can i make such plane with a level of transparency i can control ?
I can’t find anywhere a setting to do that in the 3D view.
I even tried to work the texture that will be used as the foreground to have in GIMP a certain percentage of opacity then saved it as a PNG
When i import that reworked PNG texture as a plane and select the plane, i can see the object through my semi transparent texture without a problem, it seems to works exactly as expected.
Until i select the object that is behind that plane to work on it … the plane lose its transparency and the object becomes then unworkable.
As an example :
If i select the plane, you can see it works, it’s as expected transparent
But if i select the cube behind that plane … no more transparency
Is there a solution - without using GLSL - ?
I attached the example blend from the screenshot with the translucent texture packed in it if someone can see better what i’m doing wrong.
I found the solution after trying so many things that i lost track of them.
On the example blend, without touching to any settings, select the plane (not the model behind the plane) and in the Model tab click on X-Ray
result you can select the model behind the cube, and the transparency does not disappear anymore !
I thought X-ray on the plane would just prevent the model behind it to be displayed like it does when i use retopo, but in fact it’s what in that specific case will make the whole thing to work.
Note : works the same in Blender 2.49b