Hi guys! I used Blender as an amateur in the days that Ton (from my hometown Eindhoven, Netherlands) was struggling for survival several years ago. I tried to learn Blender somewhat (see my first attempt: http://www.wta.nl/blender/primitives.html) but got too busy to continue learning the skills.
But now I really need your help.
In my learning days I saw an rendered example of a sphere that was half solid and nicely lit, and faded into a wireframe. I knew then how this was done, but I can’t remember it anymore.
I’ve searched many tutorials, but couldn’t find it. If you know what I mean (it’s difficult to explain in English), do you know where I can find this tutorial, the method or at least the picture?
I would suggest doing it in post. Just render one fully shaded and one just wires. Put them on top of each other, play with transparency and presto! A lot of the blender community here uses the gimp. I’m a photoshop fan myself (my school has it).
Thanks m_m for your reply. Post would of course do the trick. But I distinctly know that Blender can do this trick on its own, much faster. And I’ve seen proof of it. I only don’t know where and when. It could even be several years ago!
add a blend texture (alpha to pure white). Adjust it by adding new color positions to get the transition you want. Map to alpha in texture buttons.
set the alpha of the material to zero.
When you now render you should see one half of your object fading to nothing.
Duplicate the object (leave on top of original object). Add new material (should start with properties of old one). Set “wire” under materials buttons.
add a new texture (should start with properties of first text. Press Map to Alpha again to invert it (turns yellow).
When you now render the wire object fades to nothing in the opposite direction of the solid object fading to nothing. The effect you were looking for.
*** Edit ***
left out a step – ztrans must be set for both objects
*** End Edit ***
