Is there a way to render "Translucent" parts of a model, but keep other parts "Solid" to prevent shadow glitches and wall clips?

[MisterSirCode]

So I made a model and texture ingame as a base, and I set its render mode ingame to "translucent" so that the glass portions of it render correctly.

This is where problems arise. If you've ever remodeled a transparent block in a texture pack, youll know of this horrific sight:

 

Excuse the crap quality, that is the FML gradle process, not my normal MC. Anyways, as you can see, it renders fine, the only issue is that there are pitch black shadows, and sometimes, you can see through the "frame" and see other "pieces" of the model through itself.

Is there any way to render the frame as a Solid block, and the glass / other parts as "translucent"?

If I cant solve this, Ill just use "cutout_mipped" and figure out a better "looking glass" hole, but I would like to know if there is an efficient way to do this with transparent textures first.

Btw, I AM on MCreator (yeah I know i suck, I gave up trying to setup blockItems in normal mods, because there are NO TUTORIALS FOR IT FFS)

 

Edit: i captured it clipping the frame:

Edited April 5, 2020 by MisterSirCode

[DavidM]

1. Do not use MCreator.

2.

  On 4/5/2020 at 11:17 AM, MisterSirCode said:

I gave up trying to setup blockItems in normal mods, because there are NO TUTORIALS FOR IT FFS)

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Pretty sure there are a lot out there.

BlockItem is just an implementation of Item; you can treat it (register, etc) like an instance of Item.

 

3. Check out Forge’s multi-layer model. An example: https://github.com/McJtyMods/DeepResonance/blob/105c7d3ec6b479b6a0b0f0612b824b6ae874c049/src/main/resources/assets/deepresonance/blockstates/crystalizer.json

Edited April 5, 2020 by DavidM

[MisterSirCode]

  On 4/5/2020 at 11:59 AM, DavidM said:

1. Do not use MCreator.

2.

Pretty sure there are a lot out there.

BlockItem is just an implementation of Item; you can treat it (register, etc) like an instance of Item.

 

3. Check out Forge’s multi-layer model. An example: https://github.com/McJtyMods/DeepResonance/blob/105c7d3ec6b479b6a0b0f0612b824b6ae874c049/src/main/resources/assets/deepresonance/blockstates/crystalizer.json

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How do i use the multi layer model? All im seeing is a blockstate, could you help me understand what does what, what points where, and how it interacts.

As for the tutorials, I couldnt find good docs on 1.14.4 blockitem, and NO, you cant just "register it as an item" It doesnt seem to work like that for me.

[MisterSirCode]

  On 4/5/2020 at 11:59 AM, DavidM said:

1. Do not use MCreator.

2.

Pretty sure there are a lot out there.

BlockItem is just an implementation of Item; you can treat it (register, etc) like an instance of Item.

 

3. Check out Forge’s multi-layer model. An example: https://github.com/McJtyMods/DeepResonance/blob/105c7d3ec6b479b6a0b0f0612b824b6ae874c049/src/main/resources/assets/deepresonance/blockstates/crystalizer.json

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like could you give me an example of a really basic minecraft block using forge multi layer? I keep googling but the only docs are in the mcdocs, and they dont talk about the thing in the crystalizer json.
 

"custom": {

"base": "deepresonance:crystalizer#base",

"Solid": "deepresonance:crystalizer#base",

"Translucent": "deepresonance:crystalizer#window"

}

It doesnt mention how to use that... 

[MisterSirCode]

@DavidM Ok, I attempted to use the forge multi-layer thing, But I think its wrong, ingame, the transparent part of the model (the white stained glass) is purple/black missing texture etc.

 

Blockstate: https://hatebin.com/zfhbigloda

 

Model: https://hatebin.com/wmaelcraqr

 

Blockbench compiles it into a multi-file mess that I cant really post in here, so I posted the original model file before I put it in blockbench.

[Animefan8888]

  On 4/5/2020 at 12:59 PM, MisterSirCode said:

Model: https://hatebin.com/wmaelcraqr

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I don't believe these are the appropriate texture paths.

  Quote

"1": "animate/white_concrete", "2": "animate/black_concrete", "3": "animate/gray_concrete", "5": "animate/computerFan", "6": "animate/white_stained_glass", "particle": "animate/black_concrete"

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[MisterSirCode]

  On 4/5/2020 at 3:00 PM, Animefan8888 said:

I don't believe these are the appropriate texture paths.

 

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They are, they are automatically changed when built. Nevermind that, Im asking for a solution to this issue

[DavidM]

  On 4/5/2020 at 12:26 PM, MisterSirCode said:

and NO, you cant just "register it as an item" It doesnt seem to work like that for me.

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You are doing something wrong then. Post your code.

BlockItem is an Item. To instantiate one, simply pass in the instance of your block.

 

  On 4/5/2020 at 3:00 PM, Animefan8888 said:

I don't believe these are the appropriate texture paths.

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OP is using MCreator, which might screw around with asset files.

Just checked, and it seems that MCreator does not do anything about model files. My bad.

 

In that case, the problem is probably caused by the incorrect texture file path as Animefan8888 mentioned.

  On 4/5/2020 at 9:39 PM, MisterSirCode said:

they are automatically changed when built

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 They are not. What you put in the path is what ends up into the ResourceLocation.

Edited April 6, 2020 by DavidM

[TheGreyGhost]

Hi

Alpha blending (transparency) is difficult.

You need to render all the opaque faces first, with depth-buffer writing turned on.  eg RenderType SOLID, CUTOUT, CUTOUT_MIPPED

Then you need to render the transparent faces next, with depth-buffer writing turned off, in the correct order (reverse sorted by depth - i.e. the faces which are furthest away get drawn first).  TRANSLUCENT apparently does depth sorting but I think it might also write to the depth buffer as well, I'm not sure.  If the sorting is done properly for all objects in the scene (not just your model's) then the depth buffer writing isn't critical.

 

If you don't do that, you get all sorts of weird clipping issues happening.

So I think the multi-layer approach might work ok - I'm not sure exactly how to code it because I've always used a TileEntityRenderer for this kind of block before.  If you can't find an example of it, and don't have any luck contacting the forge guys who coded it, you could try tracing through the vanilla model loading & baking code.  It's a bit of head damage but I've used it as the last resort a few times.

 

I'm not sure why the internal faces are black.  Something to do with lighting; but I don't understand why a west-facing quad on the inside of the block should be black when the west-facing quad on the outside of the block is not.  I saw another post recently where the vertex order of the faces was important, perhaps it is something to do with that.  There is also a flag in block model files to control ambientOcclusion, you could try messing with that.  I don't think ambient occlusion should cause shadows that deep but I haven't studied it since 1.6.4 so I'm not sure...

 

If you do crack it, please let me know?  I'd like to include it (block with both solid and transparent parts) in a tutorial project I'm working on.

Cheers

  TGG

 

Edited April 6, 2020 by TheGreyGhost
more detail

[MisterSirCode]

  On 4/6/2020 at 1:55 AM, DavidM said:

They are not. What you put in the path is what ends up into the ResourceLocation.

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When you place your model into mcreator, it splits it into 2 files.

1 is a "parent file" which has no dimensions, it just has the "textures" in it. The second file is your original model, its in the custom directory, except the textures are linked to the first file.

 

Its how the app simplifies changing the textures

[MisterSirCode]

  On 4/6/2020 at 7:50 AM, TheGreyGhost said:

Hi

Alpha blending (transparency) is difficult.

You need to render all the opaque faces first, with depth-buffer writing turned on.  eg RenderType SOLID, CUTOUT, CUTOUT_MIPPED

Then you need to render the transparent faces next, with depth-buffer writing turned off, in the correct order (reverse sorted by depth - i.e. the faces which are furthest away get drawn first).  TRANSLUCENT apparently does depth sorting but I think it might also write to the depth buffer as well, I'm not sure.  If the sorting is done properly for all objects in the scene (not just your model's) then the depth buffer writing isn't critical.

 

If you don't do that, you get all sorts of weird clipping issues happening.

So I think the multi-layer approach might work ok - I'm not sure exactly how to code it because I've always used a TileEntityRenderer for this kind of block before.  If you can't find an example of it, and don't have any luck contacting the forge guys who coded it, you could try tracing through the vanilla model loading & baking code.  It's a bit of head damage but I've used it as the last resort a few times.

 

I'm not sure why the internal faces are black.  Something to do with lighting; but I don't understand why a west-facing quad on the inside of the block should be black when the west-facing quad on the outside of the block is not.  I saw another post recently where the vertex order of the faces was important, perhaps it is something to do with that.  There is also a flag in block model files to control ambientOcclusion, you could try messing with that.  I don't think ambient occlusion should cause shadows that deep but I haven't studied it since 1.6.4 so I'm not sure...

 

If you do crack it, please let me know?  I'd like to include it (block with both solid and transparent parts) in a tutorial project I'm working on.

Cheers

  TGG

 

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Only info I could find was something simple called "forge multi layer" which didnt work, apparently its both outdated, and I cant find a working tutorial, then I tried CTM which was similar, you could enable specific layers of rendertypes, and even emmisive textures. However, that only supports up to 1.12

I wound up just removing the glass portion and replacing it with a "Grate" (basically a pixel grid to create a net) using the render type "Cutout" (not mipped, mipped turns my textures black for some reason) and it looks good enough

As for the black portion, that does have to do with the transparency, but it also has to do with graphics settings. due to the way that fast graphics turn transparent things black right? well, I tried fancy, and it fixed that, and it looks better anyways.
 

 

Edited April 6, 2020 by MisterSirCode

[MisterSirCode]

This question is unsolved, and Im going to leave it as semi complete. I didnt really ask this question very well, and will create a new one soon with a better description and with the new issues Ive gotten.

I solved everything here except that I cant use transparent pixels in a solid block. Ill have to do more research.

[DavidM]

  On 4/6/2020 at 9:33 AM, MisterSirCode said:

When you place your model into mcreator, it splits it into 2 files.

1 is a "parent file" which has no dimensions, it just has the "textures" in it. The second file is your original model, its in the custom directory, except the textures are linked to the first file.

 

Its how the app simplifies changing the textures

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That is how block models work in Forge...

It has nothing to do with MCreator itself.

 

You should check your log for texture errors if you are still experiencing missing textures.

Edited April 6, 2020 by DavidM

[MisterSirCode]

  On 4/6/2020 at 11:12 AM, DavidM said:

That is how block models work in Forge...

It has nothing to do with MCreator itself.

 

You should check your log for texture errors if you are still experiencing missing textures.

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Thats weird, in all the tutorials I saw before I went to mcreator, making models in forge was similar to how you made them in a resource pack, I was never told to cut them into pieces and use parent textures that just complicate things...

 

Im not having any missing textures

 

Ive mostly solved this one except for the transparent textures, that was moved to a cleaner question here: