"one way" material

[Anonymous]

Hey,

So I was wondering if there was a way to make a material that would act as a wall (eg. block other objects so they can't be seen) but when rendered show as see-through.

Not sure if you understand,

Thanks!

[PROH]

Hi. I'm not sure what you mean, so could you please try to describe it a bit more accurate. What exactly do you want it to do? Should it show in the viewport only, but not in the render? Or....?

[Anonymous]

Yes. So basically you can see it in the viewport but when you render it renders as transparent. Sort of like a one way mirror but instead of a mirror it's rendered as see through.

[Anonymous]

Sounds like you just need to uncheck the renderable checkbox in the object properties. (Right click the object, choose Object Properties, and uncheck the renderable checkbox.)

[Anonymous]

Ooops, just checked the wording - you wand to use and object to mask another and not itself be renderable. Have you tried using a matte/shadow object material?

[Anonymous]

Yest that's exactly what I want. How exactly would I do that? 

[Anonymous · Accepted solution]

What you need to do is to assign a matte shadow material from the material editor. You will find the same kind of material in both the standard materials and also the mental ray materials. If you are using mental ray you must use the mental ray material.

Open the slate material editer. If using the scanline renderer choose Matte/Shadow from the Materials section in the Material map browser and drag it into the editor. You can then assign it to your object. There are options to receive shadows and reflections. 

If using the mental ray renderer you will need to choose the Matte/Shadow/Reflection material from the mental ray section of the materials map browser.

For further information see the max help on these materials.

[Anonymous]

Thank you very much!