Arnold/Maya 2017 - transparency with file texture showing black?

[aliasense]

Hi,

When rendering with Arnold on Maya 2017, File textures with transparency (also from a file) seem to render transparent as black. Viewport 2.0 looks ok. Any special settings we need to consider?

This is on Maya for Linux.

[Stephen.Blair]

Hi

How are you using these textures? For refraction, or for opacity? 

And did you clear the Opaque flag on the objects?

More here about refraction and opacity:

https://support.solidangle.com/x/oZAQ

Thanks

Stephen

Solid Angle Support

[aliasense]

Hi Stephen,

These textures are used for opacity. Just standard Maya textures.

We turned the opaque flag off. In one case, the shape follows the correct shape with opacity, but the color is 100% black even when putting a bright light right above it with really high Arnold exposure.

In the other case, there seems to be some color information from the texture but the shape follows the polygon not the opacity. Opaque flag is off.

I'll private message you some screenshots.

[Anonymous]

Did you get a solution to this problem cause I'm facing the exact same problem.

It looks fine when rendered with Maya renderer and it shows up transparent in the viewport but renders black in Arnold.

[mspeer]

Hi!

Not all Maya Shaders and Textures are supported at the current state, some only with limitations:
https://support.solidangle.com/display/AFMUG/Maya+Shaders

Use an Arnold material like aiStandard or Maya lambert but not phong or blinn.

https://support.solidangle.com/display/AFMUG/Refraction

and of course disable "opaque".

[Anonymous]

I'm using lambert. And opaque is disabled unless I'm disabling the wrong one.

[Michael_Todd]

What does your transparency Map look like? Arnold and Maya's VP handle transparency differently.

[Anonymous]

It's just a regular transparent png?

[Michael_Todd]

Arnold expects the Transparency value to go from 0 (Opaque) to 1 (transparent) so your png's alpha might not be recognized. You should try a separate Map.

Cheers

[mspeer · Accepted solution]

Hi!

A transparent PNG will not work. If you want to use a transparent file use aiStandard or make an alpha map (black and white) for the transparency Attribute. (Transparency from psdFile will also not work on aiStandard).

Edit: You might add a reverse node between your texture and the material shader, but this may lead to color changes if your transparency contains color information. So add a color Correct Node before the Reverse node and set Saturation to 0. (Seems not to allow 100% opaque render here, not sure why)

[mspeer]

Hi!

Arnold does not seem to support the transparency feature correct, so to keep it up simple create a alpha mask (black and white), or use an Arnold Material like aiStandard but then you need to connect the Out Alpha of your Texture file node to all 3 individual Opacity channels (Opacity R,G,B) of aiStandard.

[Anonymous]

Hi,

I'm having an issue rendering Maya 2D texture cloth. I'm trying to make a net using the 2D texture cloth and I want the Gap Color (now in black) to be Transparent. How do I achieve this?

[stigla]

It works if you connect outAlpha to opacityR, opacityG and opacityB.
BUT, common. PNG should be suppoted automaticaly.
Please !
Thank you

[adebiko3000]

Wow. This worked for me! Thanks a lot!