With over 1250 bugfixes, and further critical fixes due throughout the next two years as part of the Long Term Support program, Blender 2.83 LTS provides the performance and stability needed for major projects. New features include VR support, OpenVDB import, OptiX viewport denoising and a powerful new physics-enabled Cloth Brush. With over 1250 bugfixes, and further critical fixes due throughout the next two years as part of the Long Term Support program, Blender 2.83 LTS provides the performance and stability needed for major projects. New features include VR support, OpenVDB import, OptiX viewport denoising and a powerful new physics-enabled Cloth Brush. Blender is an extremely powerful, cross-platform 3D graphic tool. Version: 2.81 Size: 127MB Date Added: Nov 21, 2019 License: Open-Source Languages: English Publisher: Blender Foundation.
As a long time Blender user, I fully understand the Alpha and Beta stages. But in 2.8 Alpha 2, there is still one fundamental thing that I would expect to work at this stage, but doesn't. When I open a file, anything with a UV-based texture does not display correctly after switching to Eevee mode. Blender 2.90 Alpha is now available to download. After Blender 2.83, Blender will be releasing Blender 2.9 series instead of going for 2.84. This video shows.
Despite the removal of the Blender Render or Blender Internal rendering engine from Blender 2.8+, there are still a number of straightforward ways to create node-based transparent materials and/or transparent objects (transparent surfaces). One such approach is to use an Opacity Map, a separate image that defines material transparency.
Download: Opacity Map defined Transparency example file *.blend (c.200 KB).
Important: in this context, using a separate image to generate material transparency (technically ‘blending'), ‘maps‘ and ‘masks‘ are essentially the same, they result in variable transparency (or opacity) of materials. They do differ generally in that ‘maps' tend to comprise more detailed and graduated grey-scale tonal values, whereas ‘masks' are typically more oblique, defined by simple black and white values only. There is some cross-over depending on context, especially when assembled and/or used outside Blender.
Design note: materials that make use of a separate image to define opacity/transparency should render without issue in both main Render Engines, Eevee and Cycles, but may be subject to other limiting factors contributing to a given material instance or engine used to render.
A simple opacity map based transparent material assigned to a Cube rendered in the 3D View using Cycles (note absence of sort-order issues common to Eevee).
Opacity Map vs Opacity Mask
In this context, creating materials that display some degree of image or object transparency, opacity maps, opacity masks, alpha masks, alpha maps et al are all functionally the same in that they provide Blenders node-based material system the data necessary to render transparency using separate instead of inclusive images (i.e. alpha channels). In essence this is done by translating tonal information from an image specifically tasked for the job into transparency values – depending on the type of transparency being rendered, black equates to a surface rendered fully transparent, whitefully opaque, grey being degrees of transparency or opacity in between.
Design note: the nomenclature used to describe transparency may differ depending on context, for example black values generally render fully or 100% transparent, which can also be referred to as being none or 0% opaque. In some circumstances this can be confusing, especially so referencing external assets, tools or processes.
Generally speaking then, transparency results from a process that ostensibly filters certain aspects of a material such that content can be seen through it, a cube placed inside another object being visible through the outer objects surfaces for example.
Broadly speaking opacity maps – right, and opacity masks – left (also alpha maps and alpha masks), function the same way, both define areas of transparency or opacity. Masks are typically black and white images, essentially a stencil or cutout, whereas a map might be more complex, offering degrees of opacity, and be fully grey-scale.
Step 1: Basic Material
To set up a transparent material governed by a separate image, first set up an initial but basic Material; (select the object and) in Material Properties click + New to create and populate a new instance if one does not exist. Switch to Shading Workspace and in the Node Editor (lower area) click the Add menu and drop an Image Texture node into the workspace, Add » Texture » Image Texture, then click the nodes Open button [2], browse to and load in a new image, or the Browse Image to be linked button [1] to link an existing (previously loaded) image. Finally click-drag the Image Texture nodes Color output to the Base Color input of Principled BSDF [3].
Design note: once set up the Material will only appear in Material Preview/Rendered display modes if the selected object has been UV unwrapped and mapped.
Set up an initial basic Material by dropping an Image Texture node into the Node Editor once a material is available or assigned, then set the ‘diffuse' image using Browse Image to be linked [1] or Open [2] to use/load in a bitmap, which is then linked to Principled BSDF [3].
Step 2: Opacity Map/Mask
Once the basic nodes are in place add another Image Texture node, Add » Texture » Image Texture. For this node click Browse Image to be linked or Open the browse to and select/assign the black and white or grey-scale image to be used as the opacity or transparent control element of the material. Once done click-drag this new Image TexturesColoroutput [4] to the Alphainput [5] of Principled BSDF linking the two together.
Design note: a colour image can be used for the opacity map but may cause unexpected discrepancies due to the way Blender converts colour to tone when data is passed through Alpha input. For best results use an appropriate grey-scale or black and white image as required.
To use an opacity map another Image Texture node needs to be placed, the black and white or grey-scale opacity map (bitmap image) then being associated with it, and finally linked (Color output [4]) to the Alpha input [5] of Principled BSDF (near the bottom of the node).
Step 3: Material Settings
Once the materials nodes are set up the final step is to enable or activate the type of transparency or Blend Mode used to render the effect. To do this, with the material still selected, in Material Properties scroll down to Settings (expand the options if not shown) and to the right of Blend Mode [6] click the drop-down menu selecting a ‘type' from the list, typically Alpha Clip, Alpha Blend or Alpha Hashed. The material will immediately display with opacity map/mask-based transparency.
Design note: generally speaking Alpha Blend and Alpha Hashed tolerate the subtleties of a grey-scale image whereas Alpha Clip does not, it interprets tone relative to being ‘on' or ‘off' – black being ‘off' (fully transparent), white being ‘on' (fully opaque) – this behaviour can be adjusted changing Clip Threshold if Alpha Clip is set.
Once the nodes are set up and linked together the final step is to set the type of transparency or Blend Mode to use. In Material Properties, under Settings, click the drop-down menu to the right of Blend Mode [6] and select an option, typically Alpha Clip, Alpha Blend or Alpha Hashed. Blender will finally display the transparent aspects of the material.
Video
Overview making a simple transparent material where transparency is defined by a separate image, a grey-scale opacity map or black and white opacity mask.
• • •Blender 2.9+ Opacity
For Blender 2.9+ (and future versions, Blender 3.0, 4.0 etc.) controlling basic material transparency using a separate opacity ‘map' or image works exactly the same as it does for Blender 2.8+ (explained in detail above), and works in both Eevee and Cycles render engines so long as nodes are correctly linked and an appropriate grey-scale or black and white Plex debian download. image is used for the opacity map itself.
Design note: it's best to use grey-scale images to control opacity as colour can be tonally misinterpreted, ‘red' for example might result in a darker grey-scale value than expected.
Simply drop in two Image Texture nodes and link Color output from one to Base Color input of Principled BSDF, and the other to the said-sames Alpha input. This will override the Alpha value normally attributed to Principled BSDF, the maps gray-scale values then controlling the degree of material transparency.
Simple material transparency defined by an opacity map requires two Image Texture nodes; one for the image seen, the other holding the grey-scale image that's to be the opacity map, connected to the Alpha input of the Principle BSDF node.
Basic transparency in Blender 2.9+ defined by a separate ‘opacity' image (Eevee shown, compatible with Cycles).
Carried over to Blender 2.8+ from previous versions of the application, the Cycles rendering engine processes transparency in a slightly different way to Eevee and Workbench by controlling the effect, at a basic level, using the Transparent BSDF material node, allowing for different types of transparency depending on requirements.
Download: Transparent Material example for Cycles *.blend (c.2 MB).
Design note: assigned images/texture don't appear unless objects are UV mapped so ensure the object is UV unwrapped beforehand and Cycles is set as the active Render Engine – in Render Properties toggle the Render Engine option to Cycles (defaults to Eevee).
Basic Material
A basic material in Cycles uses the same set up as for Eevee, essentially a node tree comprising three nodes; Image Texture, Principled BSDF and Material Output node. If a material is not set up or assigned, select the object in question and in Material Properties click + New to create a new instance that's populated with a set of default properties and options – this also adds a Principled BSDF [2] and Material Output [3] nodes.
Design note: Cycles materials use nodes by default so the Use Nodes option associated with Eevee materials is not available.
Switch to Shading Workspace and to the default nodes (Principled BSDF and Material Output) add an Image Texture node [1] – Add » Texture » Image Texture. Here, click the Open or the Browse Image to be linked buttons to select or load an image into the node then link this new nodes Color output to Base Color input (Principle BSDF). The image (bitmap) will appear on the mesh in the 3D preview area.
Design note: ensure BSDF output (Principled BSDF) is linked to Surface input (Material Output). Image will only appear if the object associated with it is UV mapped.
Add an Image Texture [1] node to the default Principled BSDF [2] and Material Output [3] nodes then link Color output to Base Color input (ensure BSDF output is linked to Surface input also) – the image will only appear if the object in question has been UV mapped.
Transparent BSDF
Once the basic material is set up and associated image appears correctly on the object, to make the material transparent add a Transparent BSDF node [4] – Add » Shader » Transparent BSDF, and a Mix Shader node [5] – Add » Shader » Mix Shader. Link these two new nodes to the current tree so BSDF output (Transparent BSDF) to Shader input (Mix Shader) and BSDF output (Principled BSDF) to Shader input (Mix Shader) – this should be the two BSDF outputs from Transparent BSDF and Principled BSDF linked in to the Mix Shader. And then Shader output (Mix Shader) to Surface input (Material Output).
Design note: in this instance Cycles is making the entire material transparent not just the image that might be assigned via the Image Texture node, which differs from basic Alpha transparency, should other components be linked as part of the overall material tree, they will carry the same degree of transparency.
Add a Transparent BSDF [4] and Mix Shader [5] nodes to the basic material and link them so the Principle BSDF and Transparent BSDF pass through the Mix Shader, itself then connected to Material Output.
Blend Mode Settings
Once the node tree is set up the the final step to enable transparency is to set the Blend Mode. To do this, in Material Properties scroll down to the bottom of the panel and expend the Viewport Display options then the Settings sub-section. Here, click the drop-down menu to the right of Blend Mode to set the transparencies behaviour, typically Alpha Blend, Alpha Clip or Alpha Hashed. At this point the material will appear transparent in the 3D View.
Design note: images without an alpha channel will appear transparent because the material itself is being affected by the nodes used and their settings.
Once the node tree is established the behaviour of any transparency needs to be defined using Blend Mode – in Material Properties and under Viewport Display select an appropriate option in the Settings sub-section.
Controlling Transparency
For basic materials in Cycles transparency can be controlled by changing the colour of Color vector of the Transparent BSDF which changes the transparency of the image mapped to the Image Texture node, and/or the Alpha vector of Principled BSDF which changes the materials overall transparency.
Design note: both properties are then modulated by the Fac vector of the Mix Shader.
To do this, click the colour sample rectangle, white by default, and using the colour picker or tone slider, change the value from white, down through grey, to black – this makes the material opaque depending on the tone set, white for fully transparent (100% transparent, partially opaque image), black for completely opaque (0% transparent, fully opaque image).
Design note: the degree of transparency is being controlled by the colour vector in the same way alpha generally works, white is 100% transparent (subject to the image itself) black being 0% transparent, grey values representing the different levels between the two extremes – this modulates the image mapped to the material with respect to the Fac value set in the Mix Shader – at 0.500 a fully transparent material is actually displaying the image with 50% opacity/transparency.
The degree of transparency for basic Cycles materials can be modified using the Color vector of the Transparent BSDF node, white = 100%, black 0% transparent, changed to black the texture shown above is completely opaque regardless of any properties the image might include.
To change the Materials overall transparency using the Alpha vector, towards the bottom of the Principled BSDF node is the Alpha vector. To modify the material change the numerical value from 1.000 (100% opaque) to a lower value, or 0.000 to make the material partially or fully transparent (1005 transparent).
Design note: this changes the overall material transparency not just the image mapped to it, and as with Color modification, is modulated through the Fac vector of the Mix Shader.
Using the Alpha vector of Principled BSDF the overall materials transparency (visibility) can be modified – changing the numerical value from 1.000, fully opaque, to another value for partial transparency, or 0.000 full transparency, the entire material can be affected.
Transparency with Alpha
Blender Alpha Clip
To control material transparency in Cycles using image that's carrying alpha channel data (RGB+A), the materials set up is exactly the same as outlined above with the exception that the Image Texture node can be linked to the Mix Shader to control transparency. To do this link the Alpha output of the Image Texture node [7] to the Fac input of the Mix Shader [8], doing this instructs the material to use the alpha channel values attributed to the image.
Design note: when using images that include an alpha channel the Color vector attributed to the Transparent BSDF node acts as a master control over the entire material, if white (default) areas defined by the included alpha channel display fully transparent, if black transparent areas similarly defined by the alpha channel display opaque (black). This means when using alpha-based transparency the materials overall opacity can be modified by two controls; 1) the materials properties and 2) the image alpha itself.
The Color value attributed to the Transparent BSDF node controls the overall degree of transparency described by any image-based alpha, set to black the alpha channel data is ignored and textured rendered fully opaque (white is the default and renders fully transparent).
Using the same node set up, and the inclusion of an alpha channeled image, transparency can be inverted by swapping the Shader inputs of the Mix Shader – both input should be from the BSDF outputs of Transparent BSDF [red] and Principled BSDF [green].
Mix Shader inputs can be swapped to invert alpha-based transparency.
Transparency can also be determined by image based alpha – using the same node set up for a standard material, linking the Image Texture (Alpha vector output) [7] to the Mix Shader (Fac vector input) [8] instructs Blender to use the included alpha channel data for transparency.
Video
Walk-through setting up a basic transparent material using the Cycles render engine.
Blender Alpha Map
• • •Blender 2 82 Alpha Download
Blender 2.90+ Blend Mode
For Blender 2.90+ and above, the Blend Mode settings necessary to engage transparency have been moved to Viewport Display. Once the basic nodes have been set up to create a transparent material, in Material Properties [1] scroll down to the Viewport Display sub-section [2], instead of Settings, and expand the options (click the black arrow) to expose the Blend Mode and Shadow Mode options [3]. Click the drop-down menu and select the appropriate option; Alpha Clip, Alpha Blend or Alpha Hash.
For Blender 2.90 and above, when using Cycles render engine, setting the Blend Mode for a transparent material is found in Viewport Display options [3] of the selected material not Settings.
Blender 2.82 Manual
Walk-through setting up a basic transparent material using the Cycles render engine in Blender 2.90+ and above.
Blender 2 82 Alpha Download Full
