Hi,

In WED, does anyone know if it's possible to make one large block, and then apply a texture with an alpha channel to the block to make the block transparent in certain sections to create, for example, a chainlink fence?

Or how would I go about creating a chainlink fence? Does it have to be an actual 3D model(entitY), and not a block in order to accept alpha channel textures?

I tried putting a TGA texture with alpha channel on a block, but it does not make it transparent at all.

Thank you for your help.

CrazyCoder

World Geometry does not allow to use alpha channels. You can use either sprites (the easiest way i guess) or models. Just ensure the transparent or overlay flag is set then correctly.

make it as a map entity, sprite or model

I would make a chain-link fence out of seperate parts. I'd build the supports as models and make the chain-link part as a 32 bit tga with alpha channel transparency.

Blocks can have no script applied to them. Overlay requires a script.

Overlay doesn't require a script. It's in WED, provided I'm recalling correctly. But yes, you make a chain-link fence as a 32-bit TGA. Just use a model for this and tile the texture. Want a small example? It's just four vertices and two triangles (four triangles if double-sided).

right, but it still can't be set on blocks.

I believe it's a limitation of BSP. It's likely one of the very reasons why users tend to go with model-only levels because they work around this issue and offer tons of other advantages. The best that can be done for blocks, however, is to build transparent areas as a map entity then set the map entity's alpha to whatever. This affects the whole object though. Using the overlay flag may not work with BSP, but I haven't tested this so I don't know for sure.

there is no overlay checkbox on blocks. Its only for models and sprites. Dunno if it would work on a map entity though . . . but anyways, this is going off topic. Best idea is to use models or sprites (or both) to make a chain-link fence, or anything requiring an overlay.