rendering "opasity or transparency" in Max

[Albertv05]

Alright,

 

My buddy just called me trying to figure this out and I have not a clue. I guess he is rendering something with a metal mesh on it. He wants all the tiny spaces in between the mesh to render as "see through" so when he brings it into photoshop he can easily place an image behind it. I haven't a clue to do this. Does anyone have any ideas?

 

Thanks again,

 

Alan

[WAcky]

IMO the easiest way by a mile is to use this script to attain a mask that you can use in Photoshop.

 

http://www.scriptspot.com/3ds-max/rendermask-v4-7

[Gander0]

I thought the procedure would be pretty standard throughout or am i missing something?

 

Put a grey scale image of the same map used for the metal mesh in the materials opacity slot and render out in a format that supports alpha channels.

 

So black areas would be transparent and white opaque

[Gander0]

Fair enough,

 

That should give him something to start with though

[WAcky]

Oh ok i thought it was an actual 3d mesh. It sounds correct to me. Like Brian mentioned, we need specifics.

 

I thought the procedure would be pretty standard throughout or am i missing something?

 

Put a grey scale image of the same map used for the metal mesh in the materials opacity slot and render out in a format that supports alpha channels.

 

So black areas would be transparent and white opaque

[SandmanNinja]

Max 2009 has a CUTOUT channel/slot (for some ProMaterials) that is like Opacity on steroids. Pretty effective.

 

(I think it's called CUTOUT - I'm rendering so can't check)