Flat Opacity for an entire object?

[ozztheforester]

Hi All,

I thought it would be easy enough render an object with an entirely flat opacity/visibility but it wasnt't. I am trying to get 3d trees and people to be rendered as flat objects but with flat opacity (like the one in the reference picture).
Has any of you got an idea how to achieve that kind of a result with 3d objects directly from max without using 2d planes or render layers?
Thanks in advance!

[tricky]

Mmm. Would be interested to see if anyone has a good technique for this. We've tried it a few times in the past and always anded up doing it in post.

[joconnell]

Standard material with 50% opacity and full self illumination?

[ozztheforester]

nope it will show the individual details on the objects with %50 opacity

[stef.thomas]

I'm not convinced they are 3d, looks like it was just done in photoshop tbh.

[ozztheforester]

yes because it was done in photoshop, I am trying to get the same effect with 3d! I know it sounds crazy but its actually is easier to place the trees in max and after getting the approval from the client for these sketches just hitting render with final materials on the trees that you have already placed.

Actually its all happening because of the my client's request, they want to make their first presentation to their client using similar images as the sample.

[stef.thomas]

Oh right, sorry! Not sure if it's possible. You could use a self-illuminated material but you'll get some overlapping tone happening on the branches of each tree, or you could render out a mask/alpha for the trees in a seperate pass to then use in photoshop, but then you don't get the overlapping between different trees.

[tricky]

Yep - messed around with self illumination and opacities but we had no luck when we were trying this. I think I may have even posted a thread on this a year or two back...let me look.

[sea2stars]

You may be able to get the effect you're looking for with RPC trees? I can't think of any way, with the available shaders, to achieve that result with a 3D mesh.

[gagui]

I've tried this many times and finally found a workaround that seems to work most of the time.
You have to put a 50% opacity material or whatever to the objects and in the vray properties uncheck "visible in refractions" parameter. Try it.

[ozztheforester]

just tried that but it didnt work, where there are more leaves branches etc. it still gives less opacity.

[gagui]

Well, i've tried this only for 3d people and works good but it's not perfect.

[ozztheforester]

gagui, I did some tests with the method you said on the people and it came up with some nice results however as you said its not perfect but definetely better than spending extra time on them in photoshop.

I really do think its necessary have some kind of an option in vray or an outside plugin to create this effect.

[gagui]

Hey Vlado, some thoughts about this question?

We want flat opacity, Is it possible?

[vlado]

It is not possible currently; unfortunately it is quite tricky to implement this in the 3D rendering.

Best regards,
Vlado