I tried searching for this but couldn’t find anything dealing with this exact problem. I’m trying to render a subtool partially transparent. I can get the transparency to work in that I can see other subtools through it, but I can seem to get it to show the other side of the mesh. I’m working with a prescription bottle model turned on it’s side. I can see the pills through it but not the other sides of the bottle model. Surely there is a button or a slider I’m missing?
im pretty sure what you wanna do is go to tool>display>double. this will make faces double sided so that there is no back face culling, which is your problem.
Thanks! I tried that but still no luck.
Your normals might be flipped. Go to Tool > Display Properties and click ‘Flip’ button.
If it’s not flipped normals, can you post an image of the problem. Always post an image whenever you can.
Here’s my image with the interface showing. I’m obviously not a master modeler, so that may be the issue. But I basically trying to figure out how to see the bottom of the bottle with the render. I did try the “flip” button too, but this the the result I get. I really appreciate you guys taking the time to help me out.
Attachments
OK. I see what you mean now. Your expecting something like a glass render. Your not going to get that in ZBrush. Transparency in ZBrush is not the same thing as it is in other 3D apps. I don’t think what your trying to achieve is possible in ZBrush unless there is a way to fake it.
Well schucks. Yes a glass render, I should of thought to describe it like that. Thanks for trying!
I created this many years ago when I was first learning ZBrush, but I don’t remember how I did it unfortunately. I’m betting I faked it somehow using materials/shaders, because ZB doesn’t support refraction (yet).
Try the followings…
- Duplicate the transparent subtool.
- Flip the faces of the duplicated subtool.
…or just try another material.
The best way will probably be the one that is the most work. 
One thought I had is to render each subtool solo, saving each one and its mask/shadow/etc using the Render:BPR RenderPass sub-palette as you go. Then take it all into Photoshop where you can use layers to composite some faux transparency. If you’re decent at digital painting, you should be able to get something that looks fairly reasonable. The trick would be to get the reflections and refraction you paint over top just right, so it looks like glass/plastic instead of just a layer with uniformly lowered opacity. Another key thing to remember is that in real life, opacity builds up as light passes through each layer of a semi-transparent object due to scattering.
The other alternative, if realism is what you’re after, is to use GoZ or export as OBJ and take everything to another app for rendering, like Maya, 3ds Max, etc. This is more than a bit of work too as you’ll probably have to lower the poly count before doing so if it’s too high, perhaps even going so far as to retopologize and generate displacement/normal maps, plus do all the setup involved (lights, camera, render settings, etc).
Does anyone know how to get rid of it? my model closed on me while I was working on it, when I reopened it, it has this same affect everyone is talking about on here (where it is transparent and you can see other subtools, but you can’t see the other side of the the individual tool that I’m working with) and since then I can’t edit my subtool ever since it started looking transparent. I am able to move it and stretch it using the Moving Tools, but I just can’t paint or use any sculpting brushes on it.
(as well as changing the material doesn’t help, nor closing and reopening it does anything.)
I’ve tried looking up videos, and tried looking up anything about this and this was the closest I could find
Does someone know how to change it back or have an idea on what I could do?