Unity Material/Transparency Setting

[XRWizard]

I'd like to know the correct unity material settings to get proper transparency in CUAs in Vam?

For that matter, what is the correct shader in general.

Also, is it possible to get the CUA to reflect the hdri lighting?

I'm trying to get these glasses to be totally transparent.
These are the settings I'm using but I'm getting a black diffuse/albedo? I've tried a few combination but It end up opaque. Thanks

 

[TToby]

Hi, you can click on the color rectangle of the albedo map. Down at the bottom you have an additional slider for the transparency. You may want to keep a bit of color, or in VaM you almost can't see the asset anymore. To find the right settings, you have to try out a lot of combinations. It is not trivial, because in addition to the Unity appearance, the material might look different in VaM. Once you have made it, you have your own color/material library to use in other projects.
The build-in shaders are not bad and appopriate in most scenes. I use only some more shaders for water and some objects, which have only one side and therefore need two sided shaders.
For proper reflections it is even more complicated. You have to add reflection probes to the Unity scene and try out the many settings and how they look in VaM. For instance, I made multiple scenes with some rows of basic balls, and have tested a lot of different lighting and material options at once with every new scene. I really don't know the settings anymore, but when I create a new asset, I simply use and alter the materials which have looked good in former asset-scenes.
Sorry, maybe someone else can give you ready made settings and exact numbers.

 

[XRWizard]

Thanks TToby! Yes it's a bit of trial an error,

I got some tips from oeshii on discord. It looks like creating maps might be another way to get it to work for me, also normal maps may help reflecting the skybox? I just need the reflections to create some form so I hope it works.

I did 15 test today, I'll play around more tomorrow, I wish there was some documentation for best practice. I'll update my findings so this might help someone else.

 

[TToby]

Sorry, that I wasn't that helpfull.
When I did my first Unity Assets when VaM first supported them, I had to go through the same like you. Nowerdays I do not create much assets anymore, because it is lot of work and mainly to set the materials. If you have a Unity scene with hundreds of different materials and three time more maps and textures, it is a work of days till it looks good (maybe it is my perfectionism). If there would be an easy way instead of trial and error, I would tell you.

Maps: You can do amazing things with maps like albedo/diffuse maps = textures, normal maps, metallicy maps, glow maps, aso...
Normal maps are for a faked surface structure and therefore only indirectly involved in reflection.
With the standard settings like smoothness and metallic, you can get nice fake reflection effects, that are IMHO good enough for most assets.
If you really want materials to reflect the skybox in VaM in realtime, you have to add a Reflection Probe to the Unity scene. You can find it under Component/Rendering/ at the top of the Unity editor window. Remember that this will cost you a good bit of performance, if you choose the realtime option.
You can "bake -in" an reflection or light map, that is not that much ressource hungry, but that is some kind of fake, too. Maybe that is what Oeshii has suggested? As I said before, maybe you want to check if it is not sufficient to only use metallic and smoothness effects for some kind of smooth fake reflections. Otherwise, it is a bit tough in the beginning.

 

[robbie85s]

Sorry, that I wasn't that helpfull.
When I did my first Unity Assets when VaM first supported them, I had to go through the same like you. Nowerdays I do not create much assets anymore, because it is lot of work and mainly to set the materials. If you have a Unity scene with hundreds of different materials and three time more maps and textures, it is a work of days till it looks good (maybe it is my perfectionism). If there would be an easy way instead of trial and error, I would tell you.

Maps: You can do amazing things with maps like albedo/diffuse maps = textures, normal maps, metallicy maps, glow maps, aso...
Normal maps are for a faked surface structure and therefore only indirectly involved in reflection.
With the standard settings like smoothness and metallic, you can get nice fake reflection effects, that are IMHO good enough for most assets.
If you really want materials to reflect the skybox in VaM in realtime, you have to add a Reflection Probe to the Unity scene. You can find it under Component/Rendering/ at the top of the Unity editor window. Remember that this will cost you a good bit of performance, if you choose the realtime option.
You can "bake -in" an reflection or light map, that is not that much ressource hungry, but that is some kind of fake, too. Maybe that is what Oeshii has suggested? As I said before, maybe you want to check if it is not sufficient to only use metallic and smoothness effects for some kind of smooth fake reflections. Otherwise, it is a bit tough in the beginning.

Thank you so much for all the helpful contributions you've made over the years. Sometimes a member will have an imaginative idea, but get lost in the links between blender / unity 2018 / vam. Your info has always been very helpful.

 

[XRWizard]

Thank you so much for all the helpful contributions you've made over the years. Sometimes a member will have an imaginative idea, but get lost in the links between blender / unity 2018 / vam. Your info has always been very helpful.

Yeah it was a good tip, it took me a while to get ontop of reflection probes. I should try glasses again using them.