How did you do that?

published 16.Mar.10 by Chris Holden

I had some queries about alpha windows during the conference as I used them for the Loyola build so here’s an example that also demonstrates how to tackle an age old problem in Second Life – Gothic arches. Use this method when you have openings defined by an alpha channel in a larger area of texture to give them solidity in the reveals and mitigate some of the alpha ordering issues.

It’s pretty simple really; create a solid wall inside the prim that contains your alpha opening. Given a wall thickness of say 1m, make your inner wall 0.95m to avoid texture flashing when viewed from a distance. This enables you to not only create alpha windows set in larger textures, but also allows more complex shaped openings than basic prim work would allow as over lapping prims inside the wall aren’t visible!

Good luck with your builds!