Figure 7. Semi-transparent particles
Particles can be made semi-transparent by setting the Transparency
particle property.
A Transparency
value of 0 lets a particle appear fully opaque, while any value between
0 and 1 lets it appear translucent.
The easiest method of setting the Transparency
property is by using the
Compute property modifier.
In the example here, a simple math formula was used to set the Transparency
property
of particles depending on their position:
ReducedPosition.X
The expression ReducedPosition.X
evaluates to a particle's X position in reduced coordinates,
which varies between 0 to 1 from one side of the simulation box to the other. When assigning the computed values
to the Transparency
property, particles on the left appear fully opaque while particles
on the right side of the simulation box become fully transparent.
You can make just the selected particles transparent by checking the Compute only for selected particles option in the Compute property modifier.
Note: The current program version cannot display particles with cylindrical or spherocylindrical shape that are semi-transparent. These aspherical particles will always appear fully opaque.