Rendering with a Transparent Image Toposurface?

Is it possible to create a rendered 3d view with a transparent toposurface? I am trying to create an image that shows a building on a hill side that shows the topo/grade and the retaining walls, grade beams and drilled piers under the surface? I can export to an Image and get transparency of the toposurface, but it is not rendered. Should this be in General rendering forum? Also, I am have some crashes with High quality renders, should I post that in some other forum, like hardware?

Jeff

Have you tried creating a floor with a large thickness and then using the warping slab tool??

Not the fastest way but gets the job done and works great with tunnel and under ground structures.

Do't have revit infron of me so i may be wrong here - but can't you assign transparency to a material which you then can apply to the topo?
Jonas

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Originally Posted by m20roxxers

Have you tried creating a floor with a large thickness and then using the warping slab tool??

Not the fastest way but gets the job done and works great with tunnel and under ground structures.

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Are you saying I should model the grade as a sloping warped floor and apply transparency to that? I have not tried that, seems like a good idea if in fact toposurfaces can not be rendered with transparency. However, I was hoping to get a grassy textured topo surface

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Originally Posted by JH75

Do't have revit infron of me so i may be wrong here - but can't you assign transparency to a material which you then can apply to the topo?
Jonas

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I have tried adding transparency to the material element property topo surface, trying both image files and single colors. I can get the 3D views transparent, but not a rendered image. I have tried checking transparent and even halftone for the visibility of the topography category in the VG dialog box.

thanks,

jeff

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Originally Posted by jeffsmith7

I have tried adding transparency to the material element property topo surface, trying both image files and single colors. I can get the 3D views transparent, but not a rendered image. I have tried checking transparent and even halftone for the visibility of the topography category in the VG dialog box.

thanks,

jeff

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Hi Jeff, as far as I know rendering ignores transparency.

For the site material it is actually an options under Render Apperance where you can set Transperancy - but changing it doesn't seem to affect the rendering ie the site is not having any transperancy and yes I did check that the material was applied ;)

Jonas

Hi,

of course. Simply apply e.g. a glass material with low reflections to your topo surface and render.
Regards, Carlos

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Originally Posted by castaneda111

Hi,

of course. Simply apply e.g. a glass material with low reflections to your topo surface and render.
Regards, Carlos

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Thanks Carlos, I will go with that unless I figure out another way. It seems odd that the Material dialogue box for the toposurface has transparency settings for most materials in the Rendering Appearance tab, yet they don't work...oh well..
Jeff