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OpenTS Manual

Translucency

How faded an animation or a particle is drawn, as a percentage, at the detail settings that honor it.

Animation fade

Specification — Animation fade
Applies to
AnimType
File
art.ini
Section
[<ObjectType ID>]
Value
integer
When omitted
0

Three figures are recognized, and each has to be written exactly: 25 draws the animation a quarter faded, 50 a half and 75 three quarters. Every other number draws it solid, 0 among them; there is no range around the three, so 76 is as solid as 0.

The figure is read only when Translucent=no. With that flag set the animation fades by stage instead and this figure is not consulted at all.

The fade is applied only at the detail settings the type asks for, which TranslucencyDetailLevel covers.

A structure fading out of sight passes its own level down to the animations it is running, and one that has faded completely takes them with it — an animation belonging to a structure that is no longer drawn is not drawn either, whatever this figure says. Short of that, a stated figure replaces the structure’s fade rather than adding to it: the animation holds this one level throughout, while an animation that states nothing follows the structure down in steps.

art.ini
[MYBANG16] ; a blast ring, drawn half faded at any detail setting
Image=MYBANG16
Translucency=50
UseNormalLight=yes
Report=EXPNEW11

Particle fade

Specification — Particle fade
Applies to
ParticleType
File
rules.ini
Section
[<ObjectType ID>]
Value
integer
When omitted
0

Only three levels of translucency can be drawn, and the value has to land on one of them: 25 draws the particle a quarter faded, 50 a half, and 75 through 127 three quarters. Every other number draws the particle solid, 0 among them, and a figure of 128 or more wraps back into that range. The whole test is skipped below the High detail setting: at Medium detail particles are drawn solid whatever this says, and at Low detail smoke and spark particles are not drawn at all.

The figure is only where a particle starts. A Fire particle raises its own as its sequence passes Translucent25State and Translucent50State, and a smoke system adds a step to nearly every successor it creates, and to the particles it emits once the plume has begun to thin — so a puff authored at 25 is usually drawn at 50, and its successors more faded still.

Spark and Railgun particles are plotted as single pixels rather than drawn from artwork, and that path never consults the setting.

rules.ini
[MYSMOKEPUFF] ; a ParticleType registered in [Particles]
Image=SGRYSMK1
BehavesLike=Smoke
Translucency=25 ; a quarter faded when created, half once the plume thins
MaxEC=80
EndStateAI=20
See also — Translucent, TranslucencyDetailLevel, DetailLevel, Translucent25State, Translucent50State, BehavesLike