How do I make an object invisible but still functional?

DarkFoxGirl13 · June 2018

I've seen Bakie (from YouTube BakieGaming) make "Invisible Dance Floors" and the "Invisible Walls"; as well as the "OMSP" pegs (I'm not sure who made it. I think it's KitkatsSimporium). All of which are (obviously) invisible yet they still work as normal.

So, all this to ask how I can make something have a optional invisible swatch?

I'm trying to make the ice/skating rinks from Seasons have an optional invisible swatch to choose from.

Thanks in advance for any help and/or advice you provide!

Cupid · June 2018

maybe the reply to this topic on the S4S Forums will help?

MonaCool · July 2020

Have you managed to create an invisible skating rink? If so, would you mind sharing it with me?
I'm searching for one right now but there seems to be no cc for that.

ilovescampers · December 2020

Bumping because I, too, am having issues with making items invisible.

ilovescampers · February 4

Thought I'd update this thread with what I've learned. I FINALLY (!!!) figured out how to make OMSPs. First, you don't need to do this with every swatch if you are intending that only one swatch be invisible.

For the invisible swatch, follow this tutorial to add and enable "alpha blended."

Then, and again, this is only necessary for the invisible swatch, change the shader to "phong alpha."

Lastly, use a blank png texture file for the invisible swatch.

I found that by doing things this way I am able to interact with my object when it's invisible.

HOWEVER, I did some testing just now and found that if I simply changed the shader to "phong alpha" on my invisible swatch and didn't add "alpha blended", I was able to interact with my OMSP once it was invisible. This makes me wonder if the most recent patch fixed things.

Hope this helps

chacha1619 · March 7

> @ilovescampers said:
> Thought I'd update this thread with what I've learned. I FINALLY (!!!) figured out how to make OMSPs. First, you don't need to do this with every swatch if you are intending that only one swatch be invisible.
>
> For the invisible swatch, follow this tutorial to add and enable "alpha blended." https://sims4studio.com/thread/1037/make-object-transparency-add-alpha?page=1
>
> Then, and again, this is only necessary for the invisible swatch, change the shader to "phong alpha."
>
> Lastly, use a blank png texture file for the invisible swatch.
>
> I found that by doing things this way I am able to interact with my object when it's invisible.
>
> HOWEVER, I did some testing just now and found that if I simply changed the shader to "phong alpha" on my invisible swatch and didn't add "alpha blended", I was able to interact with my OMSP once it was invisible. This makes me wonder if the most recent patch fixed things.
>
> Hope this helps :smile:

Hi, sorry I did what you suggested but the invisible rink is still not functional... can you help please ?

MonaCool · March 14

Has anyone succeeded in creating an invisible roller skating rink, yet? I'd loooove to have one but I failed using the above instructions.

DarkFoxGirl13 · March 14

MonaCool wrote: »

Has anyone succeeded in creating an invisible roller skating rink, yet? I'd loooove to have one but I failed using the above instructions.

Unfortunately, I haven't had any luck.
I'm gonna try requesting if someone can under the mods thread. If I find something, I'll comment here again.

ilovescampers · April 1

I don't know if this will help and I'd have to do some research/experimentation, but looking at Bakie's invisible dance floor, it looks as if the main mesh is an empty mesh. As if he took dance floor mesh into Blender, went into edit mode (press "Tab"), highlighted the whole mesh (press "A") then deleted all the faces while still in edit mode (press "X," then choose "faces"). Just make sure the main mesh has the correct cut numbers. I haven't played the game in a while--real life keeps getting in the way, lol--but looking at the skating rink in Blender, it looks a little complicated. For one thing, it has three meshes...and does it have lights attached to it? I need to look at this in the game to get a better idea of how the rink works. I'll get back to you on this. Give me a day or two.

ilovescampers · April 2

Well, I took a look at the skating and ice rinks and they have lights and sound attached. If you made the rink invisible, whether by replacing the meshes with empty meshes or whether by enabling alpha transparency and using a texture with an alpha channel for your invisible swatch (which, at first glance, would be likely the best method if you want both a visible and invisible swatch) there is still the issue of the light source and speakers for the music. If you made the rink invisible you would have a light source just sort of hanging out, phantom-like. You could perhaps edit the light source so that it's so small it's almost invisible. I haven't done this myself but here's an excellent discussion on how to edit a light source: You could even try removing the light source altogether but I have no idea whether doing so would bork things. Generally, I think it's not a good idea to delete things. As for the speakers, wouldn't you need to have something visible so that you can click on it in order to turn on/off the music and/or change the music? That issue would require some thought...and likely some outside help. If I were you I'd post your question at Sims4Studio.com. They are wonderful over there.

Edit: Looks like you can actually remove a light source from something. The tutorial is here:

ilovescampers · April 3

So, I made a test file and managed to get the invisible swatch working but...lol. Gravity doesn't work anymore, apparently.

And at night, just as expected...the phantom light <whispers ominously>

When it's invisible, you can still interact with the rink, but the animations are now borked. And, since I've got like five projects I'm working on at the moment, I don't think I want to tackle this floating sim issue. Here are the files for my quick and dirty test if you want to try to solve the zero gravity thing. Note that, regarding the light, I think if you choose to keep it for the sake of the visible swatch, you will be stuck with it for the invisible swatch. I don't think you can keep it for one swatch but remove it for the other if that makes sense.

If you make any headway with this project, please let me know. I'd like to know why the sim is suddenly flying.

chacha1619 · April 4

> @ilovescampers said:
> So, I made a test file and managed to get the invisible swatch working but...lol. Gravity doesn't work anymore, apparently.
>
>
>
>
> And at night, just as expected...the phantom light <whispers ominously>
>
>
>
> When it's invisible, you can still interact with the rink, but the animations are now borked. And, since I've got like five projects I'm working on at the moment, I don't think I want to tackle this floating sim issue. Here are the files for my quick and dirty test if you want to try to solve the zero gravity thing. Note that, regarding the light, I think if you choose to keep it for the sake of the visible swatch, you will be stuck with it for the invisible swatch. I don't think you can keep it for one swatch but remove it for the other if that makes sense.
>
> If you make any headway with this project, please let me know. I'd like to know why the sim is suddenly flying.
>
> https://www.mediafire.com/file/48j4atpckegkix5/Test+Invisible+Rink.rar/file

Thanks ! Do you have the same gravity problem when not trying to fix the light issue ? (by just having the rink transparent) if no, can you also share that one ? :)

ilovescampers · April 6

I'm not sure what you mean about fixing the light issue. I didn't do anything with the lights, actually. I just wanted you to be aware that you'll have to decide whether or not you wanted to keep the light as you can't have a light source for the visible swatch and no light source for the invisible swatch. Whatever you choose will affect both swatches. If it were me making the choice I'd say eliminate the light source. You can always use a lamp if you need light. Note that deleting the light source altogether might bork things--I'd have to run some tests to see--but I think it's possible to at least minimize the light source so that it's still there but you can't see in in-game.

I'm still experimenting with all this, and I might have to reach out to Sims4Studio.com for help (seriously, they are awesome over there) but it appears that altering the shadow mesh in any way is what causes the sim to float in the air. I've no idea why. It's hard to see, but there are shadows that are showing up when the rink is invisible and I'm not sure what's causing it. I think it's the shadow mesh, but if I alter the shadow mesh then the animation issue shows up. AARGH! And I've got, like, five projects I'm working on so I'm not sure how much time I can devote to figuring this out.

drakharis · April 7

The way I would do it is by adjusting the object's opacity to where it is still there but "invisible".

ilovescampers · April 8

drakharis wrote: »

The way I would do it is by adjusting the object's opacity to where it is still there but "invisible".

You mean with the texture's alpha layer? I'm not sure what you're talking about and I'm not sure what else I can do to the textures to change things. I can't remember now, but I think I even tried using a blank specular and/or bump map but that didn't do anything. I thought about changing the shader on the shadow mesh. I don't know. I'm out of ideas--I've only got bad ideas at this point--and I don't know why altering the shadow mesh breaks the rigging. I don't know enough about rigging to do anything about it.

ilovescampers · April 13

Alrighty, boys and girls, I figured it out! I'm going to write up a tutorial on what to do in a new post tomorrow or the next day (It's really late, right now) and I'll provide a link to the finished product as well.

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How do I make an object invisible but still functional?

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