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I'm doing an outline effect in blender cycles using a displacement modifier, duplicate mesh, and the backface option on a geometry node.

Here is a picture of my set up: enter image description here

The displaced duplicate mesh is placed directly on top of the original mesh. The original mesh has a red transparent shader, but isn't transparent at all.

How do I get it so that internal mesh becomes transparent? Any advice would be appreciated, thank you.

Shotty
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  • What is the node setup for the red shader? – gandalf3 Jul 06 '18 at 21:10
  • By the way, you can avoid the duplicate object with a solidify modifier, see https://blender.stackexchange.com/a/31194/599 – gandalf3 Jul 06 '18 at 21:12
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    @gandalf3 A plain red transparent shader. It actually is transparent and only has the red "tint" as per usual with colored transparent shaders. The problem is, that we can see the backfacing white object behind it. – Leander Jul 06 '18 at 21:13
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    @Leander Good point. In that case, transparent depth node to the rescue :) – gandalf3 Jul 06 '18 at 21:14
  • https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/28422/how-to-render-a-mesh-transparent-with-a-color-on-its-edges-only-with-nodes –  Jul 06 '18 at 21:17
  • Without duplicating the mesh. You can try using fresnel for the outline and transparency controlled by a light path that only takes into account the first surface seen by the camera, all interior geometry will be transparent.https://i.stack.imgur.com/T4LZa.png –  Jul 06 '18 at 21:21

1 Answers1

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Your transparent material is actually transparent and only has the red tint as per usual with colored transparent shaders. The problem is, that we can see the backfacing white object behind it.

To hide the backfacing object behind the inner geometry, use the ray depth information as mentioned by gandalf3 in the comments.

enter image description here

Leander
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  • I just tried your set up and got different results, may I please have the blend file to look over? I appreciate you taking the time to help. Thank you. – Shotty Jul 07 '18 at 00:00
  • Nevermind, I just had to use the solidfy model instead. Thank you! – Shotty Jul 07 '18 at 00:04