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Posted by Wolf1066 at Apr 8, 2020, 7:19:56 AM

Translucent surface/"frosted glass"
Hi everyone, long-time user of Sweet Home 3D - Windows and Linux - only recently found this excellent forum.

I've been looking for a model for frosted glass windows or a method whereby I can make the same. I can't seem to find frosted glass windows anywhere.

Found the invisible box to cut holes in walls and learned how to make objects or surfaces invisible by editing the .mtl file (both from this forum).

Experimented with making semi-transparent (d 0.1 to d 0.99) boxes that look promising in the preview (mostly-obscure objects behind them when used as a window pane or wall, especially when you get up around d 0.9) but when I render the object it looks just like a view through a normal "glass" pane - everything on the other side of the semi-transparent box, that was largely obscured in the preview, becomes quite clearly visible.

Tinting the box does not seem to help - just makes a coloured filter but does not occlude visibility.

I'm trying to make/find a window that blocks visibility but passes light - like the frosted glass on toilet/bathroom windows. Precisely for toilet/bathroom windows, as it happens. tongue

Is this just a matter of finding the right object/settings or is it impossible based on the way light and (semi)transparent objects are handled by the rendering engine?

Failing the finding of a suitable translucent surface, I'd be happy with a panel that emits a soft glow across its entire surface that I could mount in a frame and have it resemble light shining through frosted glass.

Thanks in advance.
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Crazy Kiwi bloke

Debian "buster" 10 64bit
Sweet Home 3D 6.3 64bit
i5 Quad-core 3.1GHz
8GB 1333MHz DDR3 RAM

Posted by hansmex at Apr 9, 2020, 8:10:26 AM

Re: Translucent surface/"frosted glass"
Enkonyito published luminous panels that may suit you.
As an alternative search for semi-transparent textures.

H
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Hans

new website - under constuction
hansdirkse.info

Posted by Puybaret at Apr 9, 2020, 1:08:25 PM

Re: Translucent surface/"frosted glass"
Hope you'll find the thread #8727 helpful.
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Emmanuel Puybaret, Sweet Home 3D creator

Posted by Wolf1066 at Apr 10, 2020, 5:53:36 AM

Re: Translucent surface/"frosted glass"
Hi Emmanuel

Very helpful thread. Merci beaucoup!
I've downloaded the models in that thread and will have a play with them.

Thanks, Hans. Good suggestion.
After my initial post, I actually found a thread saying how to make glowing letters for neon signs and therein learned how to set the illum in the .mtl file to make a surface glow, so I've been playing about with a box with a glowing face.

I read up on how to install the Advanced photo renderer plugin and setting the GI to path rather than default.

I had to roll back my version 6.12 of Sweet Home 3D to 4.5 as 6.15 wasn't working properly on my Debian 8.11 machine but fortunately I was able to find a version of Advanced photo renderer that works with v4.5 and can get actual glow effects and better lighting - provided I don't have too many things in the scene.
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Crazy Kiwi bloke

Debian "buster" 10 64bit
Sweet Home 3D 6.3 64bit
i5 Quad-core 3.1GHz
8GB 1333MHz DDR3 RAM

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Feb 4, 2026, 1:49:21 PM