Adding an Opacity Map
Now the explosion appears on the plane. The next step is to make the plane
invisible so all you see in the scene is the explosion.
Add an opacity map:
1 In the Material Editor toolbar, click Go To Parent.
2 In the Material Editor, open the Maps rollout.
3 Click the Opacity map button (it is initially labeled “None”), and in the
Material/Map Browser, choose Bitmap.
4 Use the Select Bitmap Image File dialog to choose herculesm.avi. This file
is in the folder \sceneassets\images\. Click Open.
The file herculesm.avi is a black-and-white mask of the animated explosion.
Using the map’s alpha channel, the Opacity map makes the plane invisible
and allows only the explosion to appear in the scene.
View the effect of the opacity map:
1 On the Material Editor toolbar, click Go To Parent. Close the Maps
rollout.
2 On the Material Editor toolbar, click to turn on Show Standard Map
In Viewport.
The plane is now invisible in the viewport.
562 | Chapter 4 Animation Tutorials
