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[Old Codger]

I am trying to put some lettering on a model I am making. Initially I tried just using a standard jpeg with the background color the same RGB values as the material but it looked different from the rest of the model. Then I remembered about transparent gifs. Checked the manual to confirm it was possible and created a transparent image from scratch in Photoshop elements and applied the lettering from the appropriate layers in the original layered psd image. The first attachment is the texture itself. The 2nd attachment is a screen shot taken from the workspace in PSE. The 3rd is a screen shot of the result in the workspace in Anim8or.

What the heck am I doing wrong? Also the lettering is showing up slightly blurry. What's up with that?

I'm going to proceed with the model. I am building a tactical transporter similar to (but not an attempt at a copy of) the U.S. Army's HEMTT for an online buddy who does a web comic using CGI. I am modelling the load bed and a liquids tank separately so he can have it be either type. The truck itself is by far the most complex thing I have ever tried. It took almost 30 seconds to join solids when I finally decided to integrate all the pieces (like a good TDS programmer I do things in small chunks and put the together later). I don't want to see the face/edge/point count. You are welcome to go to my Deviant art page to laugh at my poor efforts. https://www.deviantart.com/bmullins3/gallery

I figure I am approaching journeyman level work. I don't even try animating partly because I don't need to do so. Now if I could just export a rigged model that would be usable in DAZ Studio or Blender or such higher end rendering software (no offense intended, Stephen) . . .
 

And I think I figured out at least one way to make my work more realistic - detail, lots and lots and lots of detail. I put in detail that is unlikely to really be very visible when used in the stories. But I know that they eye picks up on those little throw away details so I put them in. Plus it is part of the fun of solving the problem of building the models. For me this is really like a new version of back when I used to assemble and paint plastic models. This way it doesn't cost any money.

[mrbeaver.07]

Blurry textures can be because of small size, but I checked size and the texture pretty big. About transparent textures: Here are the images, that can help you

[mrbeaver.07]

Also, nice 3D models!

[Old Codger]

Thanks for the compliment on my poor work. As I said, I am - AT BEST - currently working at journeyman level. But being fully retired and with health conditions which preclude even part-time work Anim8or helps keep me busy which, I suspect, also keeps me married (and alive).

Your answer got me to looking at how you did it. There is an old saying which goes something like "If all else fails, read the fekking manual." All else had well and truly failed and so I read the manual - searching on "alpha channel" as your illustrations clued me to do. I finally figured out what I had forgotten about using textures as decals. That is that I need not only a texture for the decal itself but I need a transparency map as well. Then I remembered the videos of the making of various sci-fi films and how the filmmakers use travelling mats to allow them to composite multiple images into a single image. In this case I need to block out the background of the image while only allowing the lettering to show through. I experimented on a simpler model (didn't want to risk screwing up the real models) until I got the effect I wanted. So thanks for setting me on the path to a solution I suspect there are many such paths but the one using a transparent gif and a black and white transparency texture works for me. I suppose I could do the job without a transparent gif if I'm going to make a transparency texture to use as a matt.

[Old Codger]

Well, I thought I had figured it out from mrbeaver's notes but, apparently, all I did was figure out how to turn selected faces into window glass. NOT what I wanted to do. I am stumped. Would somebody please help an old man out and give me a basic step-wise procedure? I know how to make the graphics I want in PSE and can save them in whatever format I need. How do I make the parts of the graphic (in this case lettering but if I can get that to work I will add things like hazmat decals and reg #s for vehicles etc.) that would represent painted lettering or decals applied visible while NOT showing the background color? Oh, and it would be really great if there was a way to reset the UV coordinates so if (okay when) I have things totally FUBAR on that part of the model I can reset the model back to its pre-texture condition.

I am stumped. I'll come back in a couple of days and see if anyone has taken pity on an old man.