2008

Filter Color / Filter Opacity
Sphere on the right has a light green opacity filter color.
Filter opacity tints the colors behind the material using a specified transmission
color.
Filter opacity is the default system, because it provides a more realistic
transparency effect. When the Filter option is set in the Extended Parameters
rollout, the color used by the Filter Color swatch tints the transparency of the
material.
In life, a transparent material, such as colored glass, affects the colors behind
it not by the diffuse or ambient colors (which are reflected colors), but by the
transmission color.
The transmission color is that property of a substance that filters certain colors,
and allows others to pass. For example, a sheet of red cellophane is a filter
that blocks all light not in the red wavelength of the spectrum. By using filter
opacity, you can specify a transmission color and achieve strong, saturated
colors, no matter how transparent the material.
7780 | Glossary