KB78623836: Studio Designer - Transparent models shown as opaque in Studio Designer

Question

When importing/ opening a structural design file in ArtPro/ PackEdge/ Plato or Adobe^® Illustrator^® and viewing the 3D model in Studio Designer, the transparent models and materials like bottles, shrink sleeves and transparent labels are shown as opaque. Why doesn't Studio Designer render the models as transparent?

Answer

The main reason why we do not offer transparent rendering in Studio Designer is because Adobe^® doesn't support transparency in the U3D file format (3D PDF).

Therefore, Studio Designer also doesn't support transparency (yet) and Studio Visualizer doesn't allow export to U3D for the same reason. The Collada file format (.DAE/.ZAE) does support transparency but since the current Studio Designer version doesn't support it yet, the exported Collada file for Viewing is also no longer transparent (compared to the original structural design file which still contains transparency).

If you need transparency in the exported 3D file for Viewing (Collada), then it is necessary to open the document in Studio Visualizer, which will show the model as is and export it including transparency.

Example:

1. Transparent structural design file placed in an Adobe^® Illustrator^® document is displayed opaque in Studio Designer.
   
2. And when exporting this to a 3D file for Viewing from Studio Designer, the exported file will lose its transparency completely.
   
3. But when first opening the file in Visualizer, you'll see that the actual structural design file placed in the Adobe^® Illustrator^® document, still contains transparency even if not displayed in Studio Designer.
   
4. Exporting this model to 3D File for Viewing will keep the transparency intact.