# About transparent background and material **URL:** \ **Category:** Lounge\ **Created:** [February 25, 2022, 1:53am UTC](https://forum.nomadsculpt.com/t/about-transparent-background-and-material/6005 "2022-02-25T01:53:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Shinee](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex005/user_avatar/forum.nomadsculpt.com/shinee/32/5924_2.png) [@Shinee](https://forum.nomadsculpt.com/u/Shinee)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2022, 1:53am UTC](https://forum.nomadsculpt.com/t/about-transparent-background-and-material/6005/1 "2022-02-25T01:53:33Z")
I made a refractive material, but when the transparent background is selected for rendering, the refractive transparent background becomes black, how can I get a transparent PNG with the correct alpha channel? ![image](https://europe1.discourse-cdn.com/flex005/uploads/nomadsculpt/original/2X/7/7eaa46f3bd13d80591b456a811e6e449ebb34b66.jpeg) ![image](https://europe1.discourse-cdn.com/flex005/uploads/nomadsculpt/original/2X/4/4132440fdafbf6f72ca17763319e4cb3243237d8.png) ---
**Author:** ![RogerRoger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b2d939/32.png) [@RogerRoger](https://forum.nomadsculpt.com/u/RogerRoger)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2022, 8:21pm UTC](https://forum.nomadsculpt.com/t/about-transparent-background-and-material/6005/2 "2022-02-25T20:21:44Z")
In the absence of substance there is nothing, a.k.a. black If you want something other than Black you need to put something there. So either a color plane, color background while leaving the transparent background unchecked, or something else. ---
**Author:** ![stephomi](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex005/user_avatar/forum.nomadsculpt.com/stephomi/32/19583_2.png) [@stephomi](https://forum.nomadsculpt.com/u/stephomi)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2022, 8:48pm UTC](https://forum.nomadsculpt.com/t/about-transparent-background-and-material/6005/3 "2022-02-25T20:48:05Z")
PNG cannot support refraction, use another transparency mode. ---
**Author:** ![Shinee](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex005/user_avatar/forum.nomadsculpt.com/shinee/32/5924_2.png) [@Shinee](https://forum.nomadsculpt.com/u/Shinee)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2022, 1:45am UTC](https://forum.nomadsculpt.com/t/about-transparent-background-and-material/6005/4 "2022-02-26T01:45:40Z")
Thanks for your answer, I wanted to have certain parts appear as glass in the PNG and then composite it with a different background in other programs so it can’t be a specific color or something, now I’m using blending to simulate it and the results seem to be ok. ---
**Author:** ![Shinee](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex005/user_avatar/forum.nomadsculpt.com/shinee/32/5924_2.png) [@Shinee](https://forum.nomadsculpt.com/u/Shinee)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2022, 1:53am UTC](https://forum.nomadsculpt.com/t/about-transparent-background-and-material/6005/5 "2022-02-26T01:53:37Z")
Thank you very much, you reminded me to use blending to get the desired effect, thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Shinee](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex005/user_avatar/forum.nomadsculpt.com/shinee/32/5924_2.png) [@Shinee](https://forum.nomadsculpt.com/u/Shinee)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2022, 2:05am UTC](https://forum.nomadsculpt.com/t/about-transparent-background-and-material/6005/6 "2022-02-26T02:05:09Z")
Now I can match different backgrounds in Procreate or PS or other programs with PNG ![image](https://europe1.discourse-cdn.com/flex005/uploads/nomadsculpt/original/2X/0/0c6959b4beb251061fcc87048cb0f475a76fc4d2.jpeg) ![image](https://europe1.discourse-cdn.com/flex005/uploads/nomadsculpt/original/2X/8/8195c5c0f59ac89f4110c97b253331381d943099.jpeg) ---
**Author:** ![Kate\_Wardwell](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex005/user_avatar/forum.nomadsculpt.com/kate_wardwell/32/17572_2.png) [@Kate\_Wardwell](https://forum.nomadsculpt.com/u/Kate_Wardwell)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2023, 7:20pm UTC](https://forum.nomadsculpt.com/t/about-transparent-background-and-material/6005/7 "2023-07-19T19:20:59Z")
I’m doing something similar in a project right now and would LOVE for you to be more detailed about what you did to get the glass to work in a png file ---
**Author:** ![knacki](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex005/user_avatar/forum.nomadsculpt.com/knacki/32/1297_2.png) [@knacki](https://forum.nomadsculpt.com/u/knacki)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2023, 1:02am UTC](https://forum.nomadsculpt.com/t/about-transparent-background-and-material/6005/8 "2023-07-20T01:02:47Z")
Change Material to blending. Metal & roughness high, opacity down. Nice glass effect working with png alpha. ---
**Author:** ![mestela](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex005/user_avatar/forum.nomadsculpt.com/mestela/32/26174_2.png) [@mestela](https://forum.nomadsculpt.com/u/mestela)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2023, 2:39am UTC](https://forum.nomadsculpt.com/t/about-transparent-background-and-material/6005/9 "2023-07-20T02:39:35Z")
Cool trick, thanks for sharing! You can also invert the alpha and use it to distort the region that’s being refracted. Procreate makes this needlessly difficult, but fun. ![image](https://europe1.discourse-cdn.com/flex005/uploads/nomadsculpt/original/3X/e/3/e30b3e102c5a1694bfa1f0a34f26071b16c1731d.jpeg) - I copied the layer with the head, set alpha lock, painted white (layer 1 in the screenshot). - I set the background layer colour to black, then spanner menu, copy canvas, paste into a new layer. - Invert the layer using curves (there’s probably an easier way), and paint the now white background parts black, so now there’s a white part of only the transparent glass bits (layer 3 in the screenshot). - Use the selection menu to choose the white bit, convert this selection to a layer mask on a copy of your background, - distort/chromabb away. ---
**Author:** ![Kate\_Wardwell](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex005/user_avatar/forum.nomadsculpt.com/kate_wardwell/32/17572_2.png) [@Kate\_Wardwell](https://forum.nomadsculpt.com/u/Kate_Wardwell)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2023, 4:50pm UTC](https://forum.nomadsculpt.com/t/about-transparent-background-and-material/6005/10 "2023-07-20T16:50:26Z")
Worked like a charm! Thanks!