Texture files can have a transparency value, and as such we’d like to use it on occasion with 3D objects. The above image is created using flat square leaves, onto which an image of a leaf is projected. Outside the leaf, the area on the PNG file is transparent.
Here’s how to create a Cycles Shader in Blender that will show only the leaf and not the surrounding area of the texture.
- add a Texture Shader to the default Diffuse shader and load your image
- add a Mix Shader between the Diffuse and Material Output nodes
- add a Transparent Shader and plug it into the top Mix Shader input (NOT the bottom one)
- connect the Alpha output of your Image Texture to the Fac(tor) input of the Transparent Shader
Here’s what such a shader looks like:
