{ How to make TRANSPARENT OBJECTS in Blender Eevee }

Introduction

In this article we see how to set up the Principled BSDF Shader to make transparent objects in Blender, this solution works for the EEVEE engine. To clarify some physics related issues, with “transparent” I mean that the material allows to see what is behind of the object, the effect is useful to quickly set up a basic glass material to apply for example to a window.

Download a Blender file with the transparent shader already applied.

There is a video tutorial on this topic:

DISCOVER MORE BLENDER TRICKS IN THIS YOUTUBE PLAYLIST

Prepare the scene – Elements to be used

To show how to make transparent objects in Blender, I am going to use the objects shown in figure 1. They are three spheres of different colors and the object in front is the one we are going to make transparent. Figure 2 shows the camera view, as you can see, it is completely obstructed by the object.

set of objects in blender, one of them is configured to be transparent — *Fig. 1: These are the objects to be used.*

camera view in blender, opaque object, can't see through it — *Fig. 2: Camera view, the object completely obstructs the view.*

Create a transparent object in Blender Eevee step by step

First we go to the rendering properties and activate the option “Screen Space Reflections” and inside this option we activate the “Refraction” checkbox, as shown in figures 3 and 4.

screen space reflections parameter in blender eevee to achieve transparent objects — *Fig. 3: In the engine parameters we activate “Screen Space Reflections”.*

refraction parameter in blender eevee to achieve transparent objects — *Fig. 4: In the previous parameter we activate the “Refraction” checkbox.*

Select the object to make transparent and go to the material configuration, if it does not have any material assigned create a new material. In “Surface” choose “Principled BSDF”, as shown in figure 5.

material that will be transparent in blender eevee — *Fig. 5: Select the material to be set up as transparent.*

3. In the material properties we scroll until we reach the “Settings” part, activate the “Screen Space Refraction” option (figure 6) and write a value for the “Refraction Depth” parameter (figure 7), this value is used to calculate the path of the light inside the material.

screen space reflections parameter in the configuration of a material in blender eevee to achieve transparent objects. — *Fig. 6: In Settings we activate the “Screen Space Refraction” checkbox.*

refraction depth parameter in the configuration of a material in blender, make objects transparent — *Fig. 7: We set a non-zero value for the “Refraction Depth” parameter.*

4. In the “Principled BSDF” Shader properties we increase the value of the transmission parameter.

transmission parameter of a material in blender, making transparent objects — *Fig. 8: We increase the value of the transmission parameter.*

Results

If you follow these tutorial step by step we get a transparent material applied to the object, as you can see in the following picture.

transparent object in blender eevee — *Fig. 9: The object is now transparent, we can see the objects behind it.*

To make the material more translucent we can decrease the value of the “Roughness” parameter. That way the objects behind are not so distorted, in figure 11 you can see the result. You could also use a texture to give it roughness.