specular_transmission.md

Specular Transmission

We can make a light transmitted through an object.

To do this, we use specular_transmission in StandardMaterial.

commands.spawn(PbrBundle {
    material: materials.add(StandardMaterial {
        specular_transmission: 1.,
        ..default()
    }),
    ..default()
});

This field specular_transmission makes the object transparent. The value of specular_transmission is between 0 and 1. The larger the value, the more the transparency.

In the following example, we create three cubes. From the left to right, their specular_transmission are 0, 0.8 and 1 respectively. To see the transparency, we create an orange plane with a texture board.png, which is shown below.

The full code is as follows:

use bevy::{
    app::{App, Startup},
    asset::{AssetServer, Assets},
    core_pipeline::core_3d::Camera3dBundle,
    ecs::system::{Commands, Res, ResMut},
    math::Vec3,
    pbr::{DirectionalLight, DirectionalLightBundle, PbrBundle, StandardMaterial},
    render::{
        color::Color,
        mesh::{
            shape::{Cube, Plane},
            Mesh,
        },
    },
    transform::components::Transform,
    utils::default,
    DefaultPlugins,
};

fn main() {
    App::new()
        .add_plugins(DefaultPlugins)
        .add_systems(Startup, setup)
        .run();
}

fn setup(
    mut commands: Commands,
    mut meshes: ResMut<Assets<Mesh>>,
    mut materials: ResMut<Assets<StandardMaterial>>,
    asset_server: Res<AssetServer>,
) {
    commands.spawn(Camera3dBundle {
        transform: Transform::from_xyz(0., 2., 3.).looking_at(Vec3::new(0., 0.5, 0.), Vec3::Y),
        ..default()
    });

    // left
    commands.spawn(PbrBundle {
        mesh: meshes.add(Cube::new(1.).into()),
        material: materials.add(StandardMaterial {
            specular_transmission: 0.,
            ..default()
        }),
        transform: Transform::from_xyz(-1.25, 0.5, 0.),
        ..default()
    });

    // middle
    commands.spawn(PbrBundle {
        mesh: meshes.add(Cube::new(1.).into()),
        material: materials.add(StandardMaterial {
            specular_transmission: 0.8,
            ..default()
        }),
        transform: Transform::from_xyz(0., 0.5, 0.),
        ..default()
    });

    // right
    commands.spawn(PbrBundle {
        mesh: meshes.add(Cube::new(1.).into()),
        material: materials.add(StandardMaterial {
            specular_transmission: 1.,
            ..default()
        }),
        transform: Transform::from_xyz(1.25, 0.5, 0.),
        ..default()
    });

    commands.spawn(PbrBundle {
        mesh: meshes.add(Plane::from_size(5.).into()),
        material: materials.add(StandardMaterial {
            base_color: Color::ORANGE,
            base_color_texture: Some(asset_server.load("board.png")),
            ..default()
        }),
        ..default()
    });

    commands.spawn(DirectionalLightBundle {
        directional_light: DirectionalLight {
            illuminance: 20000.,
            shadows_enabled: true,
            ..default()
        },
        transform: Transform::default().looking_to(Vec3::new(-1., -1., -1.), Vec3::Y),
        ..default()
    });
}

Result:

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