Setting transparency in script?

Unity Engine
1

I am learning via youtube and reading, I know there is a c# line that goes right in here to set the transparency when i am changing the color, but I can find no examples or explanations via google and forums. This is the snippet of code that is all in all working properly, but i want to change the transparency as I am changing colors.

void Update ()
{
if (current)
{
GetComponent().material.color = Color.magenta;
}
else if (target)
{
GetComponent().material.color = Color.green;
}
else if (selectable)
{
GetComponent().material.color = Color.red;
}
else
{
GetComponent().material.color = Color.white;
}
}

I found this as a old example from 2010 but it did not work.

other.renderer.material.color.a = 0.5; // 50 % transparent

So that pretty much explains it sorry for the noob question, I searched all over the renderer.API stuff with no luck.

2

You don’t need to constantly get your renderer in update like that. Just name it and get it in start:

    Renderer renderer;
    void Start()
    {
        renderer = GetComponent<Renderer>();
    }

    void Update()
    {
        if (true)
        {
            renderer.material.color = Color.magenta;
            Color color = renderer.material.color;
            color.a = .3f;
            renderer.material.color = color;
        }
    }
}

You also need to set your material to transparent in the editor by clicking on the little arrow under Rendering Mode.

3

its for a turn based game so the tile colors change every turn based on what unit you have highlighted. Ill try this tho and see if it works thank you!!

4

In that case you should not use the update method. Instead you should send a message when the player clicks on hte object. I don’t want to confuse you too much if you just began but it never hurts to get the right direction.

I assume that at some point you assign the current variable for example if hte player clicks on it. This might be another script. Then you can do this:

//Put this on top of oyur manager class:
[SerializeField] Color NormalColor;
[SerializeField] Color CurrentColor;
[SerializeField] Color selectableColor;
[SerializeField] Color TargetColor;


//Wherever you assign states:

//Instead of
tile.current = true;
//Use this:
tile.SetColor(CurrentColor);

//Instead of
tile.target = true;
//Use this:
tile.SetColor(TargetColor);

//Instead of
tile.selectable = true;
//Use this:
tile.SetColor(SelectableColor);

//Make sure to deselect the old objects:
//Instead of
tile.current = false;
//Use this:
tile.SetColor(NormalColor);

YOu then need a method in your tile class called SetColor:

public void SetColor(Color color)
{
    renderer.material.color = color;
}
5

Did you perhaps mean “if (renderer != null)”, or?

6

He had some boolean in there, I just took a piece of the code to show how to do the things necessary. That’s kind of a problem with using code tags because it looks like it should be replacement code, but wasn’t meant for that purpose. It was just an example on how to show transparency.