I'm still pretty new to GLGraphics and I just wanted to ask what
the best way to create a semi-transparent shape was. I have
rendered a sphere based on the globe example, but need to be
able to see through it to an extent. Should I then just apply
colours with an alpha value to each vertex, or do I need to use
a sprite or texture or something which is semitransparent? I'm
after a very basic example or explanation. This sphere must be a
GLModel. And then how should I combine rendering that sphere
with rendering other lines/point/shape GLModels which surround
the sphere which may or may not be semi-transparent themselves?
Blending modes and depth masking etc hi, you can either use a
semitransparent texture for your model, or set the alpha value
of its vertices. Both approaches should give you same visual
results. The problem with semi-transparent geometry is that,
unless you depth-sort it every frame to make sure that the
closest faces to the camera are drawn first, then you will get
artifacts due to the alpha