Stencil Rendering with AlphaBlend + AlphaTest

[restive tusk]

Hello! I'm working on a label model that needs to render similarly to in-game nametags. For that, I needed two main things:

1. A background (using AlphaBlend)
2. A text layer (using AlphaTest)

Both should always render through blocks, with the text rendering on top of the background. To achieve this, I set both materials to use "depthFunc": "Always". However, I ran into an issue with how the game orders material rendering: the background always rendered through the text.

I'm not deeply experienced with custom materials, but after reading some discussions here on the server and experimenting with AI suggestions, I found a partial solution using a stencil mask. It got me close to the desired effect.

However, I’m still facing some inconsistencies:

• In certain conditions (e.g., rendering through nether portals), the layering gets buggy.
• Sometimes, text from one label renders through another, even though texts should not render through other texts that are in front of them.

I'd really appreciate if anyone with experience in material stencils could take a look at my current materials. I’d like to know if my approach makes sense, or if there’s a more reliable way to solve these rendering issues. I'm also searching for ways to optimize my materials in case there is any ambiguity.

Thanks in advance!

Materials:

{
  "materials": {
    "version": "1.0.0",
    "hologram_background:entity_alphablend": { // BACKGROUND: First in the render_controllers, but last to render
      "+states": [
        "EnableStencilTest",
        "DisableDepthWrite",
        "DisableDepthTest"
      ],
      "-states": ["DisableCulling"],
      "frontFace": {
        "stencilFunc": "Equal"
      },
      "backFace": {
        "stencilFunc": "Equal"
      },
      "stencilRef": 1,
      "stencilReadMask": 2,
      "depthFunc": "Always"
    },
    "hologram_char_mask:entity": { // MASK: Renders first
      "+states": [
        "StencilWrite",
        "DisableColorWrite",
        "DisableDepthWrite"
      ],
      "-states": ["DisableCulling"],
      "stencilRef": 2,
      "stencilWriteMask": 2,
      "depthFunc": "Always"
    },
    "hologram_char:entity_alphatest": { // TEXT: Renders after the mask
      "+defines": ["USE_UV_ANIM"],
      "-defines": ["FANCY"],
      "+states": ["EnableStencilTest"],
      "-states": ["DisableCulling"],
      "frontFace": {
        "stencilFunc": "Always",
        "stencilPassOp": "Replace"
      },
      "backFace": {
        "stencilFunc": "Always",
        "stencilPassOp": "Replace"
      },
      "stencilRef": 2,
      "stencilWriteMask": 2,
      "depthFunc": "Always"
    }
  }
}

[placid palm]

Wait is this rendering like to only specific players?

[restive tusk]

Yep

[placid palm]

can i have this

[restive tusk]

I can't share because I made this system to a team. But it basically uses setPropertyOverrideForEntity

[placid palm]

but like how the heck does it work does it use entity nametag or what

[placid palm]

@restive tusk wait is this using a entity or not?

[restive tusk]

Client entity models. You have to write through properties and reflect that visually. It lags if using too much details as I did though

Let's consider you need a 15 characters support per entity. You'll need 15 properties that carries all the character data (like index, length if passing via server, etc.), everything is predefined including the characters it support

Then, animations do the rest of the magic

[placid palm]

so you needa make a bunch of properties for the entity and set them individually through client entity??? and also adding color??? and whatt???????????????????/

[restive tusk]

Yes, xD. Every data the character need. It's such an advanced system... It would work perfectly if it didn't lag so much due to a bunch of render controllers per entity. But I did 30 characters, if you make 15 for example it'll lag much less, less than using 2 entities of 15 I think. Or if you don't need color or something... I added all the Java Edition formatting codes too. The system of converting text into properties is via scripting
Obs: an entity is limited to 32 properties

[placid palm]

Thats crazy what?? Did you separate all the textures of each letter out to set in the entity file???

[restive tusk]

Nope. Same texture + uv_anim

[placid palm]

Wait if you use the same entity for 15 characters each how do you know the spacing between each letter? Because every letter is different it has a different shape and size.

[north seal]

If name tags are not supposed to move, instead of using depthFunc, you can scale down the geometry from the camera position. That will physically move name tags closer, without changing their perspective. Transparent blocks will still render on top of the background, but not over the characters themselves. Also with this set-up, you don't need the mask, just setting stencil on the characters themselves would be enough. You can also technically do that without stencil at all, if you use can repurpose the characters as the background and change their texture to translucent black. But that only works if you can actually reuse that geo, as it requires the same exact geo in order for depth testing to result in the same exact depth values

[restive tusk]

Every character data is sent via server, including character size. Based on size, the animations do the offsets for each character bone based on that

[placid palm]

Wait but how do you apply animations for each specific letter? Aren't they suppose to be all together in 1 entity?

[restive tusk]

each letter is a bone. You should make a geometry in which the hierarchy of the bones helps you, and animate each bone. Ideal hierarchy is: char_0 -> char_1 -> char_2... Easy to offset a segment via anim

[placid palm]

How are you animating each bone??? Is it also with another property?

Also how did you use uv_anim for each bone on mutiple things at once?

[restive tusk]

Take the golden tips:

1. Do all the characters positioned at the same place, following the a chaining hierarchy. 2nd chirlden of the 1st, 3rd chirlden of the 2nd, and so on...
2. The initial position is: the bone anchors from the model center to right.
3. You'll have to calculate the total width = which is the sum of each character's width, and offset the first character exactly by half of that to left (which offsets the entire text due to hierarchy).
4. Each individual bone is offseted to right by the size of the last character before it, which offsets all the following chars

I sent a set of data via only one integer property per character. So you can send index, width, color data, etc... (ask chat GPT about how to "encode" multiple info in an int).

[restive tusk]

Each character needs its own render controller. That's what cause some lag

So, make the render_controller of that character use the characters geo but only render the bone(s) of that character

[placid palm]

Wait for each render controller it uses the part_visibility property right?

[restive tusk]

Yep

Unless you have multiple geometries for each character (still following the hierarchy). I'll consider testing that btw to try to get some optimization 🤔 but I doubt I'll

[placid palm]

Did you set the length of the black box (that goes behind the text) dynamically too?

[restive tusk]

Yep, it uses the same width value I mentioned we need to calculate. Save every reused result in a variable in pre_animation

initially it has a width of 1 pixel, so scale is exactly by amount of pixels + some border value you use. Ensure the pivots are aligned on the left of the bone btw to avoid misaligning

and in the hierarchy I used, the background is chirlden of the char_0 bone to offset together

[placid palm]

Oh the background isnt its own other geometry?

[restive tusk]

Yes, it is. But it uses the exact name of the character geo bones until the bone of the first character to animate together

basically root (pivot centered to make it face you or do any other anim) -> char_0 -> background
In the char: root -> char_0 -> char_1...
Keep same pivots as well

[placid palm]

YOOO I THINK IM UNDERSTANDING NOW TYSM

Wait but for the black box scaling it does this???

I think its because its the parent of all the other char_1 and other

but I thought thats how you did it right?

[restive tusk]

Ensure this is children of char_0, only this. And that the pivot is on the left side, like this:
Make it a separate bone to add the scale

background -> scale
char_0 -> offset

[placid palm]

is every other letter in the background folder? I'm confused

[restive tusk]

Nope. Other letters are not needed in the background geo.

other letters are in char_0 of the chars geo, so scaling background is independent

[placid palm]

ohhhhhhh I thought you said yeah they were all in one folder together

mb

But why is my text being written from right to left?

writeTextToEntity(text, "Testing")```

are my pivot points wrong?

[restive tusk]

Only the parenting hierarchy but different geos

[restive tusk]

Wow! It's taking shape
invert the X offset value of characters. Use negative if positive

[placid palm]

ok

Now i fixed it slightly but its still bugging because the billboard for the thing is weird it look like the first image when looking at it from the front but the second one when looking from the back

[restive tusk]

Pivot misalignments...
Apply the billboard animation to a root bone, which is the parent bone of char_0. This bone needs to exist in both geometries with exact same pivot

[placid palm]

Wait should the billboard effect be a animation or just attached to the geometry?

[restive tusk]

Wdym?

[placid palm]

like is the billboard effect a applied animation

or is it set into the model

[placid palm]

and also where do you do apply the offset for the text

[restive tusk]

Animation. Isn't that what you're using to make it rotate?

[restive tusk]

on the char_0 bone via animation, if you're referring to the alignment offset. Otherwise, root bone is the best for offsetting the entire text

[lavish lantern]

HI

[restive tusk]

Hi

[placid palm]

Yeah I'm using animation now

[lavish lantern]

Why won't my stone texture work

It's so frustrating

[placid palm]

But now its being so weird with the text

[lavish lantern]

That's weird

[restive tusk]

"a" width is sent or calculated wrong, haha

[placid palm]

but this is fine??

[lavish lantern]

Maybe it's the spacing?

[restive tusk]

Yes

[placid palm]

the spacing is being buggy

[restive tusk]

When does it bug?

with t only?

[placid palm]

idk

its with

all

[placid palm]

I think i figured it out!

wait but how did you set the text's color?

[slate veldt]

I want to bring this idea to life, but it’s so frustrating not being able to.

[placid palm]

i even made it up to 30 characters now

[placid palm]

w

@restive tusk are you proud of me

[sharp wasp]

Dayumm

[restive tusk]

WOOOW! Good man 😎

[restive tusk]

Yeah! You killed it

Isn't it lagging? When setting like 3 entities

[placid palm]

no i havent experienced thst at all

[restive tusk]

Great to know! 🤩 Congrats

[placid palm]

@restive tusk how did you deal with the limit set on property overrides

[restive tusk]

To be honest, I did nothing about it in this system... xD, as I didn't write enough texts to reach the limit. I only discovered that limit later when doing another system, which I was setting property overrides much more frequently, and what I did was make sure that all the properties were being removed (as I didn't need older properties). But luckily they are removing this limitation in the preview versions, so we won't have to worry too much about it.

[placid palm]

dude its not fixed! they updated the game, no??

[restive tusk]

It was but in preview versions only, according to the changelog

[placid palm]

D:

[fading aspen]

One question, is it possible to remove this background from the texts?

I spent ages trying to remove this black background, but I never managed to do it.

@restive tusk

in case leave the nickname transparent without the black background

[placid palm]

yeah u can

[fading aspen]

what?

[placid palm]

u can remove the black bg

[fading aspen]

Can you tell me how to do this?

[fading aspen]

@placid palm

[placid palm]

ye

uh

u just like remove the texture of the black bg