Alpha Blending for hair?

[Ultima Cloud]

Just curious why hair makers do not use alpha blending. I notice this whenever I put on a pair of glasses. There's interaction between the alphas of the hair and the alphas of the glasses. And since hair is no-mod for some reason (If its not made of prims, a script or an animation then that mod button really serves no purpose) I cannot just fix it myself. Ive never made hair or anything so I am not sure if there is a legit reason for this practice or not. I just know when I am building something and I get a similar situation where a glass object in my foreground interacts with say a window in the background I just flip on alpha blending and the issue is resolved.

[Rolig Loon]

You have it backwards.  Hair creators use it all the time.  It's alpha blending that generates the problem.   If they used alpha masking instead --and some creators do -- the problem would be much less common.  Unfortunately, alpha masking brings its own problems -- mainly a lack of partial transparency.  Alpha masked  textures have 100% opaque areas and 100% transparent ones, nothing in between, so they can look harsh and jagged.  No alpha glitch, though.

[Ultima Cloud]

56 minutes ago, Rolig Loon said:

You have it backwards.  Hair creators use it all the time.  It's alpha blending that generates the problem.   If they used alpha masking instead --and some creators do -- the problem would be much less common.  Unfortunately, alpha masking brings its own problems -- mainly a lack of partial transparency.  Alpha masked  textures have 100% opaque areas and 100% transparent ones, nothing in between, so they can look harsh and jagged.  No alpha glitch, though.

okay thanks that explains why it works for me in builds but not for hair.

[Rolig Loon]

No, actually, it doesn't. It's increasingly common for builders to use alpha masking as a way to beat the alpha sorting problem, instead of using alpha blending. Wander around in SL, especially in areas that have been built up within the past four or five years.  Use CTRL + ALT + T to highlight transparency.  Objects that have alpha blended textures will show up with a red tint.  Objects with alpha masking will be tinted blue.  Look to see where the alpha sorting problem is worst.