Cycles. Masking shader. How to make objects disappear in plain sight.

Question

So I have a scene. I want to slide out a text, for example, as if it was hiding behind an invisible wall. I know that you can achieve this effect with a boolean modifier... but I can't use it in this case. Plus to make it happen with a text you need to convert it into a mesh first - no good.

How to make so that when an object, partially or completely, is inside another object that this makes that part invisible? (The other/masking object is completely invisible all the time, of course)

I sense that it has something to do with a clever Light Path and Mix Shader nodes arrangement.

(Made with a boolean modifier)

To achieve this with nodes... Something along the lines of this? enter image description here

How it looks in the viewport:

cgslav · Accepted Answer · 2018-01-24T14:43:01.463

8

Final:

Nodes:

For Masking Object - cube in this example just use Transparent BSDF with pure white color.

For object being masked - text - use mix between chosen shader (Diffuse here) and Transparent by Light Path > Transparent Depth:

Of course object being masked should be inside masking object.

edited Jan 24 '18 at 14:43

answered Jan 24 '18 at 14:27

cgslav

17,548
2
39
82

Exactly what I was looking for. Thank you. – BlenderSpot Jan 24 '18 at 16:22
Pretty clever solution, nice answer – Duarte Farrajota Ramos Jan 24 '18 at 17:19
Can i have a graduated edge or fall off to the mask? – 3pointedit Jan 24 '18 at 23:00
You could also do this with render layers using mask layers. – Jeff Lange Jan 24 '18 at 23:05

Cycles. Masking shader. How to make objects disappear in plain sight.

1 Answers1

Final:

Nodes:

Linked