Translucency Map Generator

Translucency is the thing that separates a dead-looking leaf from one that glows when the sun hits it from behind. It's not transparency - the leaf is still opaque, but light scatters through it, tinted by whatever's inside. Engines usually expose this as a translucency or subsurface-scattering slot, and it needs a map that says "how much light passes through here, and what color does it pick up."

That's what this node generates. Feed it your albedo and it returns a translucent map: brighter albedo areas become more translucent, tinted by a color you choose. The default #88FF88 green is exactly right for leaves - the classic "light coming through foliage" look.

It's a procedural, brightness-based approximation, not a physics simulation. You're not getting a real SSS solve; you're getting a plausible map that makes foliage, thin fabric, paper, and lampshades read correctly in most engines. For a quick material that's usually good enough, and it's free - no model, no heavy compute.

How it works

The math is straightforward. It converts the albedo to luminance, scales it by strength, optionally multiplies by a thickness factor, and paints the whole thing with your translucency_color:

• albedo - the base color map. Bright areas = more translucency.
• translucency_color - a hex string like #88FF88. This is the color the backlit material scatters.
• strength (0–1) - overall intensity of the effect.
• thickness (optional IMAGE) - a map where white = thick (blocks light), black = thin (lets light through). The node inverts it internally: thinner = more translucent. If you have a height or thickness map lying around, this is where it goes; it gets resized to match the albedo automatically.

Output is a single translucency IMAGE - wire it into your engine's translucency/scatter slot, or save it alongside the rest of your material set.

Installing it

Translucency Map Generator is part of ComfyUI-TextureAlchemy. In ComfyUI Manager, search "Texture Alchemy", install, restart. Manual:

cd ComfyUI/custom_nodes
git clone https://github.com/amtarr/ComfyUI-TextureAlchemy
# restart ComfyUI

No extra Python dependencies, no model downloads - pure PyTorch on ComfyUI's bundled environment. It lives under Add Node → Texture Alchemist → Materials. (The README's copy-the-ComfyUI_PBR_MaterialProcessor-folder line predates the pack's rename; use Manager or git clone.)

Gotchas

The hex color string needs the # - type #88FF88, not 88FF88. And don't expect this to do anything fancy with the alpha channel or to produce a mask; it's a colored intensity map, full stop. For foliage specifically, pair it with the albedo's darkest creases: run the pack's WearGenerator's AO trick or just accept the brightness-based result - for most stylized and mid-fidelity work it lands close enough that nobody squints at it in the viewport.