# Is this an expected transparency issue?

**URL:** <https://forum.babylonjs.com/t/is-this-an-expected-transparency-issue/62191>\
**Category:** Questions\
**Tags:** rendering, transparency\
**Created:** [January 22, 2026, 5:46pm UTC](https://forum.babylonjs.com/t/is-this-an-expected-transparency-issue/62191 "2026-01-22T17:46:27Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Joe\_Kerr](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex024/user_avatar/forum.babylonjs.com/joe_kerr/32/39017_2.png) [@Joe\_Kerr](https://forum.babylonjs.com/u/Joe_Kerr)\
**Post date:** [January 22, 2026, 5:46pm UTC](https://forum.babylonjs.com/t/is-this-an-expected-transparency-issue/62191/1 "2026-01-22T17:46:27Z")

</div>

Hi everyone,

Please have a look at this:

 ![Screenshot 2026-01-22 181812](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex024/uploads/babylonjs/original/3X/8/b/8b43a1b434f4362238ce36dfc6313a0d676bc0f9.jpeg)  
 ![Screenshot 2026-01-22 181921](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex024/uploads/babylonjs/original/3X/a/9/a9e5f127b11756ac784d638e9f4f7d29e2eea039.jpeg)

In the screenshot, the top of the tower (horizontal logs) is one mesh\*\*. In the entire scene, there is not a single alpha value below 1. The moment I set “transparency mode” to “Alpha blend”, the rendering glitches, as outlined above, occur.

Is this expected?

- Is it that merely setting the transprency mode to blend, that I will have to expect transparency glitches irrespective of actual transparency (i.e. all meshes alpha == 1.0)?
- And these glitches can very well occur within a single mesh? (This is it what throws me off. I understand that sorting multiple meshes can be problematic. But a single mesh?)

FYI, this is question is about better understanding transparency. I know how to avoid the issue 😀

Best wishes  
Joe

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![sebavan](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex024/user_avatar/forum.babylonjs.com/sebavan/32/57_2.png) [@sebavan](https://forum.babylonjs.com/u/sebavan)\
**Post date:** [January 22, 2026, 6:52pm UTC](https://forum.babylonjs.com/t/is-this-an-expected-transparency-issue/62191/2 "2026-01-22T18:52:27Z")

</div>

Yup it is kind of expected as we are rendering mesh by sorting them back to front and this sometimes fail.

Here is a nice doc on how everything transparent works [Babylon.js docs](https://doc.babylonjs.com/features/featuresDeepDive/materials/advanced/transparent_rendering)
