Transparent vs Translucent

Transparent and Translucent surfaces consider the "transmittance" of light from one side of the surface to the other. However, the way in which they do so is slightly different and follows the rules below.

Translucent

Translucent surfaces can both reflect and transmit light.
The amount of light transmitted is balanced by the reflectance value controlled by the surface color.
Transmitted light is emitted (on the opposite side of the surface) in a Lambertian (diffuse) distribution. This completely diffuse transmission model is a reasonable approximation for translucent materials, such as white plastic, but not transparent materials.
ElumTools daylighting does not support translucent materials.

More details on Transmittance

Transparent

Transparent surfaces can have transmittance values of 1% to 100% (.01 - 1.0).
Transparent surfaces do not reflect light, they absorb all light they do not transmit.
Transparent surfaces behave as image-preserving (direct transmission) surfaces in ElumTools with transmitted light deprecated by the transparency setting.
Light through transparent surfaces can be tinted. The color selected will be matched in transparency with the transmittance value selected.

Specifying Transparency