SceneColor in a surface material ignores translucent objects behind it

(4.17 built from source updated 15 september)

After upgrading from 4.15 to 4.17 (didn’t try 4.16) the SceneColor material node when used in surface materials stopped considering translucent meshes and particles that are behind it. It just returns the color of opaque surfaces as if the translucent objects were not present.

To reproduce:

  • create a project form blueprint first person template
  • create a translucent unlit material
  • ---- connect to Emissive Color: SceneColor → Multiply(0.5) → EmissiveColor
  • ---- connect 1 to opacity
  • assign the material to one of the white cubes in the level
  • move the view so that the blue text on the floor (which is translucent) is behind the cube: the text is not visible through the cube

I also tried making the material lit and using Base Color instead of Emissive Color, but the result is the same.