I just read some threads about tranparency an wondered which image format would be "best" when working with transparency (fake/real) because not all formats support it natively.
do all modules support png (or at least the "usual" ones)?
Yes, pretty much all support it. No fancy alpha stuff though, that's reserved to a few modules like layercut. For transparency both BMPs and PNGs should work if you use Magic Pink(tm).
is there any chance that litestep will support alpha transparency in the future. having antialiased edges would be very sweet.
Not without rewriting all of the modules.
I guess this means tranparency with png works only with magic pink.
sadly it is almost exactly like you said. there are exceptions, but not many :(
only one that i know of: layercut. Definately need to rewrite the modules for .png alpha.... if only i knew c++
Nah, there's 2 or 3, layercut, skinbox, and I have a vague feeling there's another which I have forgotten. SkinBox was meant to be the first step in writing modules with this, among other things, but it's been delayed...
We definetly need APIs for this...
;-)
There are APIs for most of it, the only step that has to be done manually is premultiplying the alpha channel. (changing the image from A,R,G,B to A,R*A,G*A,B*A)
The problem is that there're two completely different APIs, one for solid and one for transparent, and the transparent one only works on Win2k and XP (and it's less familiar to most coders). Most modules currently use the solid API, and you need to have code for both if the module is to work on Win9x.
If LSAPI provided a uniform interface for this, it would make it much simpler to support alpha, but it would be such a huge change that you'd be back to rewriting all the modules.
Until all modules are not alpha compliant, we have to deal with existing ones...
...and it could give good result (IMO)
Just take a look: (using dragable skinboxes and superpositioning)
http://www.litestep.net/upload/profiles/Polemic-Smurth-244.png
Smurth
Do that work in Win9x/WinME?
Al: Humm, currently it only use SkinBox transparency. Then, I think it should work on 9x; but I'm not sure; there could be some slow down while draging boxes (on 9x)...
...but I guess the final release will be 2K/XP only
Thanks, Smurth.
I just downloaded one of your themes (popuped) and take a look on the configuration. Very interesting! Unfortunnatly I have to use WinME at home and I think that it'll not work on my machine. Anyway I'll gonna play with this stuff sometime.
Thanks a lot.
Al: I've just packed and upload "Polemic". It's a first drop; there's limitations (everything AlwaysOnTop)
...watch out the "Themes" section
Ok. I'm gonna go look for Polemic. I've seen the screenshot and it's really cool. Thanks!
Alpha transparency in SkinBox should also work on Win98/ME (not 95), but it will cut through to the desktop instead of showing the windows underneath (and it might slow down dragging significantly). If it doesn't, it's a bug.
