Alpha blending anomalies
Monday, February 14, 2005 by BlueDev | Discussion: WindowBlinds
WB 4.5 comes out, I update and suddenly have this very cool skin called Pearlthane on my computer. I could see through my start menu! Wow. It looked like this:
Then, a couple of weeks ago I decided it was time to reformat and to a clean install (as I like to do every once in a while). I installed everything as before, Windowblinds, deleted the old Pearlthane and snagged the updated one from here. Was using the same video drivers (Omega's based on Cat 4.12, now using Omega's based on 5.1). I fired up Pearlthane and suddenly I could barely read through my start menu. It looked like this:
Still transparent to a degree, but only very dark things are seen (there are words you should be able to see as in the first shot). Odd. Perhaps something was wrong with my vid card drivers I wondered. I didn't really have any idea, but figured something was wrong on my end. Then I snagged the update of Pulsar and StealthOS and was surprised to see just how nice and clear their start menus were:
Weird, eh? So what am I doing wrong? Any ideas why Pearlthane is less transparent than before? Also, I have attempted to alter some skins I currently have with this new tool and am having no luck. I open it in Skin Studio, select the Start menu or places graphic, go down to the Start Menu effects and select any of the options (blur, glass, etc), save the blind, apply from SKS, no change. Close SKS, apply a different blind, then go back to the one I just changed and reapply. Nada.
Thanks all.
Then, a couple of weeks ago I decided it was time to reformat and to a clean install (as I like to do every once in a while). I installed everything as before, Windowblinds, deleted the old Pearlthane and snagged the updated one from here. Was using the same video drivers (Omega's based on Cat 4.12, now using Omega's based on 5.1). I fired up Pearlthane and suddenly I could barely read through my start menu. It looked like this:
Still transparent to a degree, but only very dark things are seen (there are words you should be able to see as in the first shot). Odd. Perhaps something was wrong with my vid card drivers I wondered. I didn't really have any idea, but figured something was wrong on my end. Then I snagged the update of Pulsar and StealthOS and was surprised to see just how nice and clear their start menus were:
Weird, eh? So what am I doing wrong? Any ideas why Pearlthane is less transparent than before? Also, I have attempted to alter some skins I currently have with this new tool and am having no luck. I open it in Skin Studio, select the Start menu or places graphic, go down to the Start Menu effects and select any of the options (blur, glass, etc), save the blind, apply from SKS, no change. Close SKS, apply a different blind, then go back to the one I just changed and reapply. Nada.
Thanks all.
BlueDev
Reply #2 Monday, February 14, 2005 2:16 PM
My guess was it was something along those lines. Thanks for confirming that for me Koasati.
Reply #2 Monday, February 14, 2005 2:16 PM
| You have to edit the graphic as well... |
My guess was it was something along those lines. Thanks for confirming that for me Koasati.
Daiwa
Reply #3 Monday, February 14, 2005 10:38 PM
Reply #3 Monday, February 14, 2005 10:38 PM
I'm getting leftover graphic corruption on "mouseout" from StartPanel Items in alpha-blended StartPanels, but my rig has constant alpha acceleration only, not per pixel. Screenshot is posted in stardock.windowblinds.binaries.
Cheers,
Daiwa
Cheers,
Daiwa
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Reply #1 Monday, February 14, 2005 1:52 PM
You have to edit the graphic as well... SkS doesn't make them translucent, just allows them to be. ANd all those options blur, glass, etc., I can't see any differences with them.