Drawing Transparent Images In Java Graphics2D

Question

I want to draw a PARTIALLY transparent image on top of another (Making shadows over things). I am currently using java's Graphics2D class to render, I've been told to set the composite to AlphaComposite, but that only sets it completely transparent.

Can I do this with my current setup? What do I have to do to fix this?

This is the code I was told that would make it partially transparent:

    AlphaComposite ac = java.awt.AlphaComposite.getInstance(AlphaComposite.CLEAR, 0.5F);
    g.setComposite(ac);

(I am using png images by the way)

Heres your sscce (these are all in different classes but i put them together for simplicity) (I use an image called "Test" in the local folder "Images", you can use whatever for this as long as it is a png Image named the same

import java.awt.AlphaComposite;
import java.awt.Color;
import java.awt.DisplayMode;
import java.awt.Font;
import java.awt.Graphics2D;
import java.awt.Window;

import javax.swing.ImageIcon;

import com.blazingkin.atrox.ScreenManager;

public class AtroxAdventrum{

public static void main(String[] args) {
new AtroxAdventrum().run();
}

    private static DisplayMode modes[] = {

        //new DisplayMode(1080,720,32,0),
        //new DisplayMode(1080,720,24,0),
        //new DisplayMode(1080,720,16,0),
        //new DisplayMode(1440,900,32,0),
        //new DisplayMode(1440,900,24,0),
        //new DisplayMode(1440,900,16,0),

    };
    private boolean running = true;
    public ScreenManager s;

    public void stop(){
        running = false;
    }

    public void run(){
        try{
            init();
            gameLoop();
        }finally{
            s.restoreScreen();
        }
    }

    public void init(){
        s = new ScreenManager();
        DisplayMode dm = s.findFirstCompatibleMode(modes);
        s.setFullScreen(dm);


        Window w = s.getFullScreenWindow();
        w.setFont(new Font("Arial", Font.PLAIN, 20));
        w.setBackground(Color.black);
        w.setForeground(Color.white);
    }

    public void gameLoop(){
        long startTime = System.currentTimeMillis();
        long cumTime = startTime;

        while (running)
        {
            long timePassed = System.currentTimeMillis() - cumTime;
            cumTime += timePassed;
            if (limitfps){
            try{
                Thread.sleep(15);
            }catch(Exception e){}
            }
            update(timePassed);
            Graphics2D g = s.getGraphics();
            draw(g);
            g.dispose();
            s.update();
        }
    }

    public void update(long timePassed){
    }

    public boolean limitfps = false;

        public void draw(Graphics2D g){
        g.clearRect(0, 0, s.getWidth(), s.getHeight());
        AlphaComposite ac = java.awt.AlphaComposite.getInstance(AlphaComposite.CLEAR,0.5F);
        g.setComposite(ac);
        g.drawImage(new ImageIcon("Images/Test.png").getImage(), 30, 30, 30, 30, null);
        }







}

If you run this you will have to alt + tab out and end the process (as it doesnt have anything in this portion of code to do such)

Answer 1

You're using the wrong rule -- don't use AlphaComposite.CLEAR.

The AlphaComposite API states this about CLEAR:

Both the color and the alpha of the destination are cleared (Porter-Duff Clear rule). Neither the source nor the destination is used as input.

So this will make the image disappear. Experiment with other rules. While you were creating your SSCCE, I created mine. See what happens when you comment out the one rule line for the other. For example change this

// int rule = AlphaComposite.CLEAR;
int rule = AlphaComposite.SRC_OVER;

to this:

int rule = AlphaComposite.CLEAR;
// int rule = AlphaComposite.SRC_OVER;

The whole SSCCE:

import java.awt.AlphaComposite;
import java.awt.BasicStroke;
import java.awt.Color;
import java.awt.Composite;
import java.awt.Dimension;
import java.awt.Graphics;
import java.awt.Graphics2D;
import java.awt.RenderingHints;
import java.awt.Stroke;
import java.awt.image.BufferedImage;

import javax.swing.*;

public class TestAlphaComposite extends JPanel {
   private static final int PREF_W = 400;
   private static final int PREF_H = PREF_W;
   private static final Stroke BASIC_STROKE = new BasicStroke(6f);
   BufferedImage backgroundImage;
   BufferedImage overlayImage;

   public TestAlphaComposite() {
      backgroundImage = createBackGroundImage();
      overlayImage = createOverlayImage();
   }

   private BufferedImage createBackGroundImage() {
      BufferedImage img = new BufferedImage(PREF_W, PREF_H,
            BufferedImage.TYPE_INT_ARGB);
      Graphics2D g2 = img.createGraphics();
      g2.setRenderingHint(RenderingHints.KEY_ANTIALIASING,
            RenderingHints.VALUE_ANTIALIAS_ON);
      g2.setStroke(BASIC_STROKE);
      g2.setColor(Color.blue);
      int circleCount = 10;
      for (int i = 0; i < circleCount ; i++) {
         int x = (i * PREF_W) / (2 * circleCount);
         int y = x;
         int w = PREF_W - 2 * x;
         int h = w;
         g2.drawOval(x, y, w, h);
      }
      g2.dispose();
      return img;
   }

   private BufferedImage createOverlayImage() {
      BufferedImage img = new BufferedImage(PREF_W, PREF_H,
            BufferedImage.TYPE_INT_ARGB);
      Graphics2D g2 = img.createGraphics();
      g2.setRenderingHint(RenderingHints.KEY_ANTIALIASING,
            RenderingHints.VALUE_ANTIALIAS_ON);
      g2.setStroke(BASIC_STROKE);
      g2.setColor(Color.red);
      int circleCount = 10;
      for (int i = 0; i < circleCount + 1; i++) {
         int x1 = (i * PREF_W) / (circleCount);
         int y1 = 0;
         int x2 = PREF_W - x1;
         int y2 = PREF_H;
         float alpha = (float)i / circleCount;
         if (alpha > 1f) {
            alpha = 1f;
         }
         // int rule = AlphaComposite.CLEAR;
         int rule = AlphaComposite.SRC_OVER;
         Composite comp = AlphaComposite.getInstance(rule , alpha );
         g2.setComposite(comp );
         g2.drawLine(x1, y1, x2, y2);
      }
      g2.dispose();
      return img;
   }

   @Override
   public Dimension getPreferredSize() {
      return new Dimension(PREF_W, PREF_H);
   }

   @Override
   protected void paintComponent(Graphics g) {
      super.paintComponent(g);
      if (backgroundImage != null) {
         g.drawImage(backgroundImage, 0, 0, null);
      }
      if (overlayImage != null) {
         g.drawImage(overlayImage, 0, 0, null);
      }
   }

   private static void createAndShowGui() {
      JFrame frame = new JFrame("TestAlphaComposite");
      frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
      frame.getContentPane().add(new TestAlphaComposite());
      frame.pack();
      frame.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
      frame.setVisible(true);
   }

   public static void main(String[] args) {
      SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
         public void run() {
            createAndShowGui();
         }
      });
   }
}

By the way, your SSCCE isn't a true SSCCE. There's no way that any of us can compile or run that code as it has dependencies that we don't have access to, namely "com.blazingkin.atrox.ScreenManager". If you need our help in the future, you'll want to write better complying sscce's.