How to make a Texture2D 50% transparent? XNA

Question

I'm using SpriteBatch to draw a Texture2D on the screen and was wondering how I could manipulate the the images opacity? Anyone know the best way in accomplishing this?

Answer 1

Assuming you are using XNA 4.0 with premultiplied alpha. In your spritebatch.draw multiply the color by a float, 0.5f for 50% transparency, and draw as you would normally. If you are not using premultiplied alpha I suggest you do for performance reasons and its more intuitive after you get used to it.

Example:

_spriteBatch.Draw(texture, location, Color.White * 0.5f);

Edit: Also make sure you set your blend state to BlendState.AlphaBlend, or another blend state that supports alpha and is not NonPremultiplied.

Example:

_spriteBatch.Begin(SpriteSortMode.Immediate, BlendState.AlphaBlend);

Answer 2

Just use color as new Color(RGBA); where:

• R is Red
• G is Green
• B is Blue
• A is Alpha

For instance:

new Color(100, 100, 100, 100);