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Alpha Transparency is a pain in my #%!¤&$@ %¤#.
This has taken DAYS:
The $#@% you have to go through for a simple toolbar for Windows Aero..
Sorry. Just needed to vent. I only have myself to blame for being a perfectionist. Anyway, it’s getting there…
///Leif
Leif,
As someone who has no idea what an Alpha Transparency is, I’m impressed. 🙂
Scott
Yes Leif !!
I had a rather bad alpha experience last week when i drove to the transmitter site….
it was snowing and my windshield was not that transparent as i wished it would be.EHM… wtf ?
maybe i dont know what alpha transparency is ..
is it something like the key i use for layering pictures in my virtual studio set up? Greenscreen stuff.. for tv??I think (and this is only a wild guess based on Leif’s pic..) that this is something to do with the skin of your app being transparent so instead of being a solid colour (normally grey) you can see your desktop thru the app..
Am I somewhere close??Yep, Yorkie… It’s a Vista/Win7 feature that allows window borders and backgrounds be translucent and seem like Glass… commonly referred to as Aero.
[quote author=”timmywa”]Yep, Yorkie… It’s a Vista/Win7 feature that allows window borders and backgrounds be translucent and seem like Glass… commonly referred to as Aero.[/quote]
And I’m sure it’s a vital feature for all sound based applications… 😉
Maybe this is the new project, 75Khz modulation at all times but completely transparent processing. Maybe someone requested transparent processing and Leif misunderstood their intentions 🙂
LOL 🙂
Well, to be honest, I’ve kinda painted myself into a corner. Back when I originally made Breakaway Audio Enhancer, I made an explorer toolbar for it, for a nice way to integrate oscilloscope/meters into the shell, as well as an always-there volume control.
I’ve always used a kind of alpha transparency in the Breakaway user interfaces. All buttons and other things you see in Breakaway have alpha transparency and anti-aliasing — you can see this if you zoom in and look at the edges of buttons and stuff, everything looks pixel-perfect, as if composed in photoshop. However, the window itself was never transparent — those objects were all blended into a solid window.
Then, along came Windows 7 and Aero. The normal Breakaway windows look fine as they are, but the toolbar really doesn’t work properly, and needs to be transparent as well. Thus, all of a sudden, all that drawing code has to be rewritten to support transparent windows — just for a few pixels.
At this point, it feels like a ridiculous amount of work for a feature most people probably don’t use anyway, and I’ve already spent several more days on it, and it’s still not done. So, what are my options, really?
I’d love to not do it, and work on something more worthwhile, but it would look pretty bad to release a new Breakaway Personal and tout "Windows 7 support" with the toolbar warning that it’s not compatible with this version of windows, and looking so-so once it’s enabled. Argh.
I could also just plain remove that feature, but that’d feel stupid with all the time I’ve already spent — plus, to be honest, I’d miss it.
What do you guys think? Does anyone use the toolbar?
Comments appreciated.
Best,
///LeifOh wow, I’m not even aware of a toolbar feature. I guess I am now 😀 , but it would be interesting to take a survey and find out how widespread its use is.
FINALLY!
I’m sure I’ll find plenty of issues before release, but it’s actually working!
You’ve gotta admit, alpha transparency looks pretty nice when it works.
Anyway.. If it was about money, I never would have spent this much time on something as insignificant as this, as it’s guaranteed not to make financial sense. But, as most of you have probably figured out already, that’s not what drives me. 😉
///Leif
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