Start Menu Alpha Error

And one other

Published on June 17, 2009 By Audiafox In Skinning

Okay, I'm having an interesting problem/possible bug in SKS 6 Pro/WB 6.4, on XP 32-bit. Basically, I am using per-pixel alpha blending in the skin I am making, but for some reason it doesn't work in the Start Menu. It works everywhere else (except maybe my tray expander arrow).

This screenshot pretty well explains the issue:

As you can see, per-pixel blending is working fine on the taskbar and buttons, but is not working at all on the Start Menu.

Here is a list of the things I have tried or done so far:

- Made sure "Transparent Parts" and "Image Alpha Channel" where checked.
- Made sure the images were 32-bit PNG's.
- Imported the PNG's through SKS's import button and also through the frame builder.
- Resaved the PNG's as TGA's and imported them.
- Made sure my computer was fully compatible with per-pixel alpha blending (it is).

Any help on this issue will be greatly appreciated.
Oh, and if you can figure out why my Start Button glow is cut off on the bottom, I'd be thankful for that too.

Comments

Audiafox

on Jun 17, 2009

FYI, my computer specs are:

Intel P4 w/ HTT, 3.0 Ghz
Windows XP 32-bit
NVidia GeForce FX 5200, 256 MB, running drivers 175.19 (newest available for this card)
1 GB DDR2 RAM

Old machine, I know, haha. Hopefully I'll get to upgrade relatively soon.

2of3

on Jun 17, 2009

Go to the extra tab on each part of the start panel and make sure that the background effect is set to semi transparency and not blur.

See if that helps

2of3

on Jun 17, 2009

Oh, and if you can figure out why my Start Button glow is cut off on the bottom, I'd be thankful for that too.

I'd have to see the settings for your start button to help you

Audiafox

on Jun 17, 2009

Okay... the Start Menu is not actually transparent. Only the edges have a per-pixel alpha channel to make them blend smoothly. All Start Menu pieces are set to "No semi transparency."

EDIT: I set them all to semi transparency, and voila! It works - except that now the start button glow is completely gone, haha. Go figure.
I'll work on it a bit to see if I can fix it.

Anyway, thanks for your help. I wouldn't have thought that I would need semi transparency on, since I thought it was just an effect like blur. My first skin, can you tell?

EDIT 2: Okay, I completely fixed that silly Start button. Why is it you can never figure something out until you ask for help?

2of3

on Jun 17, 2009

EDIT 2: Okay, I completely fixed that silly Start button. Why is it you can never figure something out until you ask for help?

Glad to hear you got it worked out.

If you run into more problems, you can use this thread to ask. I or someone else will surely be able to help

gmc2

on Jun 18, 2009

this is something that I am just trying out but seems to work. generally alpha channels are black and white. by using a "mask" you can include shades of gray with the black and white. saving the mask as the alpha channel should give you a level of transparency where the gray areas are, or so it seems.

Audiafox

on Jun 18, 2009

Yes, I am aware of that. My problem was not in making alpha channels, but it getting them to work on the Start Menu, but it has been fixed thanks to 2of3.

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