PNG support but no alpha channel transparency?!?

[EmuMannen]

I spent most of the day whipping up my custom layout and I thought I would be finished by now. I know that I should have made a quick test first instead of assuming that MaLa supported alpha channel transparency. But I already tested that it supported PNG graphics and PNG support without alpha channel transparency really makes no sense to me!

I assumed alpha transparency for my layout and I got really put off when I imported my overlay layer and found out that MaLa only support pixel transparency. Why limit your self to pixel transparency when PNG exist and layouts would look so superior with alpha transparency?

I assume MaLa I written in Delphi and I do know that Delphi controls support pixel transparency out of the box (by referencing the left-bottom pixel). But please don't be lazy and limit your self to the built in handling of bitmaps. Why not base the main window on the Open Source and excellent Graphics32 controls (http://graphics32.org/) instead. Blazing fast and compatible with built in DelphiGraphics object and with unlimited opportunities for alpha blending, transitions, transformations etc.

Pair it up with the GraphicEx image library (http://www.soft-gems.net/), another excellent piece of Open Source and you got support for almost every imaginable graphics format out there! By the way, why not Open Source MaLa in the same spirit as MAME, MESS and the majority of all Emulators enabling the BYOAC community in the first place? If that would have been the case, then I could have dropped in alpha transparency support in no time (I have been coding in Delphi since 1.0)...

I will just put the upgrade of my arcade cabinet on hold for now or until MaLa layouts support  alpha transparency. No idea to continue the development of my custom layouts without it...

I attach some previews of how I pictured my layout. It is entirely made up in Inkscape so everything is scalable to any resolution. The first image is without additional graphics loaded (marquee, snap and flyer). The other one is with these graphics in place. The shades over the marquee and snap is in a separate layer and it need  alpha transparency support in order to be properly overlayed. But also edges around anti aliased drawings such as the overlayed frame around the flyers need alpha transparency.   

So please developers, consider to implement alpha transparency (you will never get stunning multi-layered skins/layouts without it). Or open your source and I will do it for you...

[loadman]

FYI On the open source issue.
1) That is not what Swindus wants
2) MaLa is so tied into old 3rd party plugins that the main code it can currently only be compiled on Delphi5. The utilities are ok to use Delphi 2007 except for MaLa Attract.
3) There are other issues with this idea, if you want more details please search this forum for the posts has this has been fully discussed before,

Thanks for the links... 

I Will consider it for a future version as I an many others would love that feature to make some sexy layouts 
 

Possibly you could help me without making open source? 

[Cakemeister]

I spent most of the day whipping up my custom layout and I thought I would be finished by now. I know that I should have made a quick test first instead of assuming that MaLa supported alpha channel transparency. But I already tested that it supported PNG graphics and PNG support without alpha channel transparency really makes no sense to me!

I assumed alpha transparency for my layout and I got really put off when I imported my overlay layer and found out that MaLa only support pixel transparency. Why limit your self to pixel transparency when PNG exist and layouts would look so superior with alpha transparency?

I assume MaLa I written in Delphi and I do know that Delphi controls support pixel transparency out of the box (by referencing the left-bottom pixel). But please don't be lazy and limit your self to the built in handling of bitmaps. Why not base the main window on the Open Source and excellent Graphics32 controls (http://graphics32.org/) instead. Blazing fast and compatible with built in DelphiGraphics object and with unlimited opportunities for alpha blending, transitions, transformations etc.

Pair it up with the GraphicEx image library (http://www.soft-gems.net/), another excellent piece of Open Source and you got support for almost every imaginable graphics format out there! By the way, why not Open Source MaLa in the same spirit as MAME, MESS and the majority of all Emulators enabling the BYOAC community in the first place? If that would have been the case, then I could have dropped in alpha transparency support in no time (I have been coding in Delphi since 1.0)...

I will just put the upgrade of my arcade cabinet on hold for now or until MaLa layouts support  alpha transparency. No idea to continue the development of my custom layouts without it...

I attach some previews of how I pictured my layout. It is entirely made up in Inkscape so everything is scalable to any resolution. The first image is without additional graphics loaded (marquee, snap and flyer). The other one is with these graphics in place. The shades over the marquee and snap is in a separate layer and it need  alpha transparency support in order to be properly overlayed. But also edges around anti aliased drawings such as the overlayed frame around the flyers need alpha transparency.   

So please developers, consider to implement alpha transparency (you will never get stunning multi-layered skins/layouts without it). Or open your source and I will do it for you...

Relatively few frontends support full alpha transparency.

[EmuMannen]

FYI On the open source issue.
1) That is not what Swindus wants
2) MaLa is so tied into old 3rd party plugins that the main code it can currently only be compiled on Delphi5. The utilities are ok to use Delphi 2007 except for MaLa Attract.
3) There are other issues with this idea, if you want more details please search this forum for the posts has this has been fully discussed before,

Thanks for the links... 

I Will consider it for a future version as I an many others would love that feature to make some sexy layouts 
 

Possibly you could help me without making open source? 

Ok, I get it. Sorry, I just got so frustrated. I should have browsed trough the board and done some research before posting... But still I still feel the way I  feel about this and yes I am prepared to help out even on a closed source project. It's just a petty that it's not opens because I think any project like this would benefit from it...

Please take a close look at Graphics32 (if you haven't yet). Run trough the demo and examples to get a feel for it. It would be a simple drop in replacement if you do most of the stuff on a Delphi canvas today. It will work with D5 no problems and you don't have to do everything with Graphics32 (it's fast on bitmaps but quite slow with fonts if rendering with anti-aliasing so gamelist control could use plain old canvas but other gfx could use Graphics32 etc.). The important part is to get full alpha channel support and that is easy with Graphics32 and the use of PNG as source (through GraphicEx). You can keep the old pixel based transparency option if you want but I think it is enough with alpha channel support these days since most gfx applications can export in PNG format (Photoshop, Gimp or whatever.).

I haven't seen your code but I estimate it is a matter of hours if it is structured somewhat sane, or a couple of days if it is really bad. It would also open up for new really cool features such as transformations on overlayed gfx (cool if you want to add perspective and alpha blending etc. Just give me a nudge if you need any help. I am quite busy at work but I will help you as much as I can if you need...

[EmuMannen]

Relatively few frontends support full alpha transparency.

Really?!? That's sooo ooold school, but that goes along pretty well with the overall theme doesn't it?

But seriously, in this case it's really a no brainier when it can be done so easy with the help of some open source. And I personally find PNG superior to all other formats supported by MaLa today. Alpha channel support would just be an added benefit and Graphics32 would probably make overall rendering faster too...

[youki]

(I have been coding in Delphi since 1.0)...

Why don't you create your own FE with your alpha transparency support?
You would need only  few hours for a simple Fe that is able to run all emulators and be skinnable.  (my very first version of AtomicFE has been done in 10 hours done in C++  and  configuration and skin tool in Delphi)

Mainly if you have so much experience with Delphi.  (i started also delphi in 1.0  ).

few FE supports Alpha chanel on PNG , I think (i can be wrong) : Khameleon , Maximus and Hyperspin, (GameEX ?)

AtomicFe has also , but not using the PNG channel  and it is surely not what you are looking for. 

[SGT]

What a shocker that Youki showed up in this thread.  

[EmuMannen]

(I have been coding in Delphi since 1.0)...

Why don't you create your own FE with your alpha transparency support?

Not a bad idea and I would if I didn't have two kids, a wife and a full time job to distract me (coding at my spare time was easier before that)...

I haven't touched Delphi since D7 (but still got it laying around on a CD, togheter with all the other versions back to D1, BP, TP, BC etc.). I do some C++ in VS2005 at work but mainly changes to legacy code (just makes me realize how ineffective I am these days). I try to move to Linux as a development platform for hobby projects but gcc + emacs is, for me, a setback when it comes to productivity (once again kids, wife, jada jada jada)... But if I get some time on my hand after the upgrade of my cabinet HW+SW, my MythTV backend, my XBMC frontends, my home OpenSolaris GFS storage project and the migration of my virtual machine server from VMware Server to KVM, then maybe I will consider writing my own FE. But I hope, to be honest, to be able to benefit from the work of someone else if it doesn't happen...

Ps. For the record. I already contributed one FE to the BOYAC community. The first DOS-based programming front-ends for the ButtonBox and the I-PAC (by Andy Warne). So I haven't always been this lazy...

[youki]

What a shocker that Youki showed up in this thread.

Why?  I'm a Mala user too!    Not enough crazy to use my own Front End:! 

 

I'm joking , i don't use mala of course, but since Loadman  manage it,  this FE has my full support and if i can help i will do.  So  i read some thread (not all).

[SGT]

this FE has my full support and if i can help i will do.

[loadman]

this FE has my full support and if i can help i will do.

To be fair Youki has help me with some Delphi in the past 

[youki]

To be fair Youki has help me with some Delphi in the past 

I was young and innocent , i didn't really know what i was really doing...       

    

[loadman]

To be fair Youki has help me with some Delphi in the past 

I was young and innocent , i didn't really know what i was really doing...       

    

..yes we all know the story of how Atomic was conceived?      I kill me 

[SGT]

To be fair Youki has help me with some Delphi in the past 

Wow!  Who woulda thunk it!  Kudos to Youki.