Dx7 Alphachannels
sdw	I want to add alpha channel capabilities to my project, is there a special way I can do this in dx7 using directdraw or am I going to have to write a dll for it?
Spodi	You can do it by software (very slow) or you can use Direct3D7, but then you might as well move to DX8. Also, you can check out VBDABL.
sdw	vbDABL doesn't have alphachannel abilities, only alpha and color blending
Spodi	Oh, I thought that is what you were looking for. What is alpha channels then? :)
sdw	Don't you use alpha channels in ur own engine? lol It's when different areas of an image have various transparency
Eric Coleman	For 16 or 32 bit, then you'll have to create your own DLL to do it. Even if you were to use C++, it would still be slow in direct draw. If you really want alpha channels, then I suggest 256 color mode. You can use the traditional method of using lookup tables.
Spodi	Ooohhh, that's what alpha channeling is. Well, I guess I have that in DXRE, yeah, since you can specify the ARGB of each verticy.
Eric Coleman	An alpha channel is where each pixel has a different alpha value, not the vertex.
Spodi	Okay, so guess I dont. But you can kind of pre-define it using light colors, cant ya?
VBBR	...light colors? An alpha channel is usually a grayscale image where black means completely transparent, white completely opaque and the gray tones between mean an specific alpha value.