Hey all, and Wolf,

If I understood the previous posts correctly, an older version of
PageStream did support transparency, but it was removed because it
wouldn't work on many output devices that are PostScript.

From what I read many people, including myself, will welcome support for
transparency in PageStream. Any non-PS printer can be sent a bitmap and
a PS printer can be given the option to convert the area containing
transparency to a bitmap (which, I just read, is what the standard Amiga
PS driver does). That way everybody is happy.

Anyway, the point I'm trying to make is this: Wolf, whatever you do,
please try and take into account the possibility of PGS getting
transparency support, either binary or with alpha channel. That way your
driver can be easily modified (or maybe not at all) to have these
features, should PageStream ever get them.

A thought on the transparency with PS: A bitmap is usually a rectangular
area and using the Mask functions in PageStream you can clip the 'white
space' from the left and right sides. It should therefore be possible to
have a transparent image with a hole in it, to be internally represented
by more than 1 image, which will be presented as one image with binary
transparency to the user. You know, the same concept as triangulation of
convex and concave polygons and so, but then applied to bitmaps. That
way you can at least get binary transparency in PS. For non-PS, alpha
transparency is no problem because you have to generate the bitmap
anyway.

And binary transparency only is already a whole lot more than no
transparency at all, right?

W.

G'day Lamee Wouter,

On the subject of "RE: [PageStreamSupport] Re: Transparency in Bitmaps",
you spoke thus:

> Anyway, the point I'm trying to make is this: Wolf, whatever you do,
> please try and take into account the possibility of PGS getting
> transparency support, either binary or with alpha channel. That way your
> driver can be easily modified (or maybe not at all) to have these
> features, should PageStream ever get them.
>

Obviously if PgS /does/ support transparency again, then Wolf's filter
would simply need to pass the alpha channel directly to PgS rather than
pre-compositing the image onto a colour.

Bye,

--
Steve Bowman - Sydney, Australia

* * * <- Tribbles é é é <- Tribbles after Biology lab