Making a transparent surface?
Author
Hello everyone!
Hey, quick question, how can I make a SDL_Surface* without the black background? I have a couple of transparent PNG's that I want to blit to it, but I get the black on the background... Thanks! [grin]
BTW: Is loading transparent PNG's "healthy"? Why do most games use BMP's with pink backgrounds?
Well this is how you do it for BMP's that have a colored background so I'm not sure if it will work for your PNG's.
For each of your surfaces call SDL_SetColorKey() its definition is
Take a better look at it here http://www.libsdl.org/cgi/docwiki.cgi/SDL_5fSetColorKey
For the key parameter use SDL_MapRGB:
Where r, g and b would make up the colour you want to be transparent, in this case black. But that also means any black in your image will be transparent too.
For each of your surfaces call SDL_SetColorKey() its definition is
int SDL_SetColorKey(SDL_Surface *surface, Uint32 flag, Uint32 key); Take a better look at it here http://www.libsdl.org/cgi/docwiki.cgi/SDL_5fSetColorKey
For the key parameter use SDL_MapRGB:
Uint32 SDL_MapRGB(SDL_PixelFormat *fmt, Uint8 r, Uint8 g, Uint8 b); Where r, g and b would make up the colour you want to be transparent, in this case black. But that also means any black in your image will be transparent too.
Using the pink color is called "color keying." Magenta (255,0,255) is the standard color because it's buttUgly and typically used in APIs where you don't have access to (or ignore) the alpha channel.
Colorkeyed (pink background) images work faster than alpha blending. If you don't need partial transparency (alpha layer), you should use color key.
To use the alpha blending, you have to enable it in all the surfaces that use it. I can't remember how, but it was SDL_SetAlpha or something. It's been a long time since I last used SDL blitting (been doing OpenGL recently), so I might remember wrong.
Using colorkeys is not dependent on the file format you use. You can use BMP's or PNG's or whatever. Many SDL games use BMP's because they're included in the SDL core, you don't need SDL_image, libpng and zlib to open BMP's. On the other hand, PNG's do lossless compression so the files are smaller.
If you're doing just a few pics and don't use alpha blending, use BMP's. If you have a lot of images and/or you need alpha, use PNG. In my opinion, there is no reason to use any other image format in games, so don't waste your time with TIFF's or others. Perhaps if you use photos (why would you do that?) JPEG's might be a smart move, but not otherwise.
-Riku
To use the alpha blending, you have to enable it in all the surfaces that use it. I can't remember how, but it was SDL_SetAlpha or something. It's been a long time since I last used SDL blitting (been doing OpenGL recently), so I might remember wrong.
Using colorkeys is not dependent on the file format you use. You can use BMP's or PNG's or whatever. Many SDL games use BMP's because they're included in the SDL core, you don't need SDL_image, libpng and zlib to open BMP's. On the other hand, PNG's do lossless compression so the files are smaller.
If you're doing just a few pics and don't use alpha blending, use BMP's. If you have a lot of images and/or you need alpha, use PNG. In my opinion, there is no reason to use any other image format in games, so don't waste your time with TIFF's or others. Perhaps if you use photos (why would you do that?) JPEG's might be a smart move, but not otherwise.
-Riku
Well,
in my game I use PNG's. I used to use BMP's with color keying, but it got VERY annoying, seeing little pixel dots around it, and IMO made my screenshots look VERY ugly. It made it look like my game was not polished or anything.
IMO, if you have a image editor that can create transparent PNG's then use PNG's. You will just need SDL_Image, and some other libraries to get it working. and there are also a lot more DLL's that you will need to include in your project.
So, it is up to you.
Chad
EDIT: I re-read your post, and I am not really sure what you are asking, but are you asking for a way to change the background color? If you are loading transparent PNG's then the transparent part will be what is behind it. In this case the black background is behind it, so you see that. If you want the background different then you use the function SDL_FillRect.
I'm sorry if this is not what you are asking.
in my game I use PNG's. I used to use BMP's with color keying, but it got VERY annoying, seeing little pixel dots around it, and IMO made my screenshots look VERY ugly. It made it look like my game was not polished or anything.
IMO, if you have a image editor that can create transparent PNG's then use PNG's. You will just need SDL_Image, and some other libraries to get it working. and there are also a lot more DLL's that you will need to include in your project.
So, it is up to you.
Chad
EDIT: I re-read your post, and I am not really sure what you are asking, but are you asking for a way to change the background color? If you are loading transparent PNG's then the transparent part will be what is behind it. In this case the black background is behind it, so you see that. If you want the background different then you use the function SDL_FillRect.
I'm sorry if this is not what you are asking.
Author
Quote:In this case the black background is behind it, so you see that.
Hmm... Yeah, so even if I use PNG's or BMP's, that will still be there... How can I use SDL_MapRGB to get transparent color (to use with SDL_FillRect)? Thanks!
Author
Quote:In this case the black background is behind it, so you see that.
Hmm... Yeah, so even if I use PNG's or BMP's, that will still be there... How can I use SDL_MapRGB to get transparent color (to use with SDL_FillRect)? Thanks!
Quote:Original post by KixdempQuote:In this case the black background is behind it, so you see that.
Hmm... Yeah, so even if I use PNG's or BMP's, that will still be there... How can I use SDL_MapRGB to get transparent color (to use with SDL_FillRect)? Thanks!
Use SDL_MapRGBA
Though I'm not really sure what you are actually trying to do [rolleyes]
so, are you tyring to change the background color? I am kind of confused, but if you are then this is how you use SDL_FillRect.
I just picked some color values on that. So, if you want to change the background color, then just call that function. Although, I am confused on what you are asking though. I may just be really dumb, which is probally what it is!
Chad
SDL_FillRect(surface, NULL, SDL_MapRGBA(surface->format, 0, 255, 255, 0);I just picked some color values on that. So, if you want to change the background color, then just call that function. Although, I am confused on what you are asking though. I may just be really dumb, which is probally what it is!
Chad
Author
Don't worry, I solved it:
Thanks!
BTW: Did you get it at last? [lol]
this->vehicles[0].bmp = SDL_CreateRGBSurface(SDL_HWSURFACE, 96, 96, 32, 0, 0, 0, 0);if (!vehicles[0].bmp){ this->SetError(IMG_GetError()); return false;}int c = SDL_MapRGBA(this->vehicles[0].bmp->format, 0, 0, 0, 0);if (SDL_SetColorKey(this->vehicles[0].bmp, SDL_SRCCOLORKEY, c) == -1) return false;Thanks!
BTW: Did you get it at last? [lol]
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