What's most efficient for drawing a semi-transparent overlay?

I have a large .TIF loaded as a RenderedImage through JAI and drawn with Graphics2D.drawRenderedImage(). It can be scaled by the user and it uses the JAI operator "Scale" to do it and is extremely fast given the size if the TIF (2528x3297).
The problem comes when I need to take another image and use it as an "overlay". Only the red part of this image needs to actually be drawn, and that needs to have some transparency. The rest of the image should be completely transparent. I'm looking for a fast and efficient way of approaching both the drawing and scaling. Any type of image (supported by AWT/JAI at least) is acceptable, passing it through a filter at runtime to make the parts transparent or semi-transparent is fine too. I'm just looknig for a good methodology that will offer speed in both drawing and scaling in conjunction with the TIF mentioned earlier.
I tried using a PNG that already had the desired transparency but it behaves oddly. If I load it as an Image using ImageIO.read() and then use drawImage() and getScaledInstanceOf() it draws relatively slowly, but just barely acceptable, but takes way too long to scale. If I load it as a RenderedImage with JAI and use drawRenderedImage() the painting is extremely fast when it's first loaded with no scaling and when i scale it it's fairly fast at scaling, but after it's been scaled it draws extremely slowly.
I tried using a GIF but had pretty much the exact same issues as PNG. Slow scaling and decent drawing as an Image and quick scaling and drawing initially, but extremely slow drawing after it's been scaled.
Strangely enough one of the best middle grounds I've seen in my experimentations was a .TIF I loaded in JAI, converted to BufferedImage, passed through a filter to make all white transparent and all black be red, and then drew as a BufferedImage.
I'm totally lost and confused here. Could someone please help me out with some advice?

Ah, that's the kind of confirmation I was hoping for, thanks! Though if anyone has anything else to weigh in (specific considerations and the like) then feel free!

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Ah, that's the kind of confirmation I was hoping for, thanks! Though if anyone has anything else to weigh in (specific considerations and the like) then feel free!

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Hi
You did not say what the problem was.
others viewing this thread. please read -
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PZ
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Message was edited by: pziecina

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Please rate helpful posts!

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What's most efficient for drawing a semi-transparent overlay?

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