Transparent Graphics Image

Question

Hey all,
I have a couple questions regarding using a JPanel's Graphics object to get a an Image object and use that object as a "face" of 3D cube in Java3D.
Right now, thanks to the help of many of you guys, I have gotten what I want. That is a cube that has painted on it the Graphics stuff from some JPanel. Now I want more.
Is there a way to set the background to transparent instead of a certain color. I want to do this because I have two parallel planes that have something painted on them. I want to look straight onto the top one, and where there are "gaps" (where you would usually see the background color), you will instead see the plane behind it.
Another thing is that I have mouse stuff implemented so you can move and rotate the 3D figure. If I flip around this 3D cube thing, of course I can't see the back (its just black). Is there anyway to have the back just show the front.
What I am going for here is like drawing the Graphics stuff on a clear glass. Where there is nothing drawn, you can see through, and from the back, you can see through the glass to see the contents (backwards of course).
Any ideas?
Let me know if my descriptions are too vague.
Thanks,
armand

Answer 1

Ok here is when I'm actually drawing the panel painting on the plane (i do the same for each plane):
//... define points for plane
Appearance appear = new Appearance();
TextureLoader loader = new TextureLoader(bimage);
ImageComponent2D image = loader.getImage();
Material m = new Material();
m.setDiffuseColor(0.1f,0.9f,0.9f);
m.setSpecularColor(1.0f,0.0f,0.0f);
m.setAmbientColor(0.9f,0.9f,0.9f);
m.setShininess(25.0f);
appear.setMaterial(m);
// can't use parameterless constuctor
Texture2D texture = new Texture2D(Texture.BASE_LEVEL, Texture.RGBA,
image.getWidth(), image.getHeight());
texture.setImage(0, image);
appear.setTexture(texture);
TransparencyAttributes ta =
     new TransparencyAttributes(TransparencyAttributes.NICEST,0.7F);
appear.setTransparencyAttributes(ta);
return new Shape3D(plane, appear);
For the JPanel paintings, I tried to set the background color to transparent- the alpha value. While the JPanel's background is semi-transparent, I think when I capture it, it does not retain the semi-transparency. It just grabs whats on the screen- like if I wanted to print (I use the same idea for printing).
I know my planes are transparent, because if I comment out the line
appear.setTexture(texture);
I get two transparent planes- I can see through them. As soon as I add the above line- which actually paints the JPanel painting on the transparent planes- I loose transparency.
So I figure its something I need to do with the texture object, but I cant seem to get anywhere. Any help?
thanks,
armandfcdx