Transparent image problem

Question

Hi all,
I have two images of the world, both of exactly the same size. The first is a background, and provides texture. The second image goes on top and is supposed to be transparent to let the texture show through. My problem is that when i display the 'transparent' image on top, you cannot see the contours through it, instead the top image just appears a pale colour because of the transparency added to it, as opposed to actually being transparent. Here is my code:
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.image.*;
import java.io.*;
import javax.imageio.*;
public class GamePane extends Canvas {
    /** Creates a new instance of GamePane */
    public GamePane() {
        try {
            buff1 = ImageIO.read(getClass().getResource("images/map_background.gif"));
            buff2 = ImageIO.read(getClass().getResource("images/map.gif"));
        catch (IOException ioe) {
            System.out.println("Problem reading in file: " + ioe);
    public void paint(Graphics g) {
        g.drawImage(buff1, 0, 0, null);
        g.drawImage(buff2, 0, 0, null); //the transparent image
    Image img;
    BufferedImage buff1;
    BufferedImage buff2;
}Can anyone suggest where i am going wrong?
Many thanks

Answer 1

As I understand you right, you want to use a top layered image with transparent parts. If this is the case, you should use the same color for all transparent parts in the picture and use a paint program to change the transparent color to the color mentioned. I use always microsoft paint to do this. (picture-attributes-transparent...)
the colored parts will automatically appear transparent.