[Freeciv-Dev] Re: next beta

[Jason Dorje Short <jdorje@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Andreas Røsdal wrote:

> I think that alpha blending in the GTK 2.x client should be possible.
> The GdkPixbuf function gdk_pixbuf_render_to_drawable_alpha() allows you
> to set an alpha threshold for the pixbuf you want to render. There is also
> a lot of other rendering functions which take alpha threshold values. So,
> can this be used to add alpha blending to the GTK 2.x client?  Even the
> examples which come with the GTK distribution have alpha blending.
> (gtk-pixbuf example).
Alpha blending is possible using pixbufs.  Vasco said he tried doing 
this once and it was too slow.  I tried doing it once but could never 
get it to work (the current logic of sprites is rather complicated).
However alpha blending is pretty much required to get better graphics. 
Some performance hit may be unavoidable.  Unless we have better graphics 
(mapview sliding, more animation) drawing time isn't a major problem anyway.
I think Vasco wants to hold out for Cairo support in GTK.  But I'd be 
interested in seeing a patch to use all pixbuf drawing, and comparing 
speeds with the current code.
> A OpenGL client, or a way to do alpha-blending in the common code would be
> even better.
Yep.  Good luck.

jason