set_alpha_blender(3)

💅 set_alpha_blender — the Allegro manual, bestie edition ✨

okay so real talk, this page lives in the Allegro manual and it's all about set_alpha_blender(3), which is giving main character energy for 32-bit sprite girlies. let's get into it 🫶

✨ NAME ✨

set_alpha_blender — turns on a special alpha-channel blending mode. it's part of the Allegro game programming library, periodt.

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

#include <allegro.h>

void set_alpha_blender();

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

okay so basically, this function enables the special alpha-channel blending mode, and that mode is what you use when you're drawing 32-bit RGBA sprites. iconic, honestly.

once you've called this function, you can use draw_trans_sprite() or draw_trans_rle_sprite() to draw a 32-bit source image onto any hicolor or truecolor destination. and the way the alpha values work? they get taken directly from the source graphic, so you can vary how solid each part of the image is. literally per-pixel vibes, no cap. 🔥

but bestie, hear me on this one: you can't use any of the normal translucency functions while this mode is active. nope. not happening. so before you draw anything that isn't a 32-bit RGBA sprite, you gotta reset back to one of the normal blender modes (eg. set_trans_blender()) first. do not skip this step, i'm begging 🙈

💀 fr fr: alpha mode is a whole commitment. switch back or your other drawing goes sideways.

👑 SEE ALSO 👑

• set_trans_blender(3)
• draw_trans_sprite(3)
• draw_trans_rle_sprite(3)
• set_write_alpha_blender(3)
• exalpha(3)
• exrotscl(3)
• extrans(3)

mwah 💖 that's the whole page, you ate it. this was Allegro version 4.4.3, and the page itself is set_alpha_blender(3). go forth and blend responsibly, bestie 🎀✨