Texture Alpha (Direct3D 9)

Alpha values can also be provided by textures. First, the texture must be created. Second, the alpha values must be added to the texture. To render with the texture, set the texture to a texture stage and select the appropriate texture stage operation and operands. When draw is called, the primitive will be rendered with transparency. This example creates a texture resource, and then loads the alpha channel.

LPDIRECT3DTEXTURE9 m_pTexture;

// Create an alpha texture
D3DXCreateTexture(m_d3dDevice, 128, 128, 0, D3DUSAGE_RENDERTARGET, 
    D3DFMT_A8R8G8B8, D3DPOOL_MANAGED, &m_pTexture);

// Initialize the alpha channel
int  yGrad, xGrad;
D3DLOCKED_RECT lockedRect;

if(SUCCEEDED(pTexture->LockRect(0, &lockedRect, NULL, D3DLOCK_DISCARD )))
{
    m_pRGBAData = new DWORD[128*128];
    if( m_pRGBAData != NULL )
    {
        for( DWORD y=0; y < m_dwHeight; y++ )
        {   
            DWORD dwOffset = y*m_dwWidth;
            yGrad = (int)(((float)y/(float)m_dwWidth) * 255.0f);
            
            for( DWORD x=0; x < m_dwWidth; x )
            {
                xGrad = (int)(((float)x/(float)m_dwWidth) * 255.0f);

                DWORD b = (DWORD)(xGrad + (255 - yGrad))/2 & 0xFF;
                DWORD g = (DWORD)((255 - xGrad) + yGrad)/2 & 0xFF;
                DWORD r = (DWORD)(xGrad + yGrad)/2 & 0xFF;
                DWORD a = (DWORD)(xGrad + yGrad)/2 & 0xFF;

                lockedRect.pBits[dwOffset+x] = ((a<<24L)+(r<<16L)+(g<<8L)+(b));
                x++;
            }
        }
    }
    pTexture->UnlockRect(&lockedRect);
}

The alpha value is calculated based on the current pixel's relative x/y position within the texture size. Next, assign the texture to a texture stage and set up the texture stage.

#define D3DFVF_LVERTEX ( D3DFVF_XYZ | D3DFVF_DIFFUSE | D3DFVF_SPECULAR | \
                        D3DFVF_TEX0 )

// Assign texture
m_pd3dDevice->SetTexture(0, m_pTexture);

// Texture stage states
m_pd3dDevice->SetTextureStageState(0, D3DTSS_COLORARG1, D3DTA_TEXTURE);
m_pd3dDevice->SetTextureStageState(0, D3DTSS_COLORARG2, D3DTA_DIFFUSE);  

m_pd3dDevice->SetTextureStageState(0, D3DTSS_COLOROP, D3DTOP_MODULATE);

m_pd3dDevice->SetTextureStageState(0, D3DTSS_ALPHAARG1, D3DTA_TEXTURE);
m_pd3dDevice->SetTextureStageState(0, D3DTSS_ALPHAARG2, D3DTA_DIFFUSE);

m_pd3dDevice->SetTextureStageState(0, D3DTSS_ALPHAOP, D3DTOP_MODULATE);

This results in a primitive with a transparency gradient. The gradient is transparent where x = 0, and opaque where x is its maximum value.

Related topics

Alpha Blending