Making Buttons

[AlanB]

I am trying to make some buttons for a menu screen. I've found that I can make rectangular buttons using GIMP, however I would like to do something more impressive.

I can use a GIMP plugin to make some great looking buttons, however when I flatten and save the images (compression BC1/DXT1), the transparent parts of the image turn white. I have tried other compression settings, however if I do manage to save the image as partly transparent, the dimensions of the image change so that they are no longer powers of 2, and TW will not accept them.

I can create partly transparent buttons in Paint.net, however I'd have to rely on my rather basic skills for creating buttons, which would not be as sophisticated as those I could create using the GIMP plugin.

Can anyone offer any help/guidance with this?

AlanB

[Alan]

DXT1 compression will only show alpha as 1 and 0. You need to use DXT3 or DXT5 if you have any gradient alpha.

As for the alpha appearing white, this will happen in the layout editor of Thinking Worlds as it can't display alpha in the tool, but it will show up with the correct alpha values in the engine.

Thanks,
Alan