Create image with transparent background using GDI+ ?

Question

I'm trying to create an image with a transparent background to display on a web page.
I've tried several techniques but the background is always black.
How can I create a transparent image and then draw some lines on it ?

Answer 1

Call Graphics.Clear(Color.Transparent) to, well, clear the image. Don't forget to create it with a pixel format that has an alpha channel, e.g. PixelFormat.Format32bppArgb. Like this:

var image = new Bitmap(135, 135, PixelFormat.Format32bppArgb);
using (var g = Graphics.FromImage(image)) {
    g.Clear(Color.Transparent);
    g.DrawLine(Pens.Red, 0, 0, 135, 135);
}

Assumes you're using System.Drawing and System.Drawing.Imaging.

Edit: Seems like you don't actually need the Clear(). Just creating the image with an alpha channel creates a blank (fully transparent) image.

Answer 2

This might help(something I threw together which sets the background of a Windows form to a transparent image:

private void TestBackGround()
    {
        // Create a red and black bitmap to demonstrate transparency.            
        Bitmap tempBMP = new Bitmap(this.Width, this.Height);
        Graphics g = Graphics.FromImage(tempBMP);
        g.FillEllipse(new SolidBrush(Color.Red), 0, 0, tempBMP.Width, tempBMP.Width);
        g.DrawLine(new Pen(Color.Black), 0, 0, tempBMP.Width, tempBMP.Width);
        g.DrawLine(new Pen(Color.Black), tempBMP.Width, 0, 0, tempBMP.Width);
        g.Dispose();


        // Set the transparancy key attributes,at current it is set to the 
        // color of the pixel in top left corner(0,0)
        ImageAttributes attr = new ImageAttributes();
        attr.SetColorKey(tempBMP.GetPixel(0, 0), tempBMP.GetPixel(0, 0));

        // Draw the image to your output using the transparancy key attributes
        Bitmap outputImage = new Bitmap(this.Width,this.Height);
        g = Graphics.FromImage(outputImage);
        Rectangle destRect = new Rectangle(0, 0, tempBMP.Width, tempBMP.Height);
        g.DrawImage(tempBMP, destRect, 0, 0, tempBMP.Width, tempBMP.Height,GraphicsUnit.Pixel, attr);


        g.Dispose();
        tempBMP.Dispose();
        this.BackgroundImage = outputImage;

    }