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Transparency Layers

A transparency layer consists of two or more objects that are combined to yield a composite graphic. The resulting composite is treated as a single object. Transparency layers are useful when you want to apply an effect to a group of objects, such as the shadow applied to the three circles in Figure 9-1.

If you apply a shadow to the three circles in Figure 9-1 without first rendering them to a transparency layer, you get the result shown in Figure 9-2. Transparency layers are available in Mac OS X v10.3 and later.

Contents:

How Transparency Layers Work
Painting to a Transparency Layer

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