WMPTalk.com

Nick James · Guest

I'm using VB.NET and want to draw a graphic (can be a BMP, JPG, GIF)
directly over a playing WMP control.

Any ideas on how to accomplish this? If possible, it'd be great to
incorporate transparency when drawing the graphic.

I'm hoping I don't have to use any DirectX to get it done but I'll do
what is necessary..

Thanks in advance

Neil Smith [MVP Digital M · Guest

There are some "Ifs" : The technique in general will only work if it's
an XP machine (its an OS display blending limitation), and then only
if the user has IE/windows (not in Netscape or on Mac for example)

If you're doing this in a web page, investigate the windowlessVideo
param tag <param name="windowlessVideo" value="true" />

The SDK docs say : "When windowlessVideo is set to true, the Player
object renders video directly in the client area, so you can apply
special effects or layer the video with text."

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/wmplay10/mmp_sdk/iwmpplayer2interface.asp

Then, you should set up two html layers, with non-identical z-indexes
and identical positioning (you'll probably need to use CSS absolute
positioning for this to work properly).

In your first container, apply your GIF or better, PNG with alpha
transparency. In your second container, with a lower z-index, embed
the media player indicating windowless video. This should make your
overlay effect work, but I'd avoid alpha transparency on any platform
other than XP, often providing a GIF with single level transparency as
your overlay would work out.

Best to investigate doing this in a static web page *before* trying to
throw vb.net into the mix I'd say ;-)

Cheers - Neil

On 5 Sep 2004 00:14:09 -0700, ryancassin@gmail.com (Nick James) wrote:

	WMPTalk.com Forum Index -> SDK	All times are GMT
Page 1 of 1