Hi, while using shading in metapost I cannot get transparency work. The transparency is simply ignored and the result is the same colour as with no transparency specified. Here's an example that demonstrates the problem: \definecolor [a] [darkyellow] \definecolor [b] [r=1, g=1, b=1, a=1, t=0] \definecolor [c] [r=1, g=1, b=1, a=1, t=.5] \definecolor [bg] [r=.8, g=.8, b=1] % Define test background to see transparency (not) working \defineoverlay[bg][\uniqueMPgraphic{bg}] \startuniqueMPgraphic {bg} fill unitsquare xyscaled (\overlaywidth, \overlayheight) withcolor \MPcolor{bg}; picture pic; pic := nullpicture; addto pic contour fullcircle scaled .5mm withcolor .2white; for i=1 upto 52: for j=1 upto 73: addto currentpicture also pic shifted (4mm*i, 4mm*j); endfor; endfor; \stopuniqueMPgraphic \setupbackgrounds [page] [background=bg] \starttext \startMPcode path p[]; p1 := unitsquare xyscaled (4cm, 2cm); p2 := p1 yshifted -2.5cm; p3 := p2 yshifted -2.5cm; % Transparency does not work, background is white instead of full alpha linear_shade(p1,0,\MPcolor{a},\MPcolor{b}); % Setting 2nd colour to background colour works only with plain coloured % backgrounds not with patterns linear_shade(p2,0,\MPcolor{a},\MPcolor{bg}); % Transparency with simple »fill« works as expected fill p3 withcolor \MPcolor{c}; \stopMPcode \stoptext Thanks for any hints Marco