Dennis Brakhane
No, I didn't know this feature before and, besides that, am using ConTeXt since 2 days, could to post an example how to do that so I could check it does what it is supposed to?
Well, just activate write18 in your texmf.cnf file and you'll see. Perhaps you need \runMPgraphicstrue and \runMPTEXgraphicstrue, both are set in cont-sys.tex. %output=pdf \setupcolors[state=start] \defineoverlay[linearshadetest][\uniqueMPgraphic{linearshadetest}] \startuseMPgraphic{linearshadetest} linear_shade(OverlayBox,11,green,blue); \stopuseMPgraphic \starttext \framed[width=6cm,height=6cm,background=linearshadetest]{Sunglasses needed?} \stoptext the output of pdfetex should be: This is pdfeTeX, Version 3.14159-1.10b-2.1 (Web2C 7.4.5) \write18 enabled. entering extended mode [...] Patrick