How to change the opacity (alpha, transparency) of an element in a canvas element after it has been drawn?

I am also looking for an answer to this question, (to clarify, I want to be able to draw an image with user defined opacity such as how you can draw shapes with opacity) if you draw with primitive shapes you can set fill and stroke color with alpha to define the transparency. As far as I have concluded right now, this does not seem to affect image drawing. 

//works with shapes but not with images
ctx.fillStyle = "rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.5)";

I have concluded that setting the globalCompositeOperation works with images. 

//works with images
ctx.globalCompositeOperation = "lighter";

I wonder if there is some kind third way of setting color so that we can tint images and make them transparent easily.

EDIT:

After further digging I have concluded that you can set the transparency of an image by setting the globalAlpha parameter BEFORE you draw the image:

//works with images
ctx.globalAlpha = 0.5

If you want to achieve a fading effect over time you need some kind of loop that changes the alpha value, this is fairly easy, one way to achieve it is the setTimeout function, look that up to create a loop from which you alter the alpha over time.


Some simpler example code for using globalAlpha:

ctx.save();
ctx.globalAlpha = 0.4;
ctx.drawImage(img, x, y);
ctx.restore();

If you need img to be loaded:

var img = new Image();
img.onload = function() {
    ctx.save();
    ctx.globalAlpha = 0.4;
    ctx.drawImage(img, x, y);
    ctx.restore()
};
img.src = "http://...";

Notes:

  • Set the 'src' last, to guarantee that your onload handler is called on all platforms, even if the image is already in the cache.

  • Wrap changes to stuff like globalAlpha between a save and restore (in fact use them lots), to make sure you don't clobber settings from elsewhere, particularly when bits of drawing code are going to be called from events.


Edit: The answer marked as "correct" is not correct.

It's easy to do. Try this code, swapping out "ie.jpg" with whatever picture you have handy:

<!DOCTYPE HTML>
<html>
    <head>
        <script>
            var canvas;
            var context;
            var ga = 0.0;
            var timerId = 0;
            
            function init()
            {
                canvas = document.getElementById("myCanvas");
                context = canvas.getContext("2d");
                timerId = setInterval("fadeIn()", 100);
            }
            
            function fadeIn()
            {
                context.clearRect(0,0, canvas.width,canvas.height);
                context.globalAlpha = ga;
                var ie = new Image();
                ie.onload = function()
                {
                    context.drawImage(ie, 0, 0, 100, 100);
                };
                ie.src = "ie.jpg";
                
                ga = ga + 0.1;
                if (ga > 1.0)
                {
                    goingUp = false;
                    clearInterval(timerId);
                }
            }
        </script>
    </head>
    <body onload="init()">
        <canvas height="200" width="300" id="myCanvas"></canvas>
    </body>
</html>

The key is the globalAlpha property.

Tested with IE 9, FF 5, Safari 5, and Chrome 12 on Win7.

Tags:

Html

Transparency

Alpha

Canvas

Opacity

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