Changing alpha of Sprite

Question

I'm using OnGUI to draw a rect when I "box select" or "drag select". The texture that gets drawn is a PNG file made in Paint.Net with the opacity - alpha channel set quite low. In Unity however, when I go to box select, the texture is completely opaque. How do I get Unity to honor the alpha set in Paint.Net? I also wouldn't mind using Unity itself to adjust the opacity, but I haven't found such an option in the import texture part of the inspector.

Answer 1

First of all, avoid at all costs OnGUI except for debug purpose. Use the Unity GUI system.

In your favorite image software (Paint.Net), set the opacity of your image to 1 and import your image into Unity. Now, take a closer look to the following screenshot representing the Import Settings of an image and do the same to your own image :

The main things to notice are :

• Texture type : Sprite (2D and UI)
• Alpha source : Input Texture Alpha
• Alpha is Transparency : checked

Then, in your scene, add a new Canvas and add an Image as a child. Select the Image gameobject and set your image as a sprite of your image. Finally, you will be able to manage the opacity using the Alpha channel of the sprite color.

Note : To create a canvas and the child image :

1. GameObject menu > UI > Canvas
2. Select the canvas in the Hierarchy
3. GameObject menu > UI > Image (or right click on your canvas : UI > Image)