The only other way that i can think to get the slightly transparent look is to make the alphas for the plants not 100% black. They cant be to light or they will look bad. i just tried to do this but I cant open the alphas to vues plants in PSP7. they are some format other than jpeg or bmp etc.. I am going to try to use the aphas for the exchange leaves that are in the free stuff are here because i know that i can open them.