Transparency Effect

Transparency Effect is a Paint.net plugin designed to adjust the transparency of images. It enables you to make selections or apply the filter to the entire picture, as well as to ignore pixels which are already transparent. This later option comes in handy to those unsatisfied with the built-in setting of Paint.net.

In order to get it up and running, it's necessary to copy the downloaded DLL file to the "Effects" folder of the graphic editing application. This works whether you have an installer or portable edition of Paint.net.

If it was launched prior to this step, you have to restart the tool to complete setup and get access to the new add-on. It can be found in the "Adjustments" menu and should be marked by a small icon in the shape of a puzzle piece, which indicates all external Paint.net plugins.

Its configuration panel is small and gives access to all options put at your disposal, so you don't depend on multiple windows to find them. Selections can be made using the integrated drawing tools of the photo editor. Otherwise, the whole image is influenced by the filter.

The level of transparency is tweaked by moving a slider until you get the desired effect, ranging between transparent and opaque. The extension can be asked to ignore already transparent pixels, but this isn't mandatory.

Another noteworthy aspect is that modifications in Transparency Effect can be previewed while making them, so it's not necessary to commit them to view effects and undo your actions or remove the newly created layer if you're not pleased with the results.

While it's true that Transparency Effect hasn't received updates for a long time and could probably use some new settings dedicated to transparency, it smoothly integrated with the latest version of Paint.net in our tests and can be easily used.