I already posted this one in the game and graphics forum, but no one is capable of answering it seems.

I'd like to know if it's possible to acheive partial transperancy of an image in java, by changing the Alpha channel? Using .png restricts me to make a series of images for the fade effect. I read this could be done by Bit Shifting somewhere, unfortunately, I don't really know how Bit Shifting works, so if someone would be as kind as to enlighten me .

Thanks in advance!