Editing Java 2D (section)

===Composites===
During any drawing operation, there is a ''source'' (the pixels being produced by the paint) and a ''destination'' (the pixels already onscreen).  Normally, the source pixels simply overwrite the destination pixels, but the ''composite'' allows this behavior to be changed.

The composite, given the source and destination pixels, produces the final result that ultimately ends up onscreen.  The most common composite is '''{{Javadoc:SE|package=java.awt|java/awt|AlphaComposite|module=java.desktop}}''', which can treat the pixels being drawn as partially transparent, so that the destination pixels show through to some degree.