Change the transparency of an object
You may want to change the transparency, or opacity, of an entire object in Blend for Visual Studio 2012. Rather than changing each individual visual attribute on an object by using the alpha values (for example, by changing both the stroke and the fill alpha values), you can simply change the opacity.
To change the transparency of an object
Select the object for which you want to change the transparency.
Under Appearance in the Properties panel, select a percentage value (from 0 percent to 100 percent) by using the slider next to Opacity.
[!NOTA]
You can animate the Opacity value to create a smooth transition from invisible to visible. For information about animating properties, see Show or hide an object in your application.
To change the transparency of a brush property
Select the object for which you want to change the transparency.
Under Appearance in the Properties panel, click one of the brush properties (such as Fill or Foreground), and then select a percentage value (from 0 percent to 100 percent) by using the slider next to the Alpha property.
[!NOTA]
You will only see the Alpha property under Brushes if the brush is set to a local value instead of a color resource or template binding.