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Alpha Colours (transparency for cmyk)
Although we don't really understand transparency when printing is being carried out. It seems PDF will handle calls for transparency even when using CMYK colors.
"""
A simple usage of alpha (transparent) CMYK colours
"""
from reportlab.graphics.shapes import Rect
from reportlab.pdfgen.canvas import Canvas
from reportlab.lib.colors import PCMYKColor
filename = 'not-snip9.pdf'
red = PCMYKColor(0,100,100,0)
black = PCMYKColor(0,0,0,100)
blue = PCMYKColor(100,100,0,0)
red50transparent = red.clone(alpha=50)
c = Canvas(filename,pagesize=(400,200))
c.setFillColor(black)
c.setFont('Helvetica', 10)
c.drawString(25,180, 'solid')
c.setFillColor(blue)
c.rect(25,25,100,100, fill=True, stroke=False)
c.setFillColor(red)
c.rect(100,75,100,100, fill=True, stroke=False)
c.setFillColor(black)
c.drawString(225,180, 'transparent')
c.setFillColor(blue)
c.rect(225,25,100,100, fill=True, stroke=False)
c.setFillColor(red50transparent)
c.rect(300,75,100,100, fill=True, stroke=False)
c.save()