utilise a custom rgba to rgb image type converter. One that is aware of brightness(a)

rpi/roy-test.py

@@ -15,15 +15,35 @@ matrix = RGBMatrix(options = options)
 
 
 # Load image and make sure it fits our screen.
+def pure_pil_alpha_to_color_v2(image, color=(0, 0, 0)):
+    """Alpha composite an RGBA Image with a specified color.
+
+    Simpler, faster version than the solutions above.
+
+    Source: http://stackoverflow.com/a/9459208/284318
+
+    Keyword Arguments:
+    image -- PIL RGBA Image object
+    color -- Tuple r, g, b (default 255, 255, 255)
+
+    """
+    image.load()  # needed for split()
+    background = Image.new('RGB', image.size, color)
+    background.paste(image, mask=image.split()[3])  # 3 is the alpha channel
+    return background
+
 image = Image.open("../testImg.bmp")
-image.thumbnail((matrix.width, matrix.height), Image.ANTIALIAS)
+RGBImage = pure_pil_alpha_to_color_v2(image.thumbnail((128,62), Image.ANTIALIAS))
+
+
+
 
 # offscreen canvas that can be written to which can then be set to the matrix async
 offscreen_canvas = matrix.CreateFrameCanvas()
 offscreen_canvas.brightness = 50
 offscreen__text_canvas = matrix.CreateFrameCanvas()
 offscreen__text_canvas.brightness = 50
-offscreen__text_canvas.SetImage(image.convert('RGB'))
+offscreen__text_canvas.SetImage(RGBImage)
 
 
 def updateScreen():