On Shae Petersen suggestion, we implemented bitmap masking in DesktopX. You basically can specify that an object is a "mask", and its children will be blended using the mask alpha blending values.

Here is the new option:

You can use either bitmap or text as a mask. Here is a text object used as mask. It'll be combined with a rectangular object used as texture.

And you only need one script line to let it autofix its mask:

Sub Object_OnScriptEnter
Object.resize DesktopX.Object("tDesktopX").width, DesktopX.Object("tDesktopX").height
End Sub
 

You can do other crazy things: this is how the Neon fish looks used as mask for the same pattern as before. Masks can be animated, so you can imagine really cool effects.

Admittedly, one other really useful purpose is creating non-rectangular containers for scrolling DX content.

Here is a player made by Shae Petersen using masks. The mask let the text scroll and clip exactly around the display borders: