Vector window shapes and the great mystery of ink effects

[Richard Gaskin]

So I'm looking at OS X's increasingly popular transparent panels as 
described in:
<http://developer.apple.com/documentation/UserExperience/Conceptual/AppleHIGuidelines/XHIGWindows/chapter_18_section_6.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/20000961-TPXREF17>

And I'm thinking, man, I would love to have rounded corners on resizable 
palettes.

Then it hits me:  could there be some way to layer graphics with 
different blendLevels and different ink effects so that I could define 
the visible window region with one graphic and have everything outside 
of it transparent with another graphic?

So I started to play with various combinations, and the multiplicity of 
possible options made my head explode.

Anyone know a way to do this?
Am I dreaming?

Sure, I know the corners would still not pass clicks through, but I'm 
okay with those few pixels if I could at least get the look right.

Even more interesting, if such a magic combo could be found we could 
effectively punch visual holes in our windows, making resizable frames 
around anything underneath.

Should I just make a request to use graphics as window shapes and move on?

--
  Richard Gaskin
  Fourth World
  Revolution training and consulting: http://www.fourthworld.com
  Webzine for Rev developers: http://www.revjournal.com