These were the memory setting in the /etc/texmf/texmf.d/95NonPath.cnf configlet that is part of Debian and Ubuntu: main_memory = 1000000 % words of inimemory available; also applies to inimf&mp main_memory.context = 1500000 main_memory.mpost = 1500000 I commented out the .mpost line (there was no separate metafun line, which I guess was getting the main_memory value of 1000000), regenerated the texmf.cnf with "update-texmf", then regenerated metafun with "texexec --make metafun" and transparency worked. So thanks for the magic! Have wikified the above in case anyone else runs into it http://wiki.contextgarden.net/Mpgraphic. (I wonder if the live context has been having the same problem?) -Sanjoy `Never underestimate the evil of which men of power are capable.' --Bertrand Russell, _War Crimes in Vietnam_, chapter 1.