window frame blur disappears when editing images

How to replicate:

Create a new skin.
Edit per-pixel window frame caption image (not the glass one).
Replace the frame pixels - I used a rectangle filled with solid black 50% alpha.
Save the image and force-reimport in Stardock.
Save theme and apply theme.

Things that don't help:

Toggle the Blur setting.
Change the BackgroundEffect code to various values.
Toggle Aero Shadows.
Switch themes, then switch back to the broken theme.
Switch to Windows Classic, then to Windows Aero, then back to the broken theme.
Enable "Force Blur" option for window frames in WindowBlinds.
Restart the computer.
Calmly remind the computer that consistent operation may lead to future upgrades.

How to fix it:

While the image editor is still open, undo the changes (from steps 1-5).
Save the image and force-reimport in Stardock.
Save theme and apply theme.
Success! The blur works again!

It's like I ran smack into an undocumented feature...

skinstudio

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Additional info:

I can do anything I want to the title bars as long as I do not touch the pixels that make up the original frame borders. If I make any changes to the border pixels, blur stops working for the whole caption area. Similar restrictions apply to the left, right, and bottom frame parts.

Edit:

The "blur rounded edge value," which isn't very well documented, controls the curvature of the underlying aero window frame that does the blurring..

Well that only took a few hours to figure out...even though one of the devs could have simply written it in the GUI...

Edit 2:

More information found! Re: the "magic third row," it turns out that a line of special pixels (on the outside edge of each frame side) is needed. The pixel's color code needs a V value (in the HSV color space?) of 1 or higher. Otherwise there won't be any Aero border dimensions and the blur effect won't be drawn.

I wanted black (HSV x,0,0), but the next closest color (HSV x,0,1) will work just as well. That's RGB (2,2,2) by the way.

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