float temp1 = familyColor >> 16 & 0xFF;
float temp2 = familyColor >> 8 & 0xFF;
float temp3 = familyColor & 0xFF;

dotcolour = color(temp1,temp2,temp3,transparency);

99.9% of the time this code works. Sometimes though instead of transparency
you get black or green colors. I have code that can reproduce the error.
Email me if you want it: christian@softhook.com

hm, you'd need to show a case for which it breaks, please just post it here.

you might also need to put familyColor >> 8 inside parens, because of its
operator precedence relative to &.

closing, operator precedence issue & no followup.