diff --git a/src/edu/calpoly/spritely/ImageTile.java b/src/edu/calpoly/spritely/ImageTile.java
index 4d0c74a..b21c7a6 100644
--- a/src/edu/calpoly/spritely/ImageTile.java
+++ b/src/edu/calpoly/spritely/ImageTile.java
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@
 import java.awt.image.BufferedImage;
 import java.io.File;
 import java.io.IOException;
+import java.net.URL;
 import javax.imageio.ImageIO;
 
 /**
@@ -76,24 +77,60 @@ public ImageTile(File imageFile, Size size, char text)
 		System.err.println("***  Error reading " + imageFile);
 		throw ex;
 	    }
-	    if (im.getWidth() != size.width || im.getHeight() != size.height) {
-		double scaleX = ((double) size.width) / im.getWidth();
-		double scaleY = ((double) size.height) / im.getHeight();
-		BufferedImage after = 
-			new BufferedImage(size.width, size.height,im.getType());
-		AffineTransform scale = 
-		    AffineTransform.getScaleInstance(scaleX, scaleY);
-		AffineTransformOp scaleOp = 
-			new AffineTransformOp(scale, 
-					      AffineTransformOp.TYPE_BILINEAR);
-		scaleOp.filter(im, after);
-		im = after;
+	    im = scaleImage(im, size);
+	}
+        this.image = im;
+        this.text = text;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Create a ImageTile with the given image, at the given size,
+     * and that is represented by the given character when in text 
+     * mode.  The image may contain transparent and semi-transparent pixels.
+     *
+     * @param  imageURL		A url referring to a valid image file
+     * @param  size             The size of a tile, in pixels
+     * @param  text             The character representation of this tile
+     *                          in text mode
+     * @throws IOException if there is an error reading the image
+     * @see ImageIO#read(File)
+     */
+    public ImageTile(URL imageURL, Size size, char text) 
+            throws IOException 
+    {
+        BufferedImage im;
+	if (GraphicsEnvironment.getLocalGraphicsEnvironment().isHeadless()) {
+	    im = null;
+	} else {
+	    try { 
+		im = ImageIO.read(imageURL);
+	    } catch (IOException ex) {
+		System.err.println("***  Error reading " + imageURL);
+		throw ex;
 	    }
+	    im = scaleImage(im, size);
 	}
         this.image = im;
         this.text = text;
     }
 
+    private static BufferedImage scaleImage(BufferedImage im, Size size) {
+	if (im.getWidth() != size.width || im.getHeight() != size.height) {
+	    double scaleX = ((double) size.width) / im.getWidth();
+	    double scaleY = ((double) size.height) / im.getHeight();
+	    BufferedImage after = 
+		    new BufferedImage(size.width, size.height,im.getType());
+	    AffineTransform scale = 
+		AffineTransform.getScaleInstance(scaleX, scaleY);
+	    AffineTransformOp scaleOp = 
+		    new AffineTransformOp(scale, 
+					  AffineTransformOp.TYPE_BILINEAR);
+	    scaleOp.filter(im, after);
+	    im = after;
+	}
+	return im;
+    }
+
     @Override
     public void paint(Graphics2D g, Size size) {
         g.drawImage(image, 0, 0, null);