Develop Reference

C# LinearGradientBrush Bitmap repeating Vertically

I am playing around with the Microsoft Vision API and learning C# as I go, and one of the properties of a Vision object is an "Accent Color" of the image.
From a series of images analysed, I want to show those colors ordered in a Linear Gradient -- because that will be able to show the user that most pictures are (for example) blue, because Blue colors take up half of the gradient etc.
I have this working, in that I am ordering the Colors by Hue, and able to produce a Linear Gradient I am filling into a Bitmap.
BUT, the gradient by default is Horizontal, and I need Vertical -- so I've used LinearGradientBrush.RotateTransform(90) which rotates that actual gradient fine, but doesn't seem to fill the entire Rectangle, and it repeats. This is what I'm getting as a result:
How do I create a Vertical LinearGradient that fills up the entire Height of the Rectangle object for my Bitmap?
Here is my code:
private Bitmap CreateColorGradient(System.Drawing.Rectangle rect, System.Drawing.Color[] colors)
{
Bitmap gradient = new Bitmap(rect.Width, rect.Height);
LinearGradientBrush br = new LinearGradientBrush(rect, System.Drawing.Color.White, System.Drawing.Color.White, 0, false);
ColorBlend cb = new ColorBlend();
// Positions
List<float> positions = new List<float>();
for (int i = 0; i < colors.Length; i++) positions.Add((float)i / (colors.Length - 1));
cb.Positions = positions.ToArray();
cb.Colors = colors;
br.InterpolationColors = cb;
br.RotateTransform(90);
using (Graphics g = Graphics.FromImage(gradient))
g.FillRectangle(br, rect);
return gradient;
}
Thanks for reading and any help -- also if you see something in my code that could be done better please point it out it helps me learn :)

You are ignoring the angle parameter in the constructor. And as you instead do a rotation on the Grahics object your brush rectangle is no longer correctly fits the target bitmap and the gradient can't fill it; so it repeats.
To correct
simply set the angle to 90 and
remove the br.RotateTransform(90); call.
Here this changes the result from the left to the middle version:
While we're looking at it, do take note of the WrapMode property of LinearGradientBrush. What you see in the first image is the default WrapMode.Clamp. Often a changing to one of the Flip mode helps.. So lets have a look at the impact of it one the first version at the right position.
It looks like WrapMode.TileFlipY but since I have brought back the rotation it actually takes a value WrapMode.TileFlipX or WrapMode.TileFlipXY:
br.WrapMode = WrapMode.TileFlipX;

PictureBox performing unwanted scaling C#

I currently have a windows form app with a pictureBox in the middle of it which i am drawing various images too. The images are drawing fine except for the fact that they are all being scaled up by exactly 25%. I should also add that i am drawing everything inside a Paint method, using the PaintEventArgs to get the graphics device.
Ive made sure the SizeMode is set to Normal, ive checked over and over that the scale factor of the graphics object is 1 and all the image objects that i pass to the paint method are of the size they should be, but when they get drawn they are a different size.
I have until now just been calling g.drawImage(image, Rectangle) and passing the width and height of the image as the width and height of the Rectangle so that they are forced to be drawn at the correct size but i feel that this should be a short term fix and i am overlooking something simple.
Any help would be great, thanks in advance.
Code is as follows (only the important bits):
public class Level : PictureBox
{
...
private Image image;
...
public Level(TabPage parent, Panel propertiesPanel, ItemManager items, string levelName)
{
...
image = Image.FromFile(#"Levels/" + levelName);
Size = image.Size;
SizeMode = PictureBoxSizeMode.Normal;
MouseClick += new MouseEventHandler(level_MouseClick);
MouseMove += new MouseEventHandler(level_MouseMove);
Paint += new PaintEventHandler(level_Paint);
Invalidate();
}
private void level_Paint(object sender, PaintEventArgs e)
{
Graphics g = e.Graphics;
g.SmoothingMode = System.Drawing.Drawing2D.SmoothingMode.AntiAlias;
//With the rectangle fix (drawing to correct size)
g.DrawImage(image, new Rectangle(0, 0, image.Size.Width, image.Size.Height));
////Without the fix (as i thought it should be be this is where it scales it)
//g.DrawImage(image, new Point(0, 0));
drawPlacedItems(g);
drawItemPreview(g);
}

This sounds like the HorizontalResolution and VerticalResolution properties of your image are being applied when you don't want them to, modify your code as per Jeremy's link to Image sizing issue in bitmap that ensures that HorizontalResolution and VerticalResolution are reset or ignored before calling DrawImage.

C# Out of Memory when Creating Bitmap

I'm creating an application (Windows Form) that allows the user to take a screenshot based on the locations they choose (drag to select area). I wanted to add a little "preview pane" thats zoomed in so the user can select the area they want more precisely (larger pixels). On a mousemove event i have a the following code...
private void falseDesktop_MouseMove(object sender, MouseEventArgs e)
{
zoomBox.Image = showZoomBox(e.Location);
zoomBox.Invalidate();
bmpCrop.Dispose();
}
private Image showZoomBox(Point curLocation)
{
Point start = new Point(curLocation.X - 50, curLocation.Y - 50);
Size size = new Size(100, 90);
Rectangle rect = new Rectangle(start, size);
Image selection = cropImage(falseDesktop.Image, rect);
return selection;
}
private static Bitmap bmpCrop;
private static Image cropImage(Image img, Rectangle cropArea)
{
if (cropArea.Width != 0 && cropArea.Height != 0)
{
Bitmap bmpImage = new Bitmap(img);
bmpCrop = bmpImage.Clone(cropArea, bmpImage.PixelFormat);
bmpImage.Dispose();
return (Image)(bmpCrop);
}
return null;
}
The line that fails and has the Out of Memory exception is:
bmpCrop = bmpImage.Clone(cropArea, bmpImage.PixelFormat);
Basically what this does is it takes a 100x90 rectangle around the mouse pointer and pulls that into the zoomBox, which is a picturebox control. However, in the process, i get an Out Of Memory error. What is it that i am doing incorrectly here?
Thanks for your assistance.

Out of memory in C# imaging, is usually sign of wrong rect or point - a bit of red herring. I bet start has negative X or Y when error happens or the Size.Hight + Y or Size.Width + X is bigger than Hight or width of the image.

MSDN explains that an OutOfMemoryException means
rect is outside of the source bitmap bounds
where rect is the first parameter to the Bitmap.Clone method.
So check that the cropArea parameter is not larger than your image.
In GDI+ an OutOfMemoryException does not really mean "out of memory"; the GDI+ error code OufOfMemory has been overloaded to mean different things. The reasons for this are historic and a well described by Hans Passant in another answer.

Use the Bitmap object like this:
using (Bitmap bmpImage = new Bitmap(img))
{
// Do something with the Bitmap object
}

you should check if curLocation.X is larger than 50, otherwise your rectangle will start in the negative area (and of course curLocation.Y)

If the zoom box goes off the edge of the desktop area, then when you try to crop, you are asking the system to make a new image that includes pixels outside of the video memory area. Make sure to limit your zoom box so that none of its extents is less than 0 or greater than the screen edges.

If you are creating new bitmaps over and over, you might need to call GC.Collect(); which will force C# to garbage collect

How to create a simple glass effect

I am currently painting a light blue, partly transparent overlay over owner-drawn objects to indicate certain state. It's OK but I thought that it would be even nicer if I could at some sort of glass effect to further establish the idea that the particular object has "something" overlaid over the top of it.
I thought that some glass streaks, for example, in addition to the blue transparency would lend a nice effect.
I've Googled around for GDI+ (and others) algorithms to do simple things painting like this but have come up empty. Links to any (fairly simple) algorithms in any language would be appreciated. I prefer .NET but can figure out the painting from pseudo-code on up.
Sorry, shoul've also specified that I need to target WinXP and using .NET version 2.0 - So unable to use WPF or Vista/Win7 goodies.

I've not done this myself but, have used codeproject source to render a sample...Try this:
http://www.codeproject.com/KB/GDI-plus/Image-Glass-Reflection.aspx
public static Image DrawReflection(Image _Image, Color _BackgroundColor, int _Reflectivity)
{
// Calculate the size of the new image
int height = (int)(_Image.Height + (_Image.Height * ((float)_Reflectivity / 255)));
Bitmap newImage = new Bitmap(_Image.Width, height, PixelFormat.Format24bppRgb);
newImage.SetResolution(_Image.HorizontalResolution, _Image.VerticalResolution);
using (Graphics graphics = Graphics.FromImage(newImage))
{
// Initialize main graphics buffer
graphics.Clear(_BackgroundColor);
graphics.DrawImage(_Image, new Point(0, 0));
graphics.InterpolationMode = InterpolationMode.HighQualityBicubic;
Rectangle destinationRectangle = new Rectangle(0, _Image.Size.Height,
_Image.Size.Width, _Image.Size.Height);
// Prepare the reflected image
int reflectionHeight = (_Image.Height * _Reflectivity) / 255;
Image reflectedImage = new Bitmap(_Image.Width, reflectionHeight);
// Draw just the reflection on a second graphics buffer
using (Graphics gReflection = Graphics.FromImage(reflectedImage))
{
gReflection.DrawImage(_Image,
new Rectangle(0, 0, reflectedImage.Width, reflectedImage.Height),
0, _Image.Height - reflectedImage.Height, reflectedImage.Width,
reflectedImage.Height, GraphicsUnit.Pixel);
}
reflectedImage.RotateFlip(RotateFlipType.RotateNoneFlipY);
Rectangle imageRectangle =
new Rectangle(destinationRectangle.X, destinationRectangle.Y,
destinationRectangle.Width,
(destinationRectangle.Height * _Reflectivity) / 255);
// Draw the image on the original graphics
graphics.DrawImage(reflectedImage, imageRectangle);
// Finish the reflection using a gradiend brush
LinearGradientBrush brush = new LinearGradientBrush(imageRectangle,
Color.FromArgb(255 - _Reflectivity, _BackgroundColor),
_BackgroundColor, 90, false);
graphics.FillRectangle(brush, imageRectangle);
}
return newImage;
}

I was actually able to achieve a basic glass effect by overlaying my image with a rectangle about one third the size of the image below that contains a gradient fill of white that starts at 25% opacity and goes to 75% opacity. This is single bit of painting produces a glassy "streak" that I was happy with. The same idea could be repeated a number of times with a variety of rect widths to produce several "streaks" that will give the illusion of a glass overlay.

You could try the Aero Glass function, if you are using Vista or Windows 7.
These might be helpful:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa969537%28VS.85%29.aspx#blurbehind
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms748975.aspx

TextRenderer.DrawText in Bitmap vs OnPaintBackground

If I use TextRenderer.DrawText() using the Graphics object provided in the OnPaintBackground my text looks perfect. If I create my own Bitmap and use the Graphics object obtained from my Bitmap my text looks terrible. It looks like it is anti-aliasing the text using black, not the bitmap's background color. I can avoid this problem if I use Graphics.DrawString(), but this method has horrible kerning problems. What should I do? How can I get TextRenderer.DrawText() to anti-alias properly using the Bitmap's contents?
Looks terrible:
Bitmap bmp = new Bitmap(100, 100, PixelFormat.Format32bppArgb);
using (Graphics g = Graphics.FromImage(bmp))
{
g.Clear(Color.Red);
TextFormatFlags tf = TextFormatFlags.Left;
TextRenderer.DrawText(g, #"C:\Development\Testing\blag", font, clip, Color.White,
Color.Transparent, tf);
}
Looks good, but I want to render this onto a bitmap, NOT onto the control's surface:
protected override void OnPaintBackground(PaintEventArgs e)
{
e.Graphics.Clear(Color.Red);
TextFormatFlags tf = TextFormatFlags.Left;
TextRenderer.DrawText(e.Graphics, #"C:\Development\Testing\blag", font, clip,
Color.White, Color.Transparent, tf);
}
What is the difference?

The answer is not to use TextRenderer. TextRenderer is a wrapper for the GDI (not GDI+) implementation of text rendering, which has lots of features, but doesn't interoperate well with in-memory DCs as you have discovered.
Use Graphics.DrawString & Graphics.MeasureString, but remember to pass it StringFormat.GenericTypographic to get accurate size and positioning.
The reason TextRenderer was introduced initially was that GDI+ didn't support all the complex scripts that GDI's Uniscribe engine did. Over time however GDI+ support for complex scripts has been expanded, and these days there aren't any good reasons left to use TextRenderer (it's not even the faster of the two anymore, in fact quite the opposite it appears).
Really, though, unless you are running into serious, measurable performance issues just use Graphics.DrawString.

I believe the problem is that the clear type text rendering doesn't work if the background is transparent. A few possible solutions.
Option 1. Fill the background of your bitmap with a color.
If you do this (as Tim Robinson did above in his code example by using g.Clear(Color.Red)) clear type will do the right thing. But your bitmap won't be completely transparent which might not be acceptable. If you use Graphics.MeasureText, you can fill just the rectangle around your text, if you like.
Option 2. Set TextRenderingHint = TextRenderingHintAntiAliasGridFit
This appears to turn off clear type. The text will be rendered at a lower quality than clear type on a background, but much better than the mess clear type on no background creates.
Option 3. Fill the text rectangle with white, draw the text and then find all the non-text pixels and put them back to transparent.
using (Bitmap bmp = new Bitmap(someWidth, someHeight))
{
using (Graphics g = Graphics.FromImage(bmp))
{
// figure out where our text will go
Point textPoint = new Point(someX, someY);
Size textSize = g.MeasureString(someText, someFont).ToSize();
Rectangle textRect = new Rectangle(textPoint, textSize);
// fill that rect with white
g.FillRectangle(Brushes.White, textRect);
// draw the text
g.DrawString(someText, someFont, Brushes.Black, textPoint);
// set any pure white pixels back to transparent
for (int x = textRect.Left; x <= textRect.Left + textRect.Width; x++)
{
for (int y = textRect.Top; y <= textRect.Top + textRect.Height; y++)
{
Color c = bmp.GetPixel(x, y);
if (c.A == 255 && c.R == 255 && c.G == 255 && c.B == 255)
{
bmp.SetPixel(x, y, Color.Transparent);
}
}
}
}
}
I know, it's a horrible hack, but it appears to work.

The answer is to use a BuffersGraphicsContext. This is the same system that .NET uses internally when you set the ControlStyles.OptimizedDoubleBuffer style on a control.
See http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/b367a457.aspx for more information about double buffering in .NET.

Another possible solution: Draw the whole thing to the screen, bitmap with text on top, and then write some code to 'screen capture' that portion of the screen. Not practical in all cases but you're right, DrawString creates weird text and DrawText onto a bitmap looks horrible.

If your bitmap is not the same size as your display area, it might just be a resizing issue, where .NET scales the bitmap to the display size and you get funny looking text.
Can you test with a bitmap created at the same size as your display area?

Can you post the smallest program that suffers from this problem? I can't reproduce it like this -- the antialiasing looks fine:
using System.Drawing;
using System.Drawing.Imaging;
using System.Windows.Forms;
public class Program
{
public static void Main()
{
Bitmap bmp = new Bitmap(100, 100, PixelFormat.Format32bppArgb);
using (Font font = new Font("Arial", 10, GraphicsUnit.Point))
using (Graphics g = Graphics.FromImage(bmp))
{
Rectangle clip = Rectangle.FromLTRB(0, 0, 100, 100);
g.Clear(Color.Red);
TextFormatFlags tf = TextFormatFlags.Left;
TextRenderer.DrawText(g, #"C:\Development\Testing\blag", font, clip, Color.White, Color.Transparent, tf);
}
Form form = new Form();
form.BackgroundImage = bmp;
Application.Run(form);
}
}