Develop Reference

Using SharpAvi to save screenshots to an AVI produces 100 frames of blank video

My game takes a screenshot each game loop and stores it memory. The user can then press "print screen" to trigger "SaveScreenshot" (see code below) to store each screenshot as a PNG and also compile them into an AVI using SharpAvi. The saving of images works fine, and a ~2sec AVI is produced, but it doesn't show any video when played. It's just the placeholder VLC Player icon. I think this is very close to working, but I can't determine what's wrong. Please see my code below. If anyone has any ideas, I'd be very appreciative!
private Bitmap GrabScreenshot()
{
try
{
Bitmap bmp = new Bitmap(this.ClientSize.Width, this.ClientSize.Height);
System.Drawing.Imaging.BitmapData data =
bmp.LockBits(this.ClientRectangle, System.Drawing.Imaging.ImageLockMode.WriteOnly,
System.Drawing.Imaging.PixelFormat.Format24bppRgb);
GL.ReadPixels(0, 0, this.ClientSize.Width, this.ClientSize.Height, PixelFormat.Bgr, PixelType.UnsignedByte,
data.Scan0);
bmp.UnlockBits(data);
bmp.RotateFlip(RotateFlipType.RotateNoneFlipY);
return bmp;
} catch(Exception ex)
{
// occasionally getting GDI generic exception when rotating the image... skip that one.
return null;
}
}
private void SaveScreenshots()
{
var directory = "c:\\helioscreenshots\\";
var rootFileName = string.Format("{0}_", DateTime.UtcNow.Ticks);
var writer = new AviWriter(directory + rootFileName + ".avi")
{
FramesPerSecond = 30,
// Emitting AVI v1 index in addition to OpenDML index (AVI v2)
// improves compatibility with some software, including
// standard Windows programs like Media Player and File Explorer
EmitIndex1 = true
};
// returns IAviVideoStream
var aviStream = writer.AddVideoStream();
// set standard VGA resolution
aviStream.Width = this.ClientSize.Width;
aviStream.Height = this.ClientSize.Height;
// class SharpAvi.KnownFourCCs.Codecs contains FOURCCs for several well-known codecs
// Uncompressed is the default value, just set it for clarity
aviStream.Codec = KnownFourCCs.Codecs.Uncompressed;
// Uncompressed format requires to also specify bits per pixel
aviStream.BitsPerPixel = BitsPerPixel.Bpp32;
var index = 0;
while (this.Screenshots.Count > 0)
{
Bitmap screenshot = this.Screenshots.Dequeue();
var screenshotBytes = ImageToBytes(screenshot);
// write data to a frame
aviStream.WriteFrame(true, // is key frame? (many codecs use concept of key frames, for others - all frames are keys)
screenshotBytes, // array with frame data
0, // starting index in the array
screenshotBytes.Length); // length of the data
// save it!
// NOTE: compared jpeg, gif, and png. PNG had smallest file size.
index++;
screenshot.Save(directory + rootFileName + index + ".png", System.Drawing.Imaging.ImageFormat.Png);
}
// save the AVI!
writer.Close();
}
public static byte[] ImageToBytes(Image img)
{
using (var stream = new MemoryStream())
{
img.Save(stream, System.Drawing.Imaging.ImageFormat.Png);
return stream.ToArray();
}
}

From what I see, you're providing the byte-array in png-encoding, yet the stream is configured as KnownFourCCs.Codecs.Uncompressed.
Furthermore, from the manual:
AVI expects uncompressed data in format of standard Windows DIB, that is bottom-up bitmap of the specified bit-depth. For each frame, put its data in byte array and call IAviVideoStream.WriteFrame()
Next, all encoders expect input image data in specific format. It's BGR32 top-down - 32 bits per pixel, blue byte first, alpha byte not used, top line goes first. This is the format you can often get from existing images. [...] So, you simply pass an uncompressed top-down BGR32
I would retrieve the byte-array directly from the Bitmap using LockBits and Marshal.Copy as described in the manual.

Saving Bitmap as byte array results in weird file size

I am doing some testing for a future project, in which I will be creating an image encryptor. Right now I just wanted to get together a way of converting a bitmap to a byte array, save it to a text file, reload it, and resave it under a different name. I got it to work...there is just a problem with the file size afterwards. My converted image(The one that read from a byte array to create the image) is showing a larger file size than the original image. Here is my code:
public class Program
{
public static void Main( string[] args )
{
/**
* Load the bitmap and convert it to a byte array
* then save the file to the desktop
*/
byte[] imageBytes = ImageToByte( new Bitmap( "C:/Users/Krythic/Desktop/NovaEngine.png" ) );
File.WriteAllBytes( "C:/Users/Krythic/Desktop/NovaImageData.txt" , imageBytes );
/**
* Load the saved image bytes, then convert them back into an image and save it to the
* desktop under a new name.
*/
byte[] convertedImageBytes = File.ReadAllBytes("C:/Users/Krythic/Desktop/NovaImageData.txt");
Bitmap image = ConvertToBitmap(convertedImageBytes);
image.Save("C:/Users/Krythic/Desktop/ConvertedImage.png");
}
public static byte[] ImageToByte( Bitmap img )
{
ImageConverter converter = new ImageConverter();
return ( byte[] )converter.ConvertTo( img , typeof( byte[] ) );
}
private static Bitmap ConvertToBitmap( byte[] imagesSource )
{
ImageConverter imageConverter = new ImageConverter();
Image image = ( Image )imageConverter.ConvertFrom( imagesSource );
return new Bitmap( image );
}
}
I think the problem is due to the image.Save(); function, which...I think...is not picking the optimal compression for the image. Maybe I am wrong? Here is a picture of the property pages for both images:
You will also notice that the saved byte array version of the original image is showing a larger file size. Why is this? Shouldn't the size of the file remain constant across the entire span of conversion?
Update: I'm pretty sure that the functions that I am using to convert the image are using poor conversion techniques. This would explain why the size of the original png differs from the byte-array-file version, which should be equal. So to solve this, I need an efficient, or correct way of doing the same thing that those two functions do.

Most likely the original file was somehow compressed , and re-writing the file ends up saving an un-compressed file because C# is not very smart about that.
and if C# was updated somehow and got better from the last time I used it, it is possible because you are converting a PNG into a bitmap (the bitmap is not size efficient) and then you save the bitmap to a PNG

Fast way to compare 2 byte arrays

I am uploading jpeg images as fast as i can to a web service (it is the requirement I have been given).
I am using async call to the web service and I calling it within a timer.
I am trying to optimise as much as possible and tend to use an old laptop for testing. On a normal/reasonable build PC all is OK. On the laptop I get high RAM usage.
I know I will get a higher RAM usage using that old laptop but I want to know the lowest spec PC the app will work on.
As you can see in the code below I am converting the jpeg image into a byte array and then I upload the byte array.
If I can reduce/compress/zip the bye array then I am hoping this will be 1 of the ways of improving memory usage.
I know jpegs are already compressed but if I compare the current byte array with the previous byre array then uploading the difference between this byte arrays I could perhaps compress it even more on the basis that some of the byte values will be zero.
If I used a video encoder (which would do the trick) I would not be real time as much I would like.
Is there an optimum way of comparing 2 byte arrays and outputting to a 3rd byte array? I have looked around but could not find an answer that I liked.
This is my code on the client:
bool _uploaded = true;
private void tmrLiveFeed_Tick(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
try
{
if (_uploaded)
{
_uploaded = false;
_live.StreamerAsync(Shared.Alias, imageToByteArray((Bitmap)_frame.Clone()), Guid.NewGuid().ToString()); //web service being called here
}
}
catch (Exception _ex)
{
//do some thing but probably time out error here
}
}
//web service has finished the client invoke
void _live_StreamerCompleted(object sender, AsyncCompletedEventArgs e)
{
_uploaded = true; //we are now saying we start to upload the next byte array
}
private wsLive.Live _live = new wsLive.Live(); //web service
private byte[] imageToByteArray(Image imageIn)
{
MemoryStream ms = new MemoryStream();
imageIn.Save(ms,System.Drawing.Imaging.ImageFormat.Jpeg); //convert image to best image compression
imageIn.Dispose();
return ms.ToArray();
}
thanks...

As C.Evenhuis said - JPEG files are compressed, and changing even few pixels results in complettly differrent file. So - comparing resulting JPEG files is useless.
BUT you can compare your Image objects - quick search results in finding this:
unsafe Bitmap PixelDiff(Bitmap a, Bitmap b)
{
Bitmap output = new Bitmap(a.Width, a.Height, PixelFormat.Format32bppArgb);
Rectangle rect = new Rectangle(Point.Empty, a.Size);
using (var aData = a.LockBitsDisposable(rect, ImageLockMode.ReadOnly, PixelFormat.Format32bppArgb))
using (var bData = b.LockBitsDisposable(rect, ImageLockMode.ReadOnly, PixelFormat.Format32bppArgb))
using (var outputData = output.LockBitsDisposable(rect, ImageLockMode.ReadWrite, PixelFormat.Format32bppArgb))
{
byte* aPtr = (byte*)aData.Scan0;
byte* bPtr = (byte*)bData.Scan0;
byte* outputPtr = (byte*)outputData.Scan0;
int len = aData.Stride * aData.Height;
for (int i = 0; i < len; i++)
{
// For alpha use the average of both images (otherwise pixels with the same alpha won't be visible)
if ((i + 1) % 4 == 0)
*outputPtr = (byte)((*aPtr + *bPtr) / 2);
else
*outputPtr = (byte)~(*aPtr ^ *bPtr);
outputPtr++;
aPtr++;
bPtr++;
}
}
return output;
}

If your goal is to find out whether two byte arrays contain exactly the same data, you can create an MD5 hash and compare these as others have suggested. However in your question you mention you want to upload the difference which means the result of the comparison must be more than a simple yes/no.
As JPEGs are already compressed, the smallest change to the image could lead to a large difference in the binary data. I don't think any two JPEGs contain binary data similar enough to easily compare.
For BMP files you may find that changing a single pixel affects only one or a few bytes, and more importantly, the data for the pixel at a certain offset in the image is located at the same position in both binary files (given that both images are of equal size and color depth). So for BMPs the difference in binary data directly relates to the difference in the images.
In short, I don't think obtaining the binary difference between JPEG files will improve the size of the data to be sent.

C# Image: To preserve image's checksum

I have the following codes to convert an image(bitmap) to byte array:
public byte[] ConvertImageToByteArray(Image imageToConvert, ImageFormat formatOfImage)
{
byte[] Ret;
try
{
using (MemoryStream ms = new MemoryStream())
{
imageToConvert.Save(ms, formatOfImage);
Ret = ms.ToArray();
}
}
catch (Exception)
{
throw;
}
return Ret;
}
and Convert byte array back to image(bitmap):
public Bitmap ConvertByteArrayToImage(byte[] myByteArray)
{
Image newImage;
using (MemoryStream ms = new MemoryStream(myByteArray, 0, myByteArray.Length))
{
ms.Write(myByteArray, 0, myByteArray.Length);
newImage = Image.FromStream(ms, true);
}
return newImage;
}
Here's my Main Program:
byte[] test = ConvertImageToByteArray(Image.FromFile("oldImage.bmp"), ImageFormat.Bmp);
Bitmap bmp = ConvertByteArrayToImage(test);
bmp.Save("newImage.bmp");
But when I compare both of the image files(old & new bitmap images), their checksum appeared to be different. Any reason for that happening? How to fix it to maintain its integrity?

Basically, there are many ways an identical image can be encoded in a BMP file. If I try your example on a random image I found, I see the .NET Bitmap class saves the file without filling the biSizeImage field in the BITMAPINFOHEADER structure in the BMP header (but the original image produced by IrfanView has it filled), which is a completely correct and documented possibility. (“This may be set to zero for BI_RGB bitmaps.”)
And this is definitely not the only variable thing in the BMP format. For instance, there are multiple possible orderings of pixel data in the image (top-to-bottom, bottom-to-top), specified in the header. (“If biHeight is positive, the bitmap is a bottom-up DIB and its origin is the lower-left corner. If biHeight is negative, the bitmap is a top-down DIB and its origin is the upper-left corner.”)
So, if you receive any BMP file from a source not under your control and really need to produce an image using exactly the same BMP variant, you have a lot work to do, and I don’t think you could use the standard .NET helper classes for that.
See also this question: Save bitmap to file has zero in image size field

After chatting a bit, you solution comes down to reading and writing bytes, take the image object out the equation and just deal with the raw bytes.
To read the file:
MemoryStream ms = new MemoryStream(File.ReadAllBytes("filename"));
To write the file:
File.WriteAllBytes("outputfile", ms.ToArray());

Free file locked by new Bitmap(filePath)

I have the Image of a PictureBox pointing to a certain file "A". At execution time I want to change the Image of the PictureBox to a different one "B" but I get the following error:
"A first chance exception of type 'System.IO.IOException' occurred in mscorlib.dll
Additional information: The process cannot access the file "A" because it is being used by another process."
I'm setting the Image as follows:
pbAvatar.Image = new Bitmap(filePath);
How can I unlock the first file?

Here is my approach to opening an image without locking the file...
public static Image FromFile(string path)
{
var bytes = File.ReadAllBytes(path);
var ms = new MemoryStream(bytes);
var img = Image.FromStream(ms);
return img;
}
UPDATE: I did some perf tests to see which method was the fastest. I compared it to #net_progs "copy from bitmap" answer (which seems to be the closest to correct, though does have some issues). I loaded the image 10000 times for each method and calculated the average time per image. Here are the results:
Loading from bytes: ~0.26 ms per image.
Copying from bitmap: ~0.50 ms per image.
The results seem to make sense since you have to create the image twice using the copy from bitmap method.
UPDATE:
if you need a BitMap you can do:
return (Bitmap)Image.FromStream(ms);

This is a common locking question widely discussed over the web.
The suggested trick with stream will not work, actually it works initially, but causes problems later. For example, it will load the image and the file will remain unlocked, but if you try to save the loaded image via Save() method, it will throw a generic GDI+ exception.
Next, the way with per pixel replication doesn't seem to be solid, at least it is noisy.
What I found working is described here: http://www.eggheadcafe.com/microsoft/Csharp/35017279/imagefromfile--locks-file.aspx
This is how the image should be loaded:
Image img;
using (var bmpTemp = new Bitmap("image_file_path"))
{
img = new Bitmap(bmpTemp);
}
I was looking for a solution to this problem and this method works fine for me so far, so I decided to describe it, since I found that many people advise the incorrect stream approach here and over the web.

Using a filestream will unlock the file once it has been read from and disposed:
using (var fs = new System.IO.FileStream("c:\\path to file.bmp", System.IO.FileMode.Open))
{
var bmp = new Bitmap(fs);
pct.Image = (Bitmap) bmp.Clone();
}
Edit: Updated to allow the original bitmap to be disposed, and allow the FileStream to be closed.
THIS ANSWER IS NOT SAFE - See comments, and see discussion in net_prog's answer. The Edit to use Clone does not make it any safer - Clone clones all fields, including the filestream reference, which in certain circumstances will cause a problem.

You can't dispose / close a stream while a bitmap object is still using it. (Whether the bitmap object will need access to it again is only deterministic if you know what type of file you are working with and exactly what operations you will be performing. -- for example for SOME .gif format images, the stream is closed before the constructor returns.)
Clone creates an "exact copy" of the bitmap (per documentation; ILSpy shows it calling native methods, so it's too much to track down right now) likely, it copies that Stream data as well -- or else it wouldn't be an exact copy.
Your best bet is creating a pixel-perfect replica of the image -- though YMMV (with certain types of images there may be more than one frame, or you may have to copy palette data as well.) But for most images, this works:
static Bitmap LoadImage(Stream stream)
{
Bitmap retval = null;
using (Bitmap b = new Bitmap(stream))
{
retval = new Bitmap(b.Width, b.Height, b.PixelFormat);
using (Graphics g = Graphics.FromImage(retval))
{
g.DrawImage(b, Point.Empty);
g.Flush();
}
}
return retval;
}
And then you can invoke it like such:
using (Stream s = ...)
{
Bitmap x = LoadImage(s);
}

As far as I know, this is 100% safe, since the resulting image is 100% created in memory, without any linked resources, and with no open streams left behind in memory. It acts like any other Bitmap that's created from a constructor that doesn't specify any input sources, and unlike some of the other answers here, it preserves the original pixel format, meaning it can be used on indexed formats.
Based on this answer, but with extra fixes and without external library import.
/// <summary>
/// Clones an image object to free it from any backing resources.
/// Code taken from http://stackoverflow.com/a/3661892/ with some extra fixes.
/// </summary>
/// <param name="sourceImage">The image to clone</param>
/// <returns>The cloned image</returns>
public static Bitmap CloneImage(Bitmap sourceImage)
{
Rectangle rect = new Rectangle(0, 0, sourceImage.Width, sourceImage.Height);
Bitmap targetImage = new Bitmap(rect.Width, rect.Height, sourceImage.PixelFormat);
targetImage.SetResolution(sourceImage.HorizontalResolution, sourceImage.VerticalResolution);
BitmapData sourceData = sourceImage.LockBits(rect, ImageLockMode.ReadOnly, sourceImage.PixelFormat);
BitmapData targetData = targetImage.LockBits(rect, ImageLockMode.WriteOnly, targetImage.PixelFormat);
Int32 actualDataWidth = ((Image.GetPixelFormatSize(sourceImage.PixelFormat) * rect.Width) + 7) / 8;
Int32 h = sourceImage.Height;
Int32 origStride = sourceData.Stride;
Boolean isFlipped = origStride < 0;
origStride = Math.Abs(origStride); // Fix for negative stride in BMP format.
Int32 targetStride = targetData.Stride;
Byte[] imageData = new Byte[actualDataWidth];
IntPtr sourcePos = sourceData.Scan0;
IntPtr destPos = targetData.Scan0;
// Copy line by line, skipping by stride but copying actual data width
for (Int32 y = 0; y < h; y++)
{
Marshal.Copy(sourcePos, imageData, 0, actualDataWidth);
Marshal.Copy(imageData, 0, destPos, actualDataWidth);
sourcePos = new IntPtr(sourcePos.ToInt64() + origStride);
destPos = new IntPtr(destPos.ToInt64() + targetStride);
}
targetImage.UnlockBits(targetData);
sourceImage.UnlockBits(sourceData);
// Fix for negative stride on BMP format.
if (isFlipped)
targetImage.RotateFlip(RotateFlipType.Rotate180FlipX);
// For indexed images, restore the palette. This is not linking to a referenced
// object in the original image; the getter of Palette creates a new object when called.
if ((sourceImage.PixelFormat & PixelFormat.Indexed) != 0)
targetImage.Palette = sourceImage.Palette;
// Restore DPI settings
targetImage.SetResolution(sourceImage.HorizontalResolution, sourceImage.VerticalResolution);
return targetImage;
}
To call, simply use:
/// <summary>Loads an image without locking the underlying file.</summary>
/// <param name="path">Path of the image to load</param>
/// <returns>The image</returns>
public static Bitmap LoadImageSafe(String path)
{
using (Bitmap sourceImage = new Bitmap(path))
{
return CloneImage(sourceImage);
}
}
Or, from bytes:
/// <summary>Loads an image from bytes without leaving open a MemoryStream.</summary>
/// <param name="fileData">Byte array containing the image to load.</param>
/// <returns>The image</returns>
public static Bitmap LoadImageSafe(Byte[] fileData)
{
using (MemoryStream stream = new MemoryStream(fileData))
using (Bitmap sourceImage = new Bitmap(stream)) {
{
return CloneImage(sourceImage);
}
}

Here's the technique I'm currently using, and seems to work best. It has the advantage of producing a Bitmap object with the same pixel format (24-bit or 32-bit) and resolution (72 dpi, 96 dpi, whatever) as the source file.
// ImageConverter object used to convert JPEG byte arrays into Image objects. This is static
// and only gets instantiated once.
private static readonly ImageConverter _imageConverter = new ImageConverter();
This can be used as often as needed, as follows:
Bitmap newBitmap = (Bitmap)_imageConverter.ConvertFrom(File.ReadAllBytes(fileName));
Edit:
Here's an update of the above technique: https://stackoverflow.com/a/16576471/253938

(The accepted answer is wrong. When you try to LockBits(...) on the cloned bitmap eventually you will encounter GDI+ errors.)
I see only 3 ways to get out of this:
copy your file to a temporary file and open that the easy way new Bitmap(temp_filename)
open your file, read image, create a pixel-size-pixelformat copy (don't Clone()) and dispose the first bitmap
(accept the locked-file-feature)

I suggest to use PixelMap which is available on NuGet
Very easy to use and much faster than standard Bitmap from .NET
PixelMap pixelMap = new PixelMap(path);
pictureBox1.Image = pixelMap.GetBitmap();

Read it into the stream, create bitmap, close the stream.