How to get an image from a rectangle? - c#

I'm making a program that's cropping images. I have two PictureBoxes and a Button named 'crop'. One picture box contains an image and when I select a rectangle in it and press 'Crop' the selected area appears in the other picture box; so the program is working when I press crop. The problem is: How can I get the image from crop area into picture box Image?
Rectangle rectCropArea;
Image srcImage = null;
TargetPicBox.Refresh();
//Prepare a new Bitmap on which the cropped image will be drawn
Bitmap sourceBitmap = new Bitmap(SrcPicBox.Image, SrcPicBox.Width, SrcPicBox.Height);
Graphics g = TargetPicBox.CreateGraphics();
g.DrawImage(sourceBitmap, new Rectangle(0, 0, TargetPicBox.Width, TargetPicBox.Height),
rectCropArea, GraphicsUnit.Pixel);
//Good practice to dispose the System.Drawing objects when not in use.
sourceBitmap.Dispose();
Image x = TargetPicBox.Image;
The problem is that x = null and the image is showing in the picture box so how can I get the Image from this picture box into the Image variable ?

A couple of issues:
First and most important: You are being confused about the relationship between PictureBox.Image (a Property) and the Graphics you associate with the PictureBox's surface.
The Graphics object you get from Control.CreateGraphics is only able to paint onto the surface of the control; usually not what you want; and even when you do, you usually want to do it in a Paint event using e.Graphics..
So, while your code seems to work, it only paints non-persistent pixels onto the surface. Minimize/maximize and you'll see what non-persistent means..!
To change a Bitmap bmp you need to associate it with a Grahics object like this:
Graphics g = Graphics.FromImage(bmp);
Now you can draw into it:
g.DrawImage(sourceBitmap, targetArea, sourceArea, GraphicsUnit.Pixel);
After that you can assign the Bitmap to the Image Property of the TargetPicBox..
Finally dispose of the Graphics, or better, put it into a using clause..
I am assuming that you have managed to give the rectCropArea meaningful values.
Also note that the way you copy the source bitmap has an error: If you want the full image, do use its Size (*), not the one of the PictureBox!!
And instead of creating a target rectangle, with the same error, simply use the TargetPicBox.ClientRectangle!
Here is an example code for the crop Button:
// a Rectangle for testing
Rectangle rectCropArea = new Rectangle(22,22,55,99);
// see the note below about the aspect ratios of the two rectangles!!
Rectangle targetRect = TargetPicBox.ClientRectangle;
Bitmap targetBitmap = new Bitmap(targetRect.Width, targetRect.Height);
using (Bitmap sourceBitmap = new Bitmap(SrcPicBox.Image,
SrcPicBox.Image.Width, SrcPicBox.Image.Height) )
using (Graphics g = Graphics.FromImage(targetBitmap))
g.DrawImage(sourceBitmap, targetRect, rectCropArea, GraphicsUnit.Pixel);
if (TargetPicBox.Image != null) TargetPicBox.Dispose();
TargetPicBox.Image = targetBitmap;
Of course you should have prepared the Rectangle in the proper mouse events!
Here you would want to decide on the aspect ratio of the result; you probably don't want to distort the result! So you need to decide whether to crop the source cropping rectangle or whether to expand the target rectangle..!
Unless you are sure about the dpi resolution you should use SetResolution to make sure the new image has the same!
Note that since I assign targetBitmap to TargetPicBox.Image I must not dipose of it! Instead, before assigning a new Image, I first Dispose the old one..

Related

Saving `Graphics` is just transparent

Here is some pseudocode of what I am doing. Everything worked fine but then I tried to save my results. The saving also works but the image turns out to be transparent. Any idea what could cause this odd behavior?
static Graphics G = Panel.CreateGraphics();
//some painting -> shows up correctly on the panel
Bitmap bitmap = new Bitmap(500, 500, G);//bitmap is transparent!
bitmap.Save("path/test1.png", System.Drawing.Imaging.ImageFormat.Png);
The documentation for the Bitmap constructor you are using says:
Initializes a new instance of the Bitmap class with the specified size and with the resolution of the specified Graphics object.
Which means it just gets the resolution from the Bitmap. It does not paint anything to the bitmap. Either use Graphics.FromImage or, as Hans Passant mentions, the Control.DrawToBitmap method.
My personal preference, have I a need to paint to both the screen and a bitmap, would be to create a method that does the painting (taking a Graphics object as an argument). I can then call this either in a Paint event handler, or from other code to generate a bitmap.
Also, in general, never use Control.CreateGraphics. The proper way of drawing is in the Paint event of a control.
This will draw the Bitmap but wont show up in the panel. If showing is mandatory, then you have to implement it on the Paint event.
Bitmap bmp = new Bitmap(Panel.Width, Panel.Height);
Panel.DrawToBitmap(bmp, new Rectangle(0, 0, Panel.Width, Panel.Height));
Graphics grp = Graphics.FromImage(bmp);
Pen selPen = new Pen(Color.Blue);
grp.DrawRectangle(selPen, 10, 10, 50, 50);
bmp.Save("d:\\check3.png", System.Drawing.Imaging.ImageFormat.Png);

Rectangle Selection Like Tool MS Paint C#

I have been working on creating a program similar to MS Paint. I have several of the features it has down but the one which is currently giving me trouble is the rectangular selection tool. My program currently draws everything on the panel and saves it all in an ArrayList so each shape can be redrawn in Paint().
Like MS paint I would like the user to be able to select a section of the drawing on the panel and either copy it, move it, re-size it, or even delete it. I was thinking about having the user draw a rectangle & saving the information for it. Then taking that information for the rectangle, passing them to create a new Bitmap. I would then paint a new rectangle in the background color to give the appearance that the selected area was "removed" when the selected portion is moved. It sounded okay until I realized that I couldn't use the Graphics.FromImage() on the PaintEventArgs variable passed to Paint() which made my idea useless. Not sure if that makes sense so my apologies if it's a confusing mess.
I've been searching the internet for some assistance and I haven't found much to help so either this is very easy to do, very difficult, or "rectangle selection tool" is not the proper term. Any help or pointers would be greatly appreciated!!! Thank you for your time! :)
I understand that you actually have the Rectangle and now would like to copy an area from your painted Panel.
This is possible, assuming you have, as you should, placed all the painting in the Paint event of the Panel.
Then you can, use DrawToBitmap to ask the Panel to draw itself onto a new Bitmap; from there you can DrawImage the Rectangle onto your Panel.
Note: For this to integrate with your list of 'Paint-Actions' you will have to either now store that Bitmap or store the Rectangle and redo the whole operation.
using (Graphics G = panelCanvas.CreateGraphics() )
{
Rectangle R0 = new Rectangle(22,22,55,55); // your Rectangle!
using (Bitmap bmp = new
Bitmap(panelCanvas.ClientSize.Width, panelCanvas.ClientSize.Height))
{ panelCanvas.DrawToBitmap(bmp, panelCanvas.ClientRectangle);
G.DrawImage(bmp, 111f, 111f, R0, GraphicsUnit.Pixel);
}
}
Aside: Please do replace the ArrayList, which is depracated by the new List<T>, e.g. a List<PaintAction> or whatever name your class has!
If you simply want to extract a rectanglular area from the Panel Control you can use thsi function:
public Bitmap getAreaFrom(Control ctl, Rectangle area)
{
Bitmap bmp2 = new Bitmap(area.Width, area.Height);
using (Graphics G = ctl.CreateGraphics())
using (Bitmap bmp = new Bitmap(ctl.ClientSize.Width, ctl.ClientSize.Height))
{
ctl.DrawToBitmap(bmp, ctl.ClientRectangle);
using (Graphics G2 = Graphics.FromImage(bmp2))
G2.DrawImage(bmp, 0f, 0f, area, GraphicsUnit.Pixel);
}
return bmp2;
}

How to get bitmap from painted panel in C#

I have a panel and I use it's Graphics gr = panel1.CreateGraphics() to draw lines and other stuff. I need to get pixel color of the point where mouse is clicked, so I decided to use GetPixel method of Bitmap. I create bitmap this way:
Bitmap b = new Bitmap(width, height);
panel1.DrawToBitmap(b, new Rectangle(0, 0, width, height));
b.Save("D:/aaa.bmp");
but I get only white rectangle even if I've drawn anything. What's the problem?
Only things that are drawn in the Paint event will be rendered by DrawToBitmap. Instead of explicitly call panel1.CreateGraphics(), handle the Paint event of the panel and do your drawing using e.Graphics.

C# drawing in layers

I have an idea and maybe you guys can give me a good start or an idea in which path might be correct.
I have a picturebox right now loading a specific bmp file. What I want to do is load this bmp file into the picturebox and then load another picture on top of it. The kicker to this all is the 2nd picture must be drawn. The 2nd picture is just a fill in black box. This black box must also overlay on the first image exactly right, the black box has cordinates from paint on it (yes we have the # of the cordaints).
Still think the picturebox is the way to go, or is there a way to load paint into this, and then paint on top of the paint image?
1) Need to load an image
2) Need to read a specific file that has cords
3) Need to draw a black rectangle that matches those coords (Those cords were created in paint).
What do you think the best way to approach this is? A Picture box with code to draw in the cords of the redacted image
Here's a code sample that should do what you're after:
//Load in an image
pbTest.Image = Image.FromFile("c:\\Chrysanthemum.jpg");
//Create the graphics surface to draw on
using (Graphics g = Graphics.FromImage(pbTest.Image))
{
using (SolidBrush brush = new SolidBrush(Color.Black))
{
//Draw a black rectangle at some coordinates
g.FillRectangle(brush, new Rectangle(0, 0, 20, 10));
//Or alternatively, given some points
//I'm manually creating the array here to prove the point, you'll want to create your array from your datasource.
Point[] somePoints = new Point[] { new Point(1,1), new Point(20,25), new Point(35, 50), new Point(90, 100) };
g.FillPolygon(brush, somePoints);
}
}
The finished article:
This answer is written to apply to both web and non-web uses of C# (why I did not give specific examples.)
GDI and other graphics libs all have functions that will paint a filled rectangle on top of an image. This is the way to go. If you use two images there is a good chance for a standard user and a great chance for a hacker they will be able to view just the original image, exposing the information you are trying to hide.
If you only send an image with the areas redacted, you will never have to worry about them being seen.

.NET set image display size

I am using some custom controls one of which is a tooltip controller that can display images, so I am using th ebelow code to instantiate it:
Image newImage = Image.FromFile(imagePath);
e.ToolTipImage = newImage;
obviously could inline it but just testing at the moment. The trouble is the image is sometimes the wrong size, is there a way to set the display size. The only way I can currently see is editing the image using GDI+ or something like that. Seems like a lot of extra processing when I am only wanting to adjust display size not affect the actual image.
Once you have an image object loaded from its source, the Height and Width (and Size, and all ancillary properties) are read-only. Therefore, you are stuck with GDI+ methods for resizing it in RAM and then displaying it accordingly.
There are a lot of approaches you can take, but if you were to encapsulate that out to a library which you could reuse should this problem occur again, you'll be set to go. This isn't exactly optimized (IE, may have some bugs), but should give you an idea of how to approach it:
Image newImage = Image.FromFile(myFilePath);
Size outputSize = new Size(200, 200);
Bitmap backgroundBitmap = new Bitmap(outputSize.Width, outputSize.Height);
using (Bitmap tempBitmap = new Bitmap(newImage))
{
using (Graphics g = Graphics.FromImage(backgroundBitmap))
{
g.InterpolationMode = InterpolationMode.HighQualityBicubic;
// Get the set of points that determine our rectangle for resizing.
Point[] corners = {
new Point(0, 0),
new Point(backgroundBitmap.Width, 0),
new Point(0, backgroundBitmap.Height)
};
g.DrawImage(tempBitmap, corners);
}
}
this.BackgroundImage = backgroundBitmap;
I did test this, and it worked. (It created a 200x200 resized version of one of my desktop wallpapers, then set that as the background image of the main form in a scratch WinForms project. You'll need using statements for System.Drawing and System.Drawing.Drawing2D.
In Winforms, if you contain the image inside a PictureBox control, the PictureBox control can be set to zoom to a particular height/width, and the image should conform.
At least that's what happened in my Head First C# book when I did the exercise.

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