Develop Reference

CSharp Windows Form Picturebox Draw Small Image Without Quality Loss

I'm trying to create a level editor using Windows Forms for my monogame project and need to draw small pixel based images to a picture box with no quality loss when scaled. In monogame when I need to do this I can just set the draw type to PointClamp and then each pixel is drawn as is instead of being pixelated when zoomed; I was hoping for something like this via a picturebox. Right now it looks like this But I'd prefer a more crisp and clean image like this (The second is how it'll appear in monogame). I haven't uploaded any code for this, but just assume I grabbed an image from the filestream and used the bitmap constructor to scale it up (don't think that's relevent but I'll just put it out there).
Image croppedImage, image = tileMap.tileBox.Image;
var brush = new SolidBrush(Color.Black);
try { croppedImage = CropImage(image, tileMap.highlightedRect); } catch {
return; // If crop target is outside bounds of image then return
}
float scale = Math.Min(higlightedTileBox.Width / croppedImage.Width, higlightedTileBox.Height / image.Height);
var scaleWidth = (int)(higlightedTileBox.Width * scale);
var scaleHeight = (int)(higlightedTileBox.Height * scale);
try { higlightedTileBox.Image = new Bitmap(croppedImage, new Size(scaleWidth, scaleHeight)); } catch {
return; // Image couldn't be scaled or highlighted tileBox couldn't be set to desired image
}
CropImage:
private static Image CropImage(Bitmap img, Rectangle cropArea) {
return img.Clone(cropArea, img.PixelFormat);
}
private static Image CropImage(Image img, Rectangle cropArea) {
return CropImage(new Bitmap(img), cropArea);
}
The code above is my current method in it's entirety. tileMap is a form and tilebox is the picturebox within that form.image is the full spritesheet texture before being cropped to what the user has highlighted. After being cropped I attempt to set the current picturebox (highlightedTileBox's) image to a scaled up version of the cropped image.

So I got a solution by trying around a bit.
It looks like scaling images directly by size is using some sort of interpolation.
To try different interpolation modes supported by Winforms, I created a little demo.
As you can see, every label contains the name of the InterpolationMode and is followed by its resulting image. The original bitmap I used is the small one at the top.
From your question, it looks like you would like to achieve something like NearestNeighbour.
Following code scales bmp and the result is stored in bmp2. Try if that's what you want. Consider building a proper implementation if you're using this as solution (disposing unused bitmaps etc.).
I hope it helps.
Bitmap bmp = new Bitmap("test.bmp");
Bitmap bmp2;
Graphics g = Graphics.FromImage(bmp2=new Bitmap(bmp.Width * 2, bmp.Height * 2));
g.InterpolationMode = System.Drawing.Drawing2D.InterpolationMode.NearestNeighbor;
g.DrawImage(bmp, 0, 0, bmp.Width * 2, bmp.Height * 2);
g.Dispose();

how to extend draw area in Graphics.DrawImage c#

I have a Rectangle (rec) that contains the area in which a smaller image is contained within a larger image. I want to display this smaller image on a Picturebox. However, what I really am doing is using the smaller image as a picture detector for a larger image that is 333x324. So what I want to do is use the coordinates of the smaller image rectangle, and then draw to the Picturebox, starting from lefthand side of the rectangle, going outwards by 333 width and 324 height.
Currently my code works but it only displays the small image that was being used for detection purposes. I want it to display the smaller image + 300 width and + 300 height.
I fiddled with this code for hours and I must be doing something extremely basic wrong. If anyone can help me I would appreciate it so much!
My code for the class:
public static class Worker
{
public static void doWork(object myForm)
{
//infinitely search for maps
for (;;)
{
//match type signature for Threading
var myForm1 = (Form1)myForm;
//capture screen
Bitmap currentBitmap = new Bitmap(CaptureScreen.capture());
//detect map
Detector detector = new Detector();
Rectangle rec = detector.searchBitmap(currentBitmap, 0.1);
//if it actually found something
if(rec.Width != 0)
{
// Create the new bitmap and associated graphics object
Bitmap bmp = new Bitmap(rec.X, rec.Y);
Graphics g = Graphics.FromImage(bmp);
// Draw the specified section of the source bitmap to the new one
g.DrawImage(currentBitmap, 0,0, rec, GraphicsUnit.Pixel);
// send to the picture box &refresh;
myForm1.Invoke(new Action(() =>
{
myForm1.getPicturebox().Image = bmp;
myForm1.getPicturebox().Refresh();
myForm1.Update();
}));
// Clean up
g.Dispose();
bmp.Dispose();
}
//kill
currentBitmap.Dispose();
//do 10 times per second
System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(100);
}
}
}

If I understand correctly, the rec variable contains a rectangle with correct X and Y which identifies a rectangle with Width=333 and Height=324.
So inside the if statement, start by setting the desired size:
rec.Width = 333;
rec.Height = 324;
Then, note that the Bitmap constructor expects the width and height, so change
Bitmap bmp = new Bitmap(rec.X, rec.Y);
to
Bitmap bmp = new Bitmap(rec.Width, rec.Height);
and that's it - the rest of the code can stay the way it is now.

Graphics.DrawImage alternatives for large images

I am trying to draw a crosshair ("plus sign") with inverted colors over an image to show the location of a selected point within the image. This is how I do it:
private static void DrawInvertedCrosshair(Graphics g, Image img, PointF location, float length, float width)
{
float halfLength = length / 2f;
float halfWidth = width / 2f;
Rectangle absHorizRect = Rectangle.Round(new RectangleF(location.X - halfLength, location.Y - halfWidth, length, width));
Rectangle absVertRect = Rectangle.Round(new RectangleF(location.X - halfWidth, location.Y - halfLength, width, length));
ImageAttributes attributes = new ImageAttributes();
float[][] invertMatrix =
{
new float[] {-1, 0, 0, 0, 0 },
new float[] { 0, -1, 0, 0, 0 },
new float[] { 0, 0, -1, 0, 0 },
new float[] { 0, 0, 0, 1, 0 },
new float[] { 1, 1, 1, 0, 1 }
};
ColorMatrix matrix = new ColorMatrix(invertMatrix);
attributes.SetColorMatrix(matrix, ColorMatrixFlag.Default, ColorAdjustType.Bitmap);
g.DrawImage(img, absHorizRect, absHorizRect.X, absHorizRect.Y, absHorizRect.Width, absHorizRect.Height, GraphicsUnit.Pixel, attributes);
g.DrawImage(img, absVertRect, absVertRect.X, absVertRect.Y, absVertRect.Width, absVertRect.Height, GraphicsUnit.Pixel, attributes);
}
It works as expected, however, it is really slow. I want the user to be able to move the selected location around with their mouse by setting the location to the cursor's location whenever it moves. Unfortunately, on my computer, it can update only around once per second for big images.
So, I am looking for an alternative to using Graphics.DrawImage to invert a region of an image. Are there any ways to do this with speeds proportional to the selected region area rather than the entire image area?

Sounds to me you are focusing on the wrong problem. Painting the image is slow, not painting the "cross-hairs".
Large images can certainly be very expensive when you don't help. And System.Drawing makes it very easy to not help. Two basic things you want to do to make the image paint faster, getting it more than 20 times faster is quite achievable:
avoid forcing the image painting code to rescale the image. Instead do it just once so the image can be drawn directly one-to-one without any rescaling. Best time to do so is when you load the image. Possibly again in the control's Resize event handler.
pay attention to the pixel format of the image. The fastest one by a long shot is the pixel format that's directly compatible with the way the image needs to be stored in the video adapter. So the image data can be directly copied to video RAM without having to adjust each individual pixel. That format is PixelFormat.Format32bppPArgb on 99% of all modern machines. Makes a huge difference, it is ten times faster than all the other ones.
A simple helper method that accomplishes both without otherwise dealing with the aspect ratio:
private static Bitmap Resample(Image img, Size size) {
var bmp = new Bitmap(size.Width, size.Height, System.Drawing.Imaging.PixelFormat.Format32bppPArgb);
using (var gr = Graphics.FromImage(bmp)) {
gr.DrawImage(img, new Rectangle(Point.Empty, size));
}
return bmp;
}

Draw the image once on Graphics g, then draw the crosshair on Graphics g directly instead of the image. You can optionally keep track of the places the user clicked so as to save them either in the image or elsewhere as needed.

Capturing an image behind a rectangle

I have written a small application which will be used in my work environment for cropping images. The windows form (.NET 3.5) that contains the image has a transparent rectangle which I use for dragging over a section of an image and hitting a button to get me whatever was behind the rectangle.
Currently I am using the code below, this is causing me issues because the area that it is capturing is off by quite a few pixels, and I think it's something to do with my CopyFromScreen function.
//Pass in a rectangle
private void SnapshotImage(Rectangle rect)
{
Point ptPosition = new Point(rect.X, rect.Y);
Point ptRelativePosition;
//Get me the screen coordinates, so that I get the correct area
ptRelativePosition = PointToScreen(ptPosition);
//Create a new bitmap
Bitmap bmp = new Bitmap(rect.Width, rect.Height, PixelFormat.Format32bppArgb);
//Sort out getting the image
Graphics g = Graphics.FromImage(bmp);
//Copy the image from screen
g.CopyFromScreen(this.Location.X + ptPosition.X, this.Location.Y + ptPosition.Y, 0, 0, bmp.Size, CopyPixelOperation.SourceCopy);
//Change the image to be the selected image area
imageControl1.Image.ChangeImage(bmp);
}
If anyone can spot why when the image is redrawn its quite a bit out, I'd be eternally grateful at this point. Also, the ChangeImage function is fine - it works if I use a form as a select area but using a rectangle has jazzed things up a bit.

You've retrieved the relative position to the screen as ptRelativePosition, but you never actually use that - you add the rectangle's location to your form's location, which doesn't account for the form's border.
Here's that fixed, with a few optimizations:
// Pass in a rectangle
private void SnapshotImage(Rectangle rect)
{
// Get me the screen coordinates, so that I get the correct area
Point relativePosition = this.PointToScreen(rect.Location);
// Create a new bitmap
Bitmap bmp = new Bitmap(rect.Width, rect.Height, PixelFormat.Format32bppArgb);
// Copy the image from screen
using(Graphics g = Graphics.FromImage(bmp)) {
g.CopyFromScreen(relativePosition, Point.Empty, bmp.Size);
}
// Change the image to be the selected image area
imageControl1.Image.ChangeImage(bmp);
}

Interestingly, this was because of the space between the main form and the control that the image was on and the toolbar at the top of the form separating the control and the top of the main form. To get around this I simply modified one line in capture screen to account for those pixels, as shown below:
g.CopyFromScreen(relativePosition.X + 2, relativePosition.Y+48, Point.Empty.X, Point.Empty.Y, bmp.Size);
Cheers

Cropping a cross rectangle from image using c#

What I want to do is basically cropping a rectangle from an image. However, it should satisfy some special cases:
I want to crop an angled rectangle on image.
I don't want to rotate the image and crop a rectangle :)
If cropping exceeds the image size, I don't want to crop an empty background color.
I want to crop from back of the starting point, that will end at starting point when rectangle size completed. I know I couldn't explain well so if I show what I want visually:
The blue dot is the starting point there, and the arrow shows cropping direction. When cropping exceeds image borders, it will go back to the back of the starting point as much as, when the rectangle width and height finished the end of the rectangle will be at starting point.
Besides this is the previous question I asked:
How to crop a cross rectangle from an image using c#?
In this question, I couldn't predict that a problem can occur about image dimensions so I didn't ask for it. But now there is case 3. Except case three, this is exactly same question. How can I do this, any suggestions?

What needs to be done is to add offsets to the matrix alignment. In this case I am taking one extra length of the rectangle from each side (total 9 rectangles) and offsetting the matrix each time.
Notice that it is necessary to place offset 0 (the original crop) last, otherwise you will get the wrong result.
Also note that if you specify a rectangle that is bigger than the rotated picture you will still get empty areas.
public static Bitmap CropRotatedRect(Bitmap source, Rectangle rect, float angle, bool HighQuality)
{
int[] offsets = { -1, 1, 0 }; //place 0 last!
Bitmap result = new Bitmap(rect.Width, rect.Height);
using (Graphics g = Graphics.FromImage(result))
{
g.InterpolationMode = HighQuality ? InterpolationMode.HighQualityBicubic : InterpolationMode.Default;
foreach (int x in offsets)
{
foreach (int y in offsets)
{
using (Matrix mat = new Matrix())
{
//create the appropriate filler offset according to x,y
//resulting in offsets (-1,-1), (-1, 0), (-1,1) ... (0,0)
mat.Translate(-rect.Location.X - rect.Width * x, -rect.Location.Y - rect.Height * y);
mat.RotateAt(angle, rect.Location);
g.Transform = mat;
g.DrawImage(source, new Point(0, 0));
}
}
}
}
return result;
}
To recreate your example:
Bitmap source = new Bitmap("C:\\mjexample.jpg");
Bitmap dest = CropRotatedRect(source, new Rectangle(86, 182, 87, 228), -45, true);