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Drawing fully transparent "white" in Java BufferedImage

This might sound like a bit of strange title, but bear with me, there is a reason:
I am trying to generate a white glow around a text on a gray background.
To generate the glow, I created a new BufferedImage that's bigger than the text, then I drew the text in white onto the canvas of the image and ran a Gaussian Blur over the image via a ConvolveOp, hoping for something like this:
At first I was a bit surprised when the glow turned out darker than the gray background of the text:
But after a bit of thinking, I understood the problem:
The convolution operates on each color channel (R, G, B, and A) independently to calculate the blurred image. The transparent background of the picture has color value 0x00000000, i.e. a fully transparent black! So, when the convolution filter runs over the image, it not only blends the alpha value, but also mixes the black into the RGB values of the white pixels. This is why the glow comes out dark.
To fix this, I need to initialize the image to 0x00FFFFFF, i.e. a fully transparent white instead, but if I just set that color and fill a rectangle with it, it simply does nothing as Java says "well, it's a fully transparent rectangle that you're drawing! That's not going to change the image... Let me optimize that away for you... Done... You're welcome.".
If I instead set the color to 0x01FFFFFF, i.e. an almost fully transparent white, it does draw the rectangle and the glow looks beautiful, except I end up with a very faint white box around it...
Is there a way I can initialize the image to 0x00FFFFFF everywhere?
UPDATE:
I found one way, but it's probably as non-optimal as you can get:
I draw an opaque white rectangle onto the image and then I run a RescaleOp over the image that sets all alpha values to 0. This works, but it's probably a terrible approach as far as performance goes.
Can I do better somehow?
PS: I'm also open to entirely different suggestions for creating such a glow effect

The main reason why the glow appeared darker with your initial approach is most likely that you did not use an image with a premultiplied alpha component. The JavaDoc of ConvolveOp contains some information about how the alpha component is treated during a convolution.
You could work around this with an "almost fully transparent white". But alternatively, you may simply use an image with premultiplied alpha, i.e. one with the type TYPE_INT_ARGB_PRE.
Here is a MCVE that draws a panel with some text, and some pulsing glow around the text (remove the timer and set a fixed radius to remove the pulse - I couldn't resist playing around a little here ...).
import java.awt.AlphaComposite;
import java.awt.Color;
import java.awt.Font;
import java.awt.Graphics;
import java.awt.Graphics2D;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
import java.awt.image.BufferedImage;
import java.awt.image.ConvolveOp;
import java.awt.image.Kernel;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
import javax.swing.SwingUtilities;
import javax.swing.Timer;
public class TextGlowTest
{
public static void main(String[] args)
{
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable()
{
#Override
public void run()
{
createAndShowGUI();
}
});
}
private static void createAndShowGUI()
{
JFrame f = new JFrame();
f.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
f.getContentPane().add(new TextGlowPanel());
f.setSize(300,200);
f.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
f.setVisible(true);
}
}
class TextGlowPanel extends JPanel
{
private BufferedImage image;
private int radius = 1;
TextGlowPanel()
{
Timer t = new Timer(50, new ActionListener()
{
long startMillis = -1;
#Override
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e)
{
if (startMillis == -1)
{
startMillis = System.currentTimeMillis();
}
long d = System.currentTimeMillis() - startMillis;
double s = d / 1000.0;
radius = (int)(1 + 15 * (Math.sin(s * 3) * 0.5 + 0.5));
repaint();
}
});
t.start();
}
#Override
protected void paintComponent(Graphics gr)
{
super.paintComponent(gr);
gr.setColor(Color.GRAY);
int w = getWidth();
int h = getHeight();
gr.fillRect(0, 0, w, h);
if (image == null || image.getWidth() != w || image.getHeight() != h)
{
// Must be prmultiplied!
image = new BufferedImage(w, h, BufferedImage.TYPE_INT_ARGB_PRE);
}
Graphics2D g = image.createGraphics();
Font font = g.getFont().deriveFont(70.0f).deriveFont(Font.BOLD);
g.setFont(font);
g.setComposite(AlphaComposite.Src);
g.setColor(new Color(255,255,255,0));
g.fillRect(0,0,w,h);
g.setComposite(AlphaComposite.SrcOver);
g.setColor(new Color(255,255,255,0));
g.fillRect(0,0,w,h);
g.setColor(Color.WHITE);
g.drawString("Glow!", 50, 100);
image = getGaussianBlurFilter(radius, true).filter(image, null);
image = getGaussianBlurFilter(radius, false).filter(image, null);
g.dispose();
g = image.createGraphics();
g.setFont(font);
g.setColor(Color.BLUE);
g.drawString("Glow!", 50, 100);
g.dispose();
gr.drawImage(image, 0, 0, null);
}
// From
// http://www.java2s.com/Code/Java/Advanced-Graphics/GaussianBlurDemo.htm
public static ConvolveOp getGaussianBlurFilter(
int radius, boolean horizontal)
{
if (radius < 1)
{
throw new IllegalArgumentException("Radius must be >= 1");
}
int size = radius * 2 + 1;
float[] data = new float[size];
float sigma = radius / 3.0f;
float twoSigmaSquare = 2.0f * sigma * sigma;
float sigmaRoot = (float) Math.sqrt(twoSigmaSquare * Math.PI);
float total = 0.0f;
for (int i = -radius; i <= radius; i++)
{
float distance = i * i;
int index = i + radius;
data[index] =
(float) Math.exp(-distance / twoSigmaSquare) / sigmaRoot;
total += data[index];
}
for (int i = 0; i < data.length; i++)
{
data[i] /= total;
}
Kernel kernel = null;
if (horizontal)
{
kernel = new Kernel(size, 1, data);
}
else
{
kernel = new Kernel(1, size, data);
}
return new ConvolveOp(kernel, ConvolveOp.EDGE_NO_OP, null);
}
}

I've found that clearRect should paint a transparent color.
g.setBackground(new Color(0x00FFFFFF, true));
g.clearRect(0, 0, img.getWidth(), img.getHeight());
You should also be able to force the BufferedImage to fill with a transparent color by setting the pixel data directly.
public static void forceFill(BufferedImage img, int rgb) {
for(int x = 0; x < img.getWidth(); x++) {
for(int y = 0; y < img.getHeight(); y++) {
img.setRGB(x, y, rgb);
}
}
}
It is not clearly documented but I tested it and setRGB appears to accept an ARGB value.

How do I flip an image upside-down?

I was wondering if I could find some help on this problem. I was asked to use an image ("corn.jpg"), and flip it entirely upside down. I know I need to write a program which will switch pixels from the top left corner with the bottom left, and so on, but I wasn't able to get my program to work properly before time ran out. Could anyone provide a few tips or suggestions to solve this problem? I'd like to be able to write my code out myself, so suggestions only please. Please note that my knowledge of APImage and Pixel is very limited. I am programming in Java.
Here is what I managed to get done.
import images.APImage;
import images.Pixel;
public class Test2
{
public static void main(String [] args)
{
APImage image = new APImage("corn.jpg");
int width = image.getImageWidth();
int height = image.getImageHeight();
int middle = height / 2;
//need to switch pixels in bottom half with the pixels in the top half
//top half of image
for(int y = 0; y < middle; y++)
{
for (int x = 0; x < width; x++)
{
//bottom half of image
for (int h = height; h > middle; h++)
{
for(int w = 0; w < width; w++)
{
Pixel bottomHalf = image.getPixel(h, w);
Pixel topHalf = image.getPixel(x, y);
//set bottom half pixels to corresponding top ones?
bottomHalf.setRed(topHalf.getRed());
bottomHalf.setGreen(topHalf.getGreen());
bottomHalf.setBlue(topHalf.getBlue());
//set top half pixels to corresponding bottom ones?
topHalf.setRed(bottomHalf.getRed());
topHalf.setGreen(bottomHalf.getGreen());
topHalf.setBlue(bottomHalf.getBlue());
}
}
}
}
image.draw();
}
}
Thank you for your help!

See Transforming Shapes, Text, and Images.
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.geom.AffineTransform;
import java.awt.image.BufferedImage;
import javax.swing.*;
public class FlipVertical {
public static BufferedImage getFlippedImage(BufferedImage bi) {
BufferedImage flipped = new BufferedImage(
bi.getWidth(),
bi.getHeight(),
bi.getType());
AffineTransform tran = AffineTransform.getTranslateInstance(0, bi.getHeight());
AffineTransform flip = AffineTransform.getScaleInstance(1d, -1d);
tran.concatenate(flip);
Graphics2D g = flipped.createGraphics();
g.setTransform(tran);
g.drawImage(bi, 0, 0, null);
g.dispose();
return flipped;
}
FlipVertical(BufferedImage bi) {
JPanel gui = new JPanel(new GridLayout(1,2,2,2));
gui.add(new JLabel(new ImageIcon(bi)));
gui.add(new JLabel(new ImageIcon(getFlippedImage(bi))));
JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, gui);
}
public static void main(String[] args) throws AWTException {
final Robot robot = new Robot();
Runnable r = new Runnable() {
#Override
public void run() {
final BufferedImage bi = robot.createScreenCapture(
new Rectangle(0, 660, 200, 100));
new FlipVertical(bi);
}
};
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(r);
}
}

Whenever you're swapping variables, if your language doesn't allow for simultaneous assignment (and Java doesn't), you need to use a temporary variable.
Consider this:
a = 1;
b = 2;
a = b; // a is now 2, just like b
b = a; // b now uselessly becomes 2 again
Rather than that, do this:
t = a; // t is now 1
a = b; // a is now 2
b = t; // b is now 1
EDIT: And also what #vandale says in comments :P

If you are able to use the Graphics class, the following may be of use:
http://www.javaworld.com/javatips/jw-javatip32.html
And the Graphics class documentation:
http://docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/api/java/awt/Graphics.html

Instead of using
Pixel bottomHalf = image.getPixel(h, w);
Pixel topHalf = image.getPixel(x, y);
//set bottom half pixels to corresponding top ones?
bottomHalf.setRed(topHalf.getRed());
bottomHalf.setGreen(topHalf.getGreen());
bottomHalf.setBlue(topHalf.getBlue());
//set top half pixels to corresponding bottom ones?
topHalf.setRed(bottomHalf.getRed());
topHalf.setGreen(bottomHalf.getGreen());
topHalf.setBlue(bottomHalf.getBlue());
You should have stored the bottomHalf's RGB into a temporary Pixel and used that to set topHalf after replacing bottomHalf's values (if you follow). You could have also really used something like this.... assuming your pixel operates on integer rgb values (which would have improved your main method).
private static final Pixel updateRGB(Pixel in, int red, int green, int blue) {
in.setRed(red); in.setGreen(green); in.setBlue(blue);
}

You want to flip the image upside down, not swap the top and bottom half.
The loop could look like this.
int topRow = 0;
int bottomRow = height-1;
while(topRow < bottomRow) {
for(int x = 0; x < width; x++) {
Pixel t = image.getPixel(x, topRow);
image.setPixel(x, topRow, image.getPixel(x, bottomRow));
image.setPixel(x, bottomRow, t);
}
topRow++;
bottomRow--;
}

Java read and load images

i just finish making a Minesweeper game, everything functions perfectly except one thing, the speed of loading the images into he game. I noticed if i have a large number of cells in the game images loads really slow after the mouse click on the cell and it gets faster if i have a smaller number of cells. is there any other way that would make loading images much faster than the one i used? here is the method i used in order to load the images into the game :
private void draw(Graphics g) {
BufferedImage gRec =null, flag=null, mine=null, aCount0=null,
aCount1=null,aCount2 =null,aCount3 =null,aCount4 =null,aCount5 =null,
aCount6 =null,aCount7 =null,aCount8 = null;
try {
gRec = ImageIO.read(new File("/Users/msa_666/Desktop/blank.gif"));
flag = ImageIO.read(new File("/Users/msa_666/Desktop/bombflagged.gif"));
mine = ImageIO.read(new File("/Users/msa_666/Desktop/bombdeath.gif"));
flag = ImageIO.read(new File("/Users/msa_666/Desktop/bombflagged.gif"));
aCount0 = ImageIO.read(new File("/Users/msa_666/Desktop/open0.gif"));
aCount1 = ImageIO.read(new File("/Users/msa_666/Desktop/open1.gif"));
aCount2 = ImageIO.read(new File("/Users/msa_666/Desktop/open2.gif"));
aCount3 = ImageIO.read(new File("/Users/msa_666/Desktop/open3.gif"));
aCount4 = ImageIO.read(new File("/Users/msa_666/Desktop/open4.gif"));
aCount5 = ImageIO.read(new File("/Users/msa_666/Desktop/open5.gif"));
aCount6 = ImageIO.read(new File("/Users/msa_666/Desktop/open6.gif"));
aCount7 = ImageIO.read(new File("/Users/msa_666/Desktop/open7.gif"));
aCount8 = ImageIO.read(new File("/Users/msa_666/Desktop/open8.gif"));
}
catch (IOException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
if (getCovered() == true && getMarked () == false) { // gray rectangle
g.drawImage(gRec,getX(),getY(),w,h,null);
}
else if (getCovered()==true && getMarked() == true) { //flag
g.drawImage(flag,getX(),getY(),w,h,null);
}
else if (getCovered()== false && getMined()== true){ //mine
g.drawImage(mine,getX(),getY(),w,h,null);
}
else if ( getCovered() == false && getMined() == false) { // adjacency count image
switch (getAdjCount()){
case 0:
g.drawImage(aCount0,getX(),getY(),w,h,null);
break;
case 1:
g.drawImage(aCount1,getX(),getY(),w,h,null);
break;
case 2:
g.drawImage(aCount2,getX(),getY(),w,h,null);
break;
case 3:
g.drawImage(aCount3,getX(),getY(),w,h,null);
break;
case 4:
g.drawImage(aCount4,getX(),getY(),w,h,null);
break;
case 5:
g.drawImage(aCount5,getX(),getY(),w,h,null);
break;
case 6:
g.drawImage(aCount6,getX(),getY(),w,h,null);
break;
case 7:
g.drawImage(aCount7,getX(),getY(),w,h,null);
break;
case 8:
g.drawImage(aCount8,getX(),getY(),w,h,null);
break;
}
}
}
here is the mouse listener to repaint each cell after clicking on it :
public void mouseClicked(MouseEvent e) {
int sRow, sCol;
sRow= e.getX() / cellHeight;
sCol = e.getY()/ cellWidth;
System.out.println(e.getX() +"," +sCol);
System.out.println(e.getY()+","+sRow);
if (e.getButton() == MouseEvent.BUTTON1) {
if( cells[sRow][sCol].getMarked() == false)
uncoverCell(cells[sRow][sCol]);
// cells[sRow][sCol].setCovered(false);
System.out.println(cells[sRow][sCol].getMined());
repaint();
}
else if (e.getButton() == MouseEvent.BUTTON2) {
}
else if (e.getButton() == MouseEvent.BUTTON3) {
if (cells[sRow][sCol].getMarked() == false){
cells[sRow][sCol].setMarked(true);
repaint();
}
else {
cells[sRow][sCol].setMarked(false);
repaint();
}
}
if (allMinesMarked() && allNonMinesUncovered()){
System.out.println("You Win");
}
}
public void paintComponent(Graphics g) {
for ( int i=0 ; i <rowCount; i++ ) {
for (int j=0; j<columnCount; j++) {
cells[i][j].draw(g);
}
}
}

You need to tell us:
Just where is draw(...) called?
How do you obtain the Graphics object, g, that is passed into the draw method's parameter?
I'm guessing here since we don't have all of the relevant code, but it looks as if you're re-reading in your images each time you want to display one. If so, don't do this. Read the images in only once at the start of the program, and then use the Images or perhaps better, ImageIcons, obtained when you need them.
Edit
Thanks for posting more code, and this in fact confirms my suspicion: you're re-reading in the image files with every repaint of your GUI. This is highly inefficient and will slow your program down to a crawl. Again, you should read the images into your program once and then use them multiple times.
Myself I'd create ImageIcons from the images, and then display them in a JLabel. When there is need to swap images, simply call setIcon(...) on the JLabel. This way there's no need to even mess with paintComponent(...).
Edit 2
For example (compile and run this):
import java.awt.GridLayout;
import java.awt.event.MouseAdapter;
import java.awt.event.MouseEvent;
import java.awt.image.BufferedImage;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.net.URL;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;
import javax.imageio.ImageIO;
import javax.swing.*;
public class SwapIcons {
private static final int CELL_SIDE_COUNT = 3;
private ImageCell[] imageCells = new ImageCell[CELL_SIDE_COUNT * CELL_SIDE_COUNT];
private JPanel mainPanel = new JPanel();
public SwapIcons(final GetImages getImages) {
mainPanel.setLayout(new GridLayout(CELL_SIDE_COUNT, CELL_SIDE_COUNT));
mainPanel.setBorder(BorderFactory.createEmptyBorder(2, 2, 2, 2));
for (int i = 0; i < imageCells.length; i++) {
imageCells[i] = new ImageCell(getImages);
mainPanel.add(imageCells[i].getImgLabel());
}
}
public JComponent getMainComponent() {
return mainPanel;
}
private static void createAndShowGui(GetImages getImages) {
SwapIcons swapIcons = new SwapIcons(getImages);
JFrame frame = new JFrame("Click on Icons to Change");
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
frame.getContentPane().add(swapIcons.getMainComponent());
frame.pack();
frame.setLocationByPlatform(true);
frame.setVisible(true);
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
try {
final GetImages getImages = new GetImages();
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
public void run() {
createAndShowGui(getImages);
}
});
} catch (IOException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
}
class ImageCell {
private JLabel imgLabel = new JLabel();
private GetImages getImages;
private int iconIndex = 0;
public ImageCell(final GetImages getImages) {
this.getImages = getImages;
imgLabel.setIcon(getImages.getIcon(0));
imgLabel.addMouseListener(new MyMouseListener());
}
public JLabel getImgLabel() {
return imgLabel;
}
private class MyMouseListener extends MouseAdapter {
#Override
public void mousePressed(MouseEvent e) {
iconIndex++;
iconIndex %= getImages.getIconListSize();
imgLabel.setIcon(getImages.getIcon(iconIndex));
}
}
}
// Simply gets a SpriteSheet and subdivides it into a List of ImageIcons
class GetImages {
private static final String SPRITE_PATH = "http://th02.deviantart.net/"
+ "fs70/PRE/i/2011/169/0/8/blue_player_sprite_sheet_by_resetado-d3j7zba.png";
public static final int SPRITE_ROWS = 6;
public static final int SPRITE_COLS = 6;
public static final int SPRITE_CELLS = 35;
private List<ImageIcon> iconList = new ArrayList<ImageIcon>();
public GetImages() throws IOException {
URL imgUrl = new URL(SPRITE_PATH);
BufferedImage mainImage = ImageIO.read(imgUrl);
for (int i = 0; i < SPRITE_CELLS; i++) {
int row = i / SPRITE_COLS;
int col = i % SPRITE_COLS;
int x = (int) (((double) mainImage.getWidth() * col) / SPRITE_COLS);
int y = (int) ((double) (mainImage.getHeight() * row) / SPRITE_ROWS);
int w = (int) ((double) mainImage.getWidth() / SPRITE_COLS);
int h = (int) ((double) mainImage.getHeight() / SPRITE_ROWS);
BufferedImage img = mainImage.getSubimage(x, y, w, h);
ImageIcon icon = new ImageIcon(img);
iconList.add(icon);
}
}
// get the Icon from the List at index position
public ImageIcon getIcon(int index) {
if (index < 0 || index >= iconList.size()) {
throw new ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException(index);
}
return iconList.get(index);
}
public int getIconListSize() {
return iconList.size();
}
}

Hovercraft Full Of Eels answer is good and will work.
And is fine for a standalone app, but for an applet or web start app can further optimize by having one large image and then copying parts of it to the graphics object that is visible, think grids and use function in java.awt.Graphics object (from javadoc):
public abstract boolean drawImage(Image img,
int dx1,
int dy1,
int dx2,
int dy2,
int sx1,
int sy1,
int sx2,
int sy2,
ImageObserver observer)
Draws as much of the specified area of the specified image as is currently available, scaling it on the fly to fit inside the specified area of the destination drawable surface. Transparent pixels do not affect whatever pixels are already there.
This method returns immediately in all cases, even if the image area to be drawn has not yet been scaled, dithered, and converted for the current output device. If the current output representation is not yet complete then drawImage returns false. As more of the image becomes available, the process that loads the image notifies the specified image observer.
This method always uses the unscaled version of the image to render the scaled rectangle and performs the required scaling on the fly. It does not use a cached, scaled version of the image for this operation. Scaling of the image from source to destination is performed such that the first coordinate of the source rectangle is mapped to the first coordinate of the destination rectangle, and the second source coordinate is mapped to the second destination coordinate. The subimage is scaled and flipped as needed to preserve those mappings.
Parameters:
img - the specified image to be drawn. This method does nothing if img is null.
dx1 - the x coordinate of the first corner of the destination rectangle.
dy1 - the y coordinate of the first corner of the destination rectangle.
dx2 - the x coordinate of the second corner of the destination rectangle.
dy2 - the y coordinate of the second corner of the destination rectangle.
sx1 - the x coordinate of the first corner of the source rectangle.
sy1 - the y coordinate of the first corner of the source rectangle.
sx2 - the x coordinate of the second corner of the source rectangle.
sy2 - the y coordinate of the second corner of the source rectangle.
observer - object to be notified as more of the image is scaled and converted.
Returns:
false if the image pixels are still changing; true otherwise.
This is better as it takes a few seconds to make a new connection and download image over internet, so if you have one main image that has all the sub images in a big table then total time to download, load and render will be less. extra logic to copy from an area is trivial maybe .1KB of jar file space :)

How to change the brightness of an Image

My Question: I want to be able to change the brightness of a resource image and have three instances of it as ImageIcons. One at 50% brightness (so darker), another at 75% brightness (a little brighter), and finally another at 100% brightness (the same as the original image). I also want to preserve transparency.
What I've tried: I've searched around and it looks like the best solution is using RescaleOp, but I just can't figure it out. I don't know what the scaleFactor and the offset is all about. Here's my code for what I've tried.
public void initialize(String imageLocation, float regularBrightness, float focusedBrightness, float pressedBrightness, String borderTitle) throws IOException {
BufferedImage bufferedImage = ImageIO.read(ButtonIcon.class.getResource(imageLocation));
setRegularIcon(getAlteredImageIcon(bufferedImage, regularBrightness));
setFocusedIcon(getAlteredImageIcon(bufferedImage, focusedBrightness));
setPressedIcon(getAlteredImageIcon(bufferedImage, pressedBrightness));
setTitle(borderTitle);
init();
}
private ImageIcon getAlteredImageIcon(BufferedImage bufferedImage, float brightness) {
RescaleOp rescaleOp = new RescaleOp(brightness, 0, null);
return new ImageIcon(rescaleOp.filter(bufferedImage, null));
}
The call would be something like this:
seeATemplateButton.initialize("/resources/templateIcon-regular.png", 100f, 75f, 50f, "See A Template");
//I think my 100f, 75f, 50f variables need to change, but whenever I change them it behaves unexpectedly (changes colors and stuff).
What happens with that code: The image appears "invisible" I know it's there because it's on a JLabel with a mouse clicked event on it and that works just fine. If I just skip the brightness changing part and say setRegularIcon(new ImageIcon(Button.class.getResource(imageLocation)); it works just fine, but obviously it's not any darker.
What I think I need: Some help understanding what offset, scaleFactor, and the filter method mean/do, and consequently what numbers to give for the brightness variable.
Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

The doc says:
The pseudo code for the rescaling operation is as follows:
for each pixel from Source object {
for each band/component of the pixel {
dstElement = (srcElement*scaleFactor) + offset
}
}
It's just a linear transformation on every pixel. The parameters for that transformation are scaleFactor and offset. If you want 100% brightness, this transform must be an identity, i.e. dstElement = srcElement. Setting scaleFactor = 1 and offset = 0 does the trick.
Now suppose you want to make the image darker, at 75% brightness like you say. That amounts to multiplying the pixel values by 0.75. You want: dstElement = 0.75 * srcElement. So setting scaleFactor = 0.75 and offset = 0 should do the trick. The problem with your values is that they go from 0 to 100, you need to use values between 0 and 1.

I would suggest just writing over the image with a semi-transparent black.
Assuming you want to write directly on the image:
Graphics g = img.getGraphics();
float percentage = .5f; // 50% bright - change this (or set dynamically) as you feel fit
int brightness = (int)(256 - 256 * percentage);
g.setColor(new Color(0,0,0,brightness));
g.fillRect(0, 0, img.getWidth(), img.getHeight());
Or if you're just using the image for display purposes, do it in the paintComponent method. Here's an SSCCE:
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.image.*;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.net.URL;
import javax.imageio.ImageIO;
import javax.swing.*;
public class ImageBrightener extends JPanel{
BufferedImage img;
float percentage = 0.5f;
public Dimension getPreferredSize(){
return new Dimension(img.getWidth(), img.getHeight());
}
public ImageBrightener(){
try {
img = ImageIO.read(new URL("http://media.giantbomb.com/uploads/0/1176/230441-thehoff_super.jpeg"));
} catch (IOException e) {
// TODO Auto-generated catch block
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
public void paintComponent(Graphics g){
super.paintComponent(g);
g.drawImage(img, 0, 0, this);
int brightness = (int)(256 - 256 * percentage);
g.setColor(new Color(0,0,0,brightness));
g.fillRect(0, 0, getWidth(), getHeight());
}
public static void main(String[] args){
final JFrame frame = new JFrame();
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
frame.add(new ImageBrightener());
frame.pack();
frame.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
frame.setVisible(true);
}
}
EDIT
Assuming the same code as above, you can manipulate everything besides the Alpha by messing with the rasterizer. Here's an example (paint shadedImage instead of img if using this exmaple). Please note this doesn't catch edge cases of RGB values greater than 256 and less than 0.
img = ImageIO.read(new URL("http://media.giantbomb.com/uploads/0/1176/230441-thehoff_super.jpeg"));
shadedImage = new BufferedImage(img.getWidth(), img.getWidth(), BufferedImage.TYPE_INT_ARGB);
shadedImage.getGraphics().drawImage(img, 0, 0, this);
WritableRaster wr = shadedImage.getRaster();
int[] pixel = new int[4];
for(int i = 0; i < wr.getWidth(); i++){
for(int j = 0; j < wr.getHeight(); j++){
wr.getPixel(i, j, pixel);
pixel[0] = (int) (pixel[0] * percentage);
pixel[1] = (int) (pixel[1] * percentage);
pixel[2] = (int) (pixel[2] * percentage);
wr.setPixel(i, j, pixel);
}
}

A few more examples for study:
AlphaTest rescales just the alpha transparency of an image between zero and one with no offsets. Coincidentally, it also resamples the image to three-quarter size.
RescaleOpTest does the same using a fixed scale and no offsets.
RescaleTest scales all bands of an image between zero and two with no offsets.
As noted in the API, the scale and offset are applied to each band as the slope and y-intercept, respectively, of a linear function.
dstElement = (srcElement*scaleFactor) + offset

Basic logic is take RGB value of each pixel ,add some factor to it,set it again to resulltant matrix(Buffered Image)
import java.io.*;
import java.awt.Color;
import javax.imageio.ImageIO;
import java.io.*;
import java.awt.image.BufferedImage;
class psp{
public static void main(String a[]){
try{
File input=new File("input.jpg");
File output=new File("output1.jpg");
BufferedImage picture1 = ImageIO.read(input); // original
BufferedImage picture2= new BufferedImage(picture1.getWidth(), picture1.getHeight(),BufferedImage.TYPE_INT_RGB);
int width = picture1.getWidth();
int height = picture1.getHeight();
int factor=50;//chose it according to your need(keep it less than 100)
for (int y = 0; y < height ; y++) {//loops for image matrix
for (int x = 0; x < width ; x++) {
Color c=new Color(picture1.getRGB(x,y));
//adding factor to rgb values
int r=c.getRed()+factor;
int b=c.getBlue()+factor;
int g=c.getGreen()+factor;
if (r >= 256) {
r = 255;
} else if (r < 0) {
r = 0;
}
if (g >= 256) {
g = 255;
} else if (g < 0) {
g = 0;
}
if (b >= 256) {
b = 255;
} else if (b < 0) {
b = 0;
}
picture2.setRGB(x, y,new Color(r,g,b).getRGB());
}
}
ImageIO.write(picture2,"jpg",output);
}catch(Exception e){
System.out.println(e);
}
}}

Java bitmap font: blitting 1-bit image with different colors

I'd like to implement a simple bitmap font drawing in Java AWT-based application. Application draws on a Graphics object, where I'd like to implement a simple algorithm:
1) Load a file (probably using ImageIO.read(new File(fileName))), which is 1-bit PNG that looks something like that:
I.e. it's 16*16 (or 16*many, if I'd like to support Unicode) matrix of 8*8 characters. Black corresponds to background color, white corresponds to foreground.
2) Draw strings character-by-character, blitting relevant parts of this bitmap to target Graphics. So far I've only succeeded with something like that:
int posX = ch % 16;
int posY = ch / 16;
int fontX = posX * CHAR_WIDTH;
int fontY = posY * CHAR_HEIGHT;
g.drawImage(
font,
dx, dy, dx + CHAR_WIDTH, dy + CHAR_HEIGHT,
fontX, fontY, fontX + CHAR_WIDTH, fontY + CHAR_HEIGHT,
null
);
It works, but, alas, it blits the text as is, i.e. I can't substitute black and white with desired foreground and background colors, and I can't even make background transparent.
So, the question is: is there a simple (and fast!) way in Java to blit part of one 1-bit bitmap to another, colorizing it in process of blitting (i.e. replacing all 0 pixels with one given color and all 1 pixels with another)?
I've researched into a couple of solutions, all of them look suboptimal to me:
Using a custom colorizing BufferedImageOp, as outlined in this solution - it should work, but it seems that it would be very inefficient to recolorize a bitmap before every blit operation.
Using multiple 32-bit RGBA PNG, with alpha channel set to 0 for black pixels and to maximum for foreground. Every desired foreground color should get its own pre-rendered bitmap. This way I can make background transparent and draw it as a rectangle separately before blitting and then select one bitmap with my font, pre-colorized with desired color and draw a portion of it over that rectangle. Seems like a huge overkill to me - and what makes this option even worse - it limits number of foreground colors to a relatively small amount (i.e. I can realistically load up and hold like hundreds or thousands of bitmaps, not millions)
Bundling and loading a custom font, as outlined in this solution could work, but as far as I see in Font#createFont documentation, AWT's Font seems to work only with vector-based fonts, not with bitmap-based.
May be there's already any libraries that implement such functionality? Or it's time for me to switch to some sort of more advanced graphics library, something like lwjgl?
Benchmarking results
I've tested a couple of algorithms in a simple test: I have 2 strings, 71 characters each, and draw them continuously one after another, right on the same place:
for (int i = 0; i < N; i++) {
cv.putString(5, 5, STR, Color.RED, Color.BLUE);
cv.putString(5, 5, STR2, Color.RED, Color.BLUE);
}
Then I measure time taken and calculate speed: string per second and characters per second. So far, various implementation I've tested yield the following results:
bitmap font, 16*16 characters bitmap: 10991 strings / sec, 780391 chars / sec
bitmap font, pre-split images: 11048 strings / sec, 784443 chars / sec
g.drawString(): 8952 strings / sec, 635631 chars / sec
colored bitmap font, colorized using LookupOp and ByteLookupTable: 404 strings / sec, 28741 chars / sec

You might turn each bitmap into a Shape (or many of them) and draw the Shape. See Smoothing a jagged path for the process of gaining the Shape.
E.G.
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import java.awt.image.*;
import java.awt.geom.*;
import javax.swing.*;
import javax.swing.border.*;
import javax.swing.event.*;
import java.util.Random;
/* Gain the outline of an image for further processing. */
class ImageShape {
private BufferedImage image;
private BufferedImage ImageShape;
private Area areaOutline = null;
private JLabel labelOutline;
private JLabel output;
private BufferedImage anim;
private Random random = new Random();
private int count = 0;
private long time = System.currentTimeMillis();
private String rate = "";
public ImageShape(BufferedImage image) {
this.image = image;
}
public void drawOutline() {
if (areaOutline!=null) {
Graphics2D g = ImageShape.createGraphics();
g.setColor(Color.WHITE);
g.fillRect(0,0,ImageShape.getWidth(),ImageShape.getHeight());
g.setColor(Color.RED);
g.setClip(areaOutline);
g.fillRect(0,0,ImageShape.getWidth(),ImageShape.getHeight());
g.setColor(Color.BLACK);
g.setClip(null);
g.draw(areaOutline);
g.dispose();
}
}
public Area getOutline(Color target, BufferedImage bi) {
// construct the GeneralPath
GeneralPath gp = new GeneralPath();
boolean cont = false;
int targetRGB = target.getRGB();
for (int xx=0; xx<bi.getWidth(); xx++) {
for (int yy=0; yy<bi.getHeight(); yy++) {
if (bi.getRGB(xx,yy)==targetRGB) {
if (cont) {
gp.lineTo(xx,yy);
gp.lineTo(xx,yy+1);
gp.lineTo(xx+1,yy+1);
gp.lineTo(xx+1,yy);
gp.lineTo(xx,yy);
} else {
gp.moveTo(xx,yy);
}
cont = true;
} else {
cont = false;
}
}
cont = false;
}
gp.closePath();
// construct the Area from the GP & return it
return new Area(gp);
}
public JPanel getGui() {
JPanel images = new JPanel(new GridLayout(1,2,2,2));
JPanel gui = new JPanel(new BorderLayout(3,3));
JPanel originalImage = new JPanel(new BorderLayout(2,2));
final JLabel originalLabel = new JLabel(new ImageIcon(image));
originalImage.add(originalLabel);
images.add(originalImage);
ImageShape = new BufferedImage(
image.getWidth(),
image.getHeight(),
BufferedImage.TYPE_INT_RGB
);
labelOutline = new JLabel(new ImageIcon(ImageShape));
images.add(labelOutline);
anim = new BufferedImage(
image.getWidth()*2,
image.getHeight()*2,
BufferedImage.TYPE_INT_RGB);
output = new JLabel(new ImageIcon(anim));
gui.add(output, BorderLayout.CENTER);
updateImages();
gui.add(images, BorderLayout.NORTH);
animate();
ActionListener al = new ActionListener() {
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent ae) {
animate();
}
};
Timer timer = new Timer(1,al);
timer.start();
return gui;
}
private void updateImages() {
areaOutline = getOutline(Color.BLACK, image);
drawOutline();
}
private void animate() {
Graphics2D gr = anim.createGraphics();
gr.setColor(Color.BLUE);
gr.fillRect(0,0,anim.getWidth(),anim.getHeight());
count++;
if (count%100==0) {
long now = System.currentTimeMillis();
long duration = now-time;
double fraction = (double)duration/1000;
rate = "" + (double)100/fraction;
time = now;
}
gr.setColor(Color.WHITE);
gr.translate(0,0);
gr.drawString(rate, 20, 20);
int x = random.nextInt(image.getWidth());
int y = random.nextInt(image.getHeight());
gr.translate(x,y);
int r = 128+random.nextInt(127);
int g = 128+random.nextInt(127);
int b = 128+random.nextInt(127);
gr.setColor(new Color(r,g,b));
gr.draw(areaOutline);
gr.dispose();
output.repaint();
}
public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
int size = 150;
final BufferedImage outline = javax.imageio.ImageIO.read(new java.io.File("img.gif"));
ImageShape io = new ImageShape(outline);
JFrame f = new JFrame("Image Outline");
f.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
f.add(io.getGui());
f.pack();
f.setResizable(false);
f.setLocationByPlatform(true);
f.setVisible(true);
}
}
I have to figure there is a factor of ten error in the FPS count on the top left of the blue image though. 50 FPS I could believe, but 500 FPS seems ..wrong.

Okay, looks like I've found the best solution. The key to success was accessing raw pixel arrays in underlying AWT structures. Initialization goes something like that:
public class ConsoleCanvas extends Canvas {
protected BufferedImage buffer;
protected int w;
protected int h;
protected int[] data;
public ConsoleCanvas(int w, int h) {
super();
this.w = w;
this.h = h;
}
public void initialize() {
data = new int[h * w];
// Fill data array with pure solid black
Arrays.fill(data, 0xff000000);
// Java's endless black magic to get it working
DataBufferInt db = new DataBufferInt(data, h * w);
ColorModel cm = ColorModel.getRGBdefault();
SampleModel sm = cm.createCompatibleSampleModel(w, h);
WritableRaster wr = Raster.createWritableRaster(sm, db, null);
buffer = new BufferedImage(cm, wr, false, null);
}
#Override
public void paint(Graphics g) {
update(g);
}
#Override
public void update(Graphics g) {
g.drawImage(buffer, 0, 0, null);
}
}
After this one, you've got both a buffer that you can blit on canvas updates and underlying array of ARGB 4-byte ints - data.
Single character can be drawn like that:
private void putChar(int dx, int dy, char ch, int fore, int back) {
int charIdx = 0;
int canvasIdx = dy * canvas.w + dx;
for (int i = 0; i < CHAR_HEIGHT; i++) {
for (int j = 0; j < CHAR_WIDTH; j++) {
canvas.data[canvasIdx] = font[ch][charIdx] ? fore : back;
charIdx++;
canvasIdx++;
}
canvasIdx += canvas.w - CHAR_WIDTH;
}
}
This one uses a simple boolean[][] array, where first index chooses character and second index iterates over raw 1-bit character pixel data (true => foreground, false => background).
I'll try to publish a complete solution as a part of my Java terminal emulation class set soon.
This solution benchmarks for impressive 26007 strings / sec or 1846553 chars / sec - that's 2.3x times faster than previous best non-colorized drawImage().