Images and Drawing
[Unit 8]

In this unit we'll look at two visualisation elements: how to turn our data into images (plus how to extract data from images), and how to draw on the screen.

Powerpoint and audio

Further info:

Early colour computers only had 3 bits to represent colour (or 4 bits, 3 plus a 'brightening' bit), resulting in an 8-colour scheme. These are the colours matching the static final variables in the Color class:
Color.BLACK
Color.BLUE
Color.RED
Color.MAGENTA
Color.GREEN
Color.CYAN
Color.YELLOW
Color.WHITE
To which are added:
Color.ORANGE
Color.PINK
Color.DARK_GRAY
Color.GRAY
Color.LIGHT_GRAY
These early colour schemes allowed the development of superbly realistic computer graphics.

Quiz:

The correct set of values to generate a bright cyan is __________________.


  1. 255,0, 0
  2. 125,0, 0
  3. 0,125,125
  4. 0,255,255

Correct! The other colours are red, dark red, and medium cyan.

Further info:

The code examples mentioned are on the "Key Ideas" page for this section, at the bottom of this page.

Note that in the slides we've talked about the image processing techniques that will teach you most about how images work, but will still be relatively uncomplicated. There are more sophisticated ways of treating images, and more complicated ways. If you are interested in displaying or processing multiple images, you should check out bitshifting for fast packing (see, for a good explanation bitshifting by Kushal Paudyal), image streams and filters (chapter from O'Reilly), and double buffering. If you are interested in working with raster images containing multiple bands, you should check out javax.imageio, especially the ImageIO class, and java.awt.image, especially the BufferedImage and Raster classes.

Powerpoint and audio

Quiz:

Given the code below to convert 1D to 2D arrays:

for (int i = 0; i < data2D.length; i++) {
   for (int j = 0; j < data2D[0].length; j++) {
      data2D[i][j] = data1D[(j * data2D[0].length) + i);
   }
}

What is wrong with the code is _____________.

  1. the assignment is the wrong way round
  2. data2D[i][j]
  3. data1D[(j * data2D[0].length) + i)
  4. data2D[0].length
  5. nothing

Correct! The i and j are the wrong way round - to work out the location in a 1D array made by stretching out a 2D array, you need to count how many rows you've had (i) and multiple it by the row width (data2D[0].length), then add on however many cells you are across the current row (j). This holds whether you are converting 1D to 2D, or 2D to 1D.

Powerpoint and audio

Further info:

Again, we've gone for describing the simplest and lowest-level options here. If you are interested in more complex drawing issues, including, for example, transformations, you should check out the java.awt.geom package and double buffering. If you are interested in mapping, you should check out the GeoTools library, which had its origins in our CCG group.

Quiz:
Given the code below:

int[] xs = {0, 10, 10, 0};
int[] ys = {0, 0, 10, 10};
java.awt.Polygon p = new java.awt.Polygon(xs,ys.xs.length);
if (p.contains(hitx, hity)) {
   System.out.println("You've sunk my battleship!");
}

What is wrong with the code is _____________

  1. that the start and end points of the Polygon need to be the same.
  2. that it should be Polygon rather than java.awt.Polygon.
  3. that you can't represent squares using java.awt.Polygon.
  4. nothing.

Correct! Polygons will close themselves, so they don't have to start and end at the same place.

[Key ideas from this unit]