Develop Reference

Drawing/'blending' image behind another with transparency on Canvas in Android

Good day all,
First off, I am quite new to Android, and I am currently trying to make an image-editing application. I have run into a problem whereby, if I move a semi-transparent image over another image, the image behind is not drawn (on Canvas). Note that this is only if I do not change/set the Paint object's Alpha (which I don't want to do - if I change alpha values of an image, I want them to be 'permanently' changed (for saving purposes), not only visually).
Basically, I have the following:
//Set up of paint object
paint = new Paint(Paint.FILTER_BITMAP_FLAG | Paint.DITHER_FLAG | Paint.ANTI_ALIAS_FLAG);
paint.setXfermode(new PorterDuffXfermode(PorterDuff.Mode.MULTIPLY)); // I've tried a couple of these (DST_ATOP and OVERLAY)
//paint.setColor(0x808fd2ea); - Messed around with this too, just to see
Here is the loop I am currently using to just manually change the alpha of each pixel, currently alpha = 120 (±50% transparency)
for(int y = 0; y < bmp.getHeight(); ++y)
{
int newPixelAlpha = (alpha << 24);
for (int x = 0; x < bmp.getWidth(); ++x)
{
bmp.setPixel(x, y, ((bmp.getPixel(x, y) & 0xFFFFFF) | newPixelAlpha));
}
}
Then this is the method I use to draw each bitmap to the canvas
public void drawSelf(Canvas canvas, Paint paint)
{
if(active) {
if (!selected) {
//paint.setAlpha(opacity);
canvas.drawBitmap(bitmap, rect.left, rect.top, null);
//This bit here is just if someone long-presses on the image, it gets "highlighted" but a rectangle over it, with transparency 170.
//Not being used at this point
} else {
paint.setAlpha(170);
canvas.drawRect(rect, paint);
canvas.drawBitmap(bitmap, rect.left, rect.top, paint);
}
}
}
The following is a screenshot of one image atop another, with no transparency (unfortunately, I need 10 reputation to include it in this post)
http://tinypic.com/r/r0t4pt/8
Whereas here, I have edited the alpha value of each pixel of the top image using the loop above, yet it is still "opaque"
http://tinypic.com/r/2j2dras/8
Perhaps it is actually "seeing" the canvas background colour as what is behind the image, rather than the other image? This would explain why it only gets darker when I make it transparent. I'm assuming that somehow I need to make canvas do some sort of per-pixel blending or something of that nature? Unfortunately my knowledge in this area is still quite limited, so I am unsure of what to try/where to go to from here.
I'd really appreciate any guidance on this :)
Thanks!

Ok well, this is embarrassing...
At some point I remember that I thought the issue was the Paint Object, so I decided to try drawing the bitmaps without one (hence the "null") in:
canvas.drawBitmap(bitmap, rect.left, rect.top, null);
Anyway, point is I had not yet read about Paint.setXferMode by that point. Adding the paint object back in there fixes the problem, and using PorterDuff.OVERLAY seems to achieve what I am looking for :)

Using a rounded corners drawable

There is a nice post made by the popular Google developer Romain Guy that shows how to use a rounded corners drawable (called "StreamDrawable" in his code ) on a view efficiently.
The sample itself works very well on my Galaxy S3 when in portrait mode, but I have a few issues with it:
if the screen is small (for example on qvga screens), the shown images get cropped.
if I have an input bitmap that is too small than how I wish to show it, the output image has its edges smeared. Even on the Galaxy S3, when you run the sample code and it's on landscape, it looks awful:
I'm still not sure about it (since I use a workaround of scaling the image for using the sample code), but it think that even this solution is a bit slow when being used in a listView. Maybe there is a renderscript solution for this?
It doesn't matter if I use setImageDrawable or setBackgroundDrawable. It must be something in the drawable itself.
I've tried to play with the variables and the bitmapShader, but nothing worked. Sadly TileMode doesn't have a value for just stretching the image, only tiling it in some way.
As a workaround I can create a new scaled bitmap, but it's just a workaround. Surely there is a better way which will also not use more memory than it should.
How do I fix those issues and use this great code?

I think that the solution that is presented on this website works well.
unlike other solutions, it doesn't cause memory leaks, even though it is based on Romain Guy's solution.
EDIT: now on the support library, you can also use RoundedBitmapDrawable (using RoundedBitmapDrawableFactory ) .

I had some size issues with this code, and I solved it.
Maybe this will help you, too:
1) in the constructor store the bitmap in a local variable (e.g. private Bitmap bmp;)
2) override two more methods:
#Override
public int getIntrinsicWidth() {
return bmp.getWidth();
}
#Override
public int getIntrinsicHeight() {
return bmp.getHeight();
}
Best regards,
DaRolla

There underlying problem is that the BitmapShader's TileMode doesn't have a scaling option. You'll note in the source that it's been set to Shader.TileMode.CLAMP, and the docs describe that as:
replicate the edge color if the shader draws outside of its original bounds
To work around this, there are three solutions:
Constrain the size of the view in which the drawable is used to the size of the bitmap.
Constrain the drawing region; for instance, change:
int width = bounds.width() - mMargin;
int height = bounds.height() - mMargin;
mRect.set(mMargin, mMargin, width, height);
To:
int width = Math.min(mBitmap.getWidth(), bounds.width()) - mMargin;
int height = Math.min(mBitmap.getHeight(), bounds.height()) - mMargin;
mRect.set(mMargin, mMargin, width, height);
Scale the bitmap to the size of the drawable. I've moved creating the shader into onBoundsChange() and have opted to create a new bitmap from here:
bitmap = Bitmap.createScaledBitmap(mBitmap, width, height, true);
mBitmapShader = new BitmapShader(bitmap,
Shader.TileMode.CLAMP, Shader.TileMode.CLAMP);
Note that this a potentially slow operation and will be running on the main thread. You might want to carefully consider how you want to implement it before you go for this last solution.

android get bitmap width and height after scaled by matrix

I use matrix to scale a bitmap and draw it on canvas, after it's scaled, is there a way to get the scale with of the bitmap? and it's scale height?
sx += 0.5f;
matrix.setScale(sx, sx);
matrix.postTranslate(left, top);
canvas.drawBitmap(bitmap, matrix, paint);
// here how to get the scaled width of bitmap?
This is part of my current project - a simple meme maker, so another question is that is there any good tutorials or resource (open source app) I can learn? I googled a lot, just get some pieces no complete tutorials.
Thanks.

I believe
Bitmap#getScaledHeight (Canvas canvas)
should do the job. If not try with
final int scaledHeight = bitmap.getHeight() * sx;
but the first one should work.

Using a gradient along a path

I'm trying to create a 'glow' effect using the Android Path class. However, the gradient is not being warped to fit around the path. Instead, it is simply being display 'above' it and clipped to the path's stroke. Using a square path, the image below shows what I mean:
Instead, that should look more like this:
In other words, the gradient follows the path, and in particular wraps around the corners according to the radius set in the CornerPathEffect.
Here is the relevant part of the code:
paint = new Paint();
paint.setStyle(Style.STROKE);
paint.setStrokeWidth(20);
paint.setAntiAlias(true);
LinearGradient gradient = new LinearGradient(30, 0, 50, 0,
new int[] {0x00000000, 0xFF0000FF, 0x00000000}, null, Shader.TileMode.MIRROR);
paint.setShader(gradient);
PathEffect cornerEffect = new CornerPathEffect(10);
paint.setPathEffect(cornerEffect);
canvas.drawPath(boxPath, paint);
Any ideas?
Another alternative is to get a 'soft-edged brush' effect when defining the stroke width. I've experimented with BlurMaskFilters, but those give a uniform blur rather than a transition from opaque to transparent. Does anyone know if that's possible?

How about drawing with a soft brush bitmap? Make a soft circular brush with opacity decreasing radially outward using image editing software like Photoshop. Save as drawable, load it in a bitmap and draw it evenly spaced along your path. Make the bitmap with white coloured brush. This way you can simply multiply the given colour(Here blue) to your bitmap using PorterDuffColorFilter.
brush1=BitmapFactory.decodeResource(getResources(), R.drawable.brush_custom_one);
//This contains radially decreasing opacity brush
porter_paint.setColorFilter(new PorterDuffColorFilter(paint.getColor(), Mode.MULTIPLY));
for (int i=1;i<matrix.size();i++) {
//matrix contains evenly spaced points along path
Point point = matrix.get(matrix.get(i));
canvas.drawBitmap(brush1, point.x,point.y, porter_paint);}
The brush used is (It's there):
The final result is:

Turns out there was a stupidly obvious way of doing this. Simply re-use the same path, and adjust the stroke width and alpha on each drawing pass. Example code:
float numberOfPasses = 20;
float maxWidth = 15;
for (float i = 0; i <= numberOfPasses; i++){
int alpha = (int) (i / numberOfPasses * 255f);
float width = maxWidth * (1 - i / numberOfPasses);
paint.setARGB(alpha, 0, 0, 255);
paint.setStrokeWidth(width);
canvas.drawPath(path, paint);
}
See below for an example of the result. The left path was drawn using this method, the right path, for comparison, is drawn in a single stroke with maxWidth and 255 alpha.
This mainly works. There are two problems:
The gradient isn't as smooth as it could be. This is because each pass being drawn over the previous one results in the alpha building up too quickly, reaching 255 before the final strokes. Experimenting a bit with the line int alpha = (int) (i / numberOfPasses * 125f); (note the change to 125f rather than 255f) helps.
The path looks like it has been 'cut' on the insides of the corners. Probably some result of the CornerPathEffect applied.

What you're wanting to do, if I understand it right, is to have the gradient effectively form a "brush" for the stroke.
This is exactly what I also was trying to achieve recently, but as far as I can tell the API doesn't provide any straightforward means to do it. I have recently created an SVG to Android Canvas converter class and so I am working a lot in Inkscape lately, too. So, when I was looking into it, I wondered if it's even possible to do it in Inkscape. However, even in Inkscape it's a very non-trivial thing to do. After some searching I eventually came across this image of a gradient being applied along the course of a path, together with a download link for a tutorial beneath:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/35772571#N03/3312087295/
What I was personally trying to do at the time was to create some semi-circles where the path is a kind of neon glow as opposed to a flat colour. Talking in terms of both the Android API and the SVG standard, it seems that the only way to to do this is to create a radial gradient that's centred perfectly on the circle, and position a series of color stops in exactly the right places. Pretty tricky to do, and I certainly don't know how you'd do it to a shape like a square.
Sorry that this is a bit of a 'I couldn't do it either' rather than a useful answer! I'll follow this with interest as I'm eager to know a solution for a kind of 'soft brush' effect too.

Can be very complicated to draw a gradient than follow a path.
So I suggest you to use some library already done than make it for you.
One can be Sc-Gauges.
Have some usefully classe than you can use for your goal.
For first include the library:
dependencies {
...
compile 'com.github.paroca72:sc-gauges:3.0.7'
}
After create an image or what you want with a canvas where draw:
<ImageView
android:id="#+id/image"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
/>
Now the code:
// Dimensions
int padding = 24;
Rect drawArea = new Rect(padding, padding, 700 - padding, 500 - padding);
// Get the main layout
ImageView imageContainer = (ImageView) this.findViewById(R.id.image);
assert imageContainer != null;
// Create a bitmap and link a canvas
Bitmap bitmap = Bitmap.createBitmap(
drawArea.width() + padding * 2, drawArea.height() + padding * 2,
Bitmap.Config.ARGB_8888
);
Canvas canvas = new Canvas(bitmap);
canvas.drawColor(Color.parseColor("#f5f5f5"));
// Create the path building a bezier curve from the left-top to the right-bottom angles of
// the drawing area.
Path path = new Path();
path.moveTo(drawArea.left, drawArea.top);
path.quadTo(drawArea.centerX(), drawArea.top, drawArea.centerX(), drawArea.centerY());
path.quadTo(drawArea.centerX(), drawArea.bottom, drawArea.right, drawArea.bottom);
// Feature
ScCopier copier = new ScCopier();
copier.setPath(path);
copier.setColors(Color.RED, Color.GREEN, Color.BLUE);
copier.setWidths(20);
copier.draw(canvas);
// Add the bitmap to the container
imageContainer.setImageBitmap(bitmap);
And this the result:
The first part of the code is just for create a bitmap where draw.
What you interest is the second part where use ScCopier.
Just give the path, the color and the with.
Note than is you are inside a view you can use onDraw for draw directly on the view canvas.
This library can used to create gauge of every kind.
If you want take a look to this site ScComponents have some free and not gauges components.

Android Drawable looks ugly due to scaling

I am writing a View that should show a drawable that seems to "never end".
It should be twice or third the displaysize and move slow through the display.
Therefore I studied some samplecode by Google and found the important Lines
public void surfaceChanged(SurfaceHolder holder, int format, int width,
int height) {
canvasWidth = width;
canvasHeight = height;
float sf = backgroundImage.getWidth() / canvasWidth;
backgroundImage = Bitmap.createScaledBitmap(backgroundImage,
(int) (canvasWidth * sf), canvasHeight, true);
}
To rescale the image and than
// decrement the far background
backgroundXPos = backgroundXPos - DELTAMOVE;
// calculate the wrap factor for matching image draw
int newFarX = backgroundImage.getWidth() - (-backgroundXPos);
// if we have scrolled all the way, reset to start
if (newFarX <= 0) {
backgroundXPos = 0;
// only need one draw
canvas.drawBitmap(backgroundImage, backgroundXPos, 0, null);
} else {
// need to draw original and wrap
canvas.drawBitmap(backgroundImage, backgroundXPos, 0, null);
canvas.drawBitmap(backgroundImage, newFarX, 0, null);
}
To draw the moving image. The images is already moving, it's fine.
But, and this is the point of my question, the image looks very ugly. Its original is 960*190 pixels by 240ppi. It should be drawn inside a view with 80dip of height and "fill_parent" width.
It should look same (and good) on all devices. I have tried a lot but I don't know how to make the picture look nice.
Thanks for your help.
Best regards,
Till

Since you're saying that it's a never ending drawable, probably you're writing a game of some sort. If your image is a pixel-art type, then you don't want any scaling; pixel-art-type images cannot be scaled and keep its crisp look (you can try using nearest neighbor interpolation and scaling to an integer multiple of the original, which sometimes might work, but sometimes you will still need manual tweaks). This is the rare case where you actually would need to have different image resource for different screen resolutions.
Otherwise you might want to use a vector image, but if -- as you said -- your original is a high resolution image, then vector image probably won't help much here.
btw, you probably want to show some screenshot. "Looks ugly" is just as helpful as saying my code does not work.

Just a guess, but instead of passing a null paint to your drawBitmap() calls, try making a paint with bitmap filtering disabled:
Paint p = new Paint();
p.setFilterBitmap(false);
canvas.drawBitmap(backgroundImage, backgroundXPos, 0, p);
Hope that helps.