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The purpose of this project
The Graphics Device Interface (or GDI) in Microsoft Windows is a base library for all platform graphics calls. Rhino supports a newer version of these libraries called GDI+ which enable the developer to use advanced drawing techniques such as anti-aliasing, transparancies, gradients and cleartype fonts. The essentials of GDI+ are now available for RhinoScripters through the use of this plugin. This project is aimed at those scripters who need to either analyze or create graphic data through automated processes. It is not a graphic editor and it is not for you if you're unfamiliar with RhinoScript.
For further questions slash requests, please:
Downloads
Nested Object definitions
RhPicture contains a number of Object definitions which are available only through RhPicture. These objects all have their own Wiki pages with information:
Namespace Description
Since this project comes with autocompletion definitions for the Monkey Script editor, I will not discuss every function in this plugin. Rather, I will give you a small breakdown on how the thing fits together from a logical point of view. For a more in depth reference to function parameters, see the other pages of this Wiki group.
Before you can use the tools exposed in this plugin, you first need to create an instance of it in your script. There's no limit to the amount of instances you can make, but be aware that every one potentially stores a large bitmap in the memory of your computer. In order to create a new instance of the RhPicture plugin, do the following:
Dim RhPicture : Set RhPicture = Rhino.GetPluginObject("RhPicture")
Note that autocompletion in Monkey only works if you name this variable "RhPicture". Once the subroutine completes the instance will be destroyed and the memory will be released. It is usually considered good practise to specifically release object instances once you no longer need them, thus:
Dim RhPicture : Set RhPicture = Rhino.GetPluginObject("RhPicture")
'Do whatever it is you do in here...
Set RhPicture = Nothing
File IO Methods
Once you have your RhPicture instance, you can call its methods. By default, any new instance does not contain an image yet. You'll either have to load or create one before you can start drawing. There are several ways in which to load an image into an RhPicture instance:
RhPicture.LoadImage() As Boolean
RhPicture.LoadImage(ImageFileName As String) As Boolean
RhPicture.CreateImage(Width As Integer, Height As Integer) As Boolean
RhPicture.CreateImage(Width As Integer, Height As Integer, Background As GDIColor) As Boolean
RhPicture.LoadImageFromViewport(Optional ByVal ViewportName As String, _
Optional ByVal Width As Integer, _
Optional ByVal Height As Integer, _
Optional ByVal IncludeTitle As Boolean = True) As Boolean
The RhPicture plugin can load and save images in the following file formats:
| File format | Extensions | Description |
| Bitmap | *.bmp | The typical windows image format. Does not work well with Alpha channels and has no compression. |
| Memory Bitmap | *.rle | A geeky format you're unlikely to encounter. |
| JPEG | *.jpg;*.jpeg | Image format designed for photography. Does not contain Alpha channel information but has good lossy compression. |
| Gif | *.gif | Image format designed for web viewing. Supports only paletted colours and single bit Alpha channels. RhPicture does not support animated gifs. |
| PNG | *.png | Image format designed to get around the limitations of GIF images. Supports full Alpha channels and lossless compression. The format of choice for todays discriminating programmer. |
| EXIF | *.exif | A flavour of JPEG used in digital cameras that stores camera information such as shutter speed and exposure. |
| TIFF | *.tif'*.tiff | An extremely versatile format with lots of options. RhPlugin does not support multi-layered tiffs. |
| Icons | *.ico | Windows icon format. Poorly supported in RhPicture. |
All image data inside RhPicture instances is stored as 32bppARGB (32 bits-per-pixel Alpha Red Green Blue) meaning that JPEG, GIF and some TIFF and PNG compression options are lost when they are loaded. You can at all times display or save the image contained in an RhPicture instance using:
RhPicture.SaveImage() As Boolean RhPicture.SaveImage(ImageFileName As String) As Boolean RhPicture.ShowImage() As Boolean RhPicture.ShowImage(ViewerTitle As String, Optional Stretch As Boolean = False) As Boolean
 |
| Image viewer screenshot. |
| LMB is used for panning (panning beyond the viewer area is not allowed) |
| MMB-Scroll is used for zooming (zooming is restricted to 10%~5000% domain). |
Analysis Methods
Once you have your image (be it loaded or created), you can start to query its properties. There are both global and local properties:
| Global Properties | |
| Name | Description |
| IsImage() | Returns TRUE if an image is currently loaded, FALSE if there is no image available. |
| Width() | The width of the loaded image in pixels or NULL on error. |
| Height() | The height of the loaded image in pixels or NULL on error. |
| IsOnBitmap(x, y) | Returns TRUE if the specified coordinate (in pixels) is on the bitmap surface. |
| AddPointCloud(pt, w, h) | Adds a pointcloud with a single point for every pixel in the image. The points are assigned the same colour as the source pixel, minus the alpha information. |
| Local Properties | |
| Name | Description |
| GetPixel(x, y) | Returns the color of the pixel at (x,y) or NULL if the coordinates are off the image. |
| SetPixel(x, y, color) | Sets the color of the pixel at (x,y). |
| Red(x, y) | Returns the amount of red (0~255) of the pixel at (x,y) or NULL on error. |
| Green(x, y) | Returns the amount of green (0~255) of the pixel at (x,y) or NULL on error. |
| Blue(x, y) | Returns the amount of blue (0~255) of the pixel at (x,y) or NULL on error. |
| Alpha(x, y) | Returns the amount of alpha transparancy (0~255) of the pixel at (x,y) or NULL on error. |
| Hue(x, y) | Returns the hue value (0.0~360.0) of the pixel at (x,y) or NULL on error. |
| Saturation(x, y) | Returns the colour saturation (0.0~1.0) of the pixel at (x,y) or NULL on error. |
| Luminance(x, y) | Returns the colour luminance (0.0~1.0) of the pixel at (x,y) or NULL on error. |
Drawing methods
There are many methods available for drawing geometry. See this wiki page for further details:
Filter methods
There are many methods available for applying effects and filters to RhPicture images. See this wiki page for further details: