Java Programming, Notes # 402
- Preface
- Background Information
- Preview
- Discussion and Sample Code
- Run the Program
- Summary
- What’s Next
- Complete Program Listing
Preface
Second in a series
This lesson is the second lesson in a series that will teach you how to
use Java to create special effects with images by directly manipulating the
pixels in the images.
The first lesson in the series was entitled
Processing
Image Pixels using Java, Getting Started. Because this lesson
builds upon that earlier lesson, you will need to understand the code in the
previous lesson before the code in this lesson will make much sense.
Not a lesson on JAI
If you arrived at this lesson while searching for instructions on how to use
the Java Advanced Imaging (JAI) API, you are at the wrong place.
While you are certainly welcome to be
here, that is not the purpose of the lessons in this series. The purpose of
this series is to teach you how to implement many of
the algorithms that are commonly used to create special effects with images by
working directly with the pixels.
A framework or driver program
The previous lesson entitled
Processing
Image Pixels using Java, Getting Started provided and explained a program named
ImgMod02 that makes it easy to:
- Manipulate and modify the pixels that belong to an image
- Display the modified image along with the original image for easy
comparison in a before and after sense (see Figure 1)
The program named ImgMod02 is designed to be used as a framework or driver that controls
the execution of a second program. The second program actually processes the pixels.
By
using ImgMod02 as a driver, you can concentrate on writing and executing
image-processing algorithms without
having to worry about many of the details such as reading image files,
displaying images, etc.
The program that I will explain in this lesson runs under the control of ImgMod02.
You will need to go to the lesson entitled
Processing
Image Pixels using Java, Getting Started and get copies of the program
named ImgMod02 and the interface named ImgIntfc02 in order to run the program that I will provide in this
lesson.
An image-processing program
The earlier lesson entitled
Processing
Image Pixels using Java, Getting Started also provided and explained a very simple
image-processing program. That program was designed to introduce you to the concept of
modifying an image by directly
modifying the pixels that belong to the image. I will provide and explain
a more substantive image-processing program in this lesson.
The image-processing program that I will explain in this lesson
will show you how to create a spotlight that lights up the center of an image
while leaving the outer edges dark.
Future lessons will show you how to create a number of other special effects
by directly modifying the pixels belonging to an image.
Viewing tip
You may find it useful to open another copy of this lesson in a separate
browser window. That will make it easier for you to scroll back and
forth among the different figures and listings while you are reading about
them.
Creating a spotlight in an image
Figure 1 shows an example of the output produced by the program that I will
explain in this lesson. The special effect illustrated by Figure 1 begins with a picture of a
starfish taken in a well-illuminated aquarium and converts it to what looks like a
picture taken by a SCUBA diver deep underwater.
|
Figure 1 Highlighting an area in an image. |
In Figure 1, as in all of the graphic output produced by the driver program
named ImgMod02, the
original image is shown at the top and the modified image is shown at the
bottom.
The image-processing program illustrated by Figure 1 allows the user to
interactively control the degree to which the light is concentrated in the
center of the picture. Depending on user input, the illumination can range from
being concentrated in a very small area in the center of the image to being spread throughout
the image.
Theoretical basis and practical implementation
While discussing the lessons in this series, I will provide some of the theoretical basis for
special-effects algorithms. In addition, I will show you how to implement those algorithms in Java.
Background Information
The previous lesson entitled
Processing
Image Pixels using Java, Getting Started provided a great deal of background
information as to how images are constructed, stored, transported, and rendered in Java
(and in most modern computer systems for that matter).
The lesson introduced and explained the concept of a pixel. In
addition, the lesson provided a brief discussion of image files, and indicated
that the program named ImgMod02 is compatible with gif files,
jpg
files, and possibly some other file formats as well.
The previous lesson also explained that the lessons in this series are not
concerned about file formats. Rather, the lessons are concerned with what
to do with the pixels once they have been extracted from the file.
A three-dimensional array of pixel data as type int
The driver program named ImgMod02:
- Extracts the pixels from an image file
- Converts the pixel data to type int
- Stores the pixel data in a three-dimensional array of type int that is
well suited for processing - Passes the three-dimensional array object’s reference to an
image-processing program - Receives back a reference to a three-dimensional array object containing
modified pixel data - Displays the original image and the modified image in a stacked display
as shown in Figure 1 - Makes it possible for the user to provide new input data to the
image-processing program, invoke the image-processing program again, and
create a new display showing the newly-modified image along with the
original image.
The manner in which that is accomplished was explained in the previous
lesson.
Will concentrate on the three-dimensional array of
type int
This lesson and future lessons in this series will concentrate on writing
image-processing programs that implement a variety of image-processing
algorithms. As a result, these lessons will concentrate on receiving and modifying
the contents of the three-dimensional array containing pixel data as type int. The image-processing programs will receive raw pixel data in the form of a three-dimensional array,
and will return modified pixel data in the form of a three-dimensional array.
A grid of colored pixels
Each three-dimensional array object represents one image consisting of a
grid of colored pixels. The pixels in the grid are arranged in rows
and columns when they are rendered. One of the dimensions of the array represents rows.
A second dimension represents columns. The third dimension represents the color (and transparency) of
the pixels.
A quick review of fundamentals
A pixel in a modern computer image is
represented by four unsigned 8-bit bytes of data. Three of those four bytes
represent the colors red, green, and blue. The fourth byte, often referred
to as the alpha byte, represents transparency.
Mixing the primary colors red, green, and blue
Specific colors are created by mixing different amount of red, green, and
blue. That is to say, when the program needs to cause the color orange to
be displayed on the screen, it mixes together the correct amounts of red, green,
and blue to produce orange.
The amounts of each of the three primary colors that are added are specified by the values stored in the three color
values for the pixel.
The range of a color
Each unsigned eight-bit color byte can contain 256 different values ranging from 0 to 255
inclusive. For example, if the value of the red byte is 0, no red color is added into the mix to produce the overall color for that
pixel. If the value of the red byte is 255, the maximum possible amount of
red is added into the mix. The
amount of red that is added is proportional to the value of the red byte in the range
from 0 to 255. The
same is true for blue and green as well.
Black and white pixels
If all three of the color pixels have a value of 0, the overall color of that pixel
is black. If all three of the color pixels have a value of 255, the
overall color
of that pixel is white. If all three of the pixels have the same value
somewhere between 0 and 255, the overall color of that pixel is some shade of gray.
The bottom line on color
The overall color of each individual pixel is
determined by the values stored in the three color bytes for that pixel.
If you change any of those values, you will change the overall color of the pixel
accordingly.
What about transparency?
The issue of transparency is somewhat more difficult to explain. I explained this
concept using an analogy in the previous lesson entitled
Processing
Image Pixels using Java, Getting Started. I won’t
repeat that analogy here. Rather, I will simply refer you back to the
earlier lesson.
The bottom line on transparency is as follows.
The alpha byte also has 256 possible values ranging from 0 to 255. If the
value is zero, the pixel is completely transparent regardless of the values of
the three color bytes.
If the value is 255, the pixel is completely opaque with
the color of the pixel being determined exclusively by the values stored in the
three color bytes.
If the value of the alpha byte is somewhere between 0
and 255, the pixel is partially transparent. The overall color of that
pixel depends on the color that was previously established for that location
plus the individual values of the three color bytes.
Supplementary material
I recommend that you also study the other lessons in my extensive collection
of online Java tutorials. You will find those lessons published at
Gamelan.com. However,
as of the date of this writing, Gamelan doesn’t maintain a consolidated index
of my Java tutorial lessons, and sometimes they are difficult to locate there.
You will find a consolidated index at www.DickBaldwin.com.
Preview
Two programs and one interface
The program that I will discuss in this lesson actually involves
two programs and one interface. One of the programs is the program named
ImgMod02 that I provided and explained in the previous lesson entitled
Processing
Image Pixels using Java, Getting Started. The interface is named ImgIntfc02. I also provided and
explained that interface in the previous lesson. I will refer you
back to that lesson for access to that material.
In this lesson, I will present and explain a new Java program named
ImgMod11. This program, when run under control of the program named
ImgMod02, will produce an output similar to the pair of images shown in
Figure 1.
(The results will be different if you use a different image
file or provide a different user input value.)
The processImg method
The program named ImgMod11, (and all
image-processing programs that are capable of being driven by ImgMod02),
must implement the interface named ImgIntfc02. That interface
declares a single method named processImg, which must be defined by all
implementing classes.
When the user runs the program named ImgMod02, that program
instantiates an object of the image-processing program class and invokes the
processImg method on that object.
A three-dimensional array containing the pixel data
for the image is passed to the method. The processImg method returns a
three-dimensional array containing the pixel data for a modified version of the
original image.
A before and after display
When the processImg method returns, the driver program causes the
original image and the modified image to be displayed in a frame
with the original image above the modified image (see Figures 1 for
an example of the display format).
Usage information for ImgMod02 and ImgMod11
To use the program named ImgMod02 to drive the program named ImgMod11, enter the following at the
command line:
java ImgMod02 ImgMod11 ImagePathAndFileName
Image file must be provided by the user
The user must provide the image file. It can be a gif file or a
jpg file.
Other file types may also be compatible as well. The image file doesn’t
have to be in the current directory if a path to the file is specified on the
command line. If the program is unable to load the image file within ten
seconds, it will abort with an error message.
(You should be able to right-click on the image
in Figure 2 and download and save the image locally. Then you should be able to replicate the output produced in
Figure 1.)
Image display format
When the program is started, the original image and the processed image are
displayed in a frame with the original image above the processed image.
A
Replot button appears at the bottom of the frame. If the user clicks the
Replot button, the processImg method is rerun, the image is
reprocessed, and the new version of the processed image replaces the old version
in the display.
Input to the image-processing program
The image-processing program named ImgMod11 provides a GUI for data input.
This makes it possible for the user to modify the behavior of the
image-processing method each time it is run.
Discussion and Sample
Code
The processImg method
As mentioned earlier, the image-processing program must implement the interface named
ImgIntfc02. A listing of that interface was provided in the previous
lesson entitled
Processing
Image Pixels using Java, Getting Started. That interface declares a single method with the following
signature:
int[][][] processImg(int[][][] threeDPix,
int imgRows,
int imgCols);
The first parameter is a reference to an incoming three-dimensional array of pixel data stored as
type int. The second and third parameters specify the number of rows
and columns of pixels in the image.
It’s best to make and modify a copy
The image-processing class must define the method named processImg
with the signature given above. The processImg method receives a
three-dimensional array containing pixel data for the original image.
Normally the method should make a copy of the incoming
array and modify the copy rather than modifying the original. Then the
method should return a reference to the modified copy of the three-dimensional pixel array.
Be careful of the range of values
The processImg method is free to modify
the values of the pixels in any manner whatsoever before returning the
modified array. Note however that native pixel data consists of four
unsigned bytes, whereas the processImg method works with pixel
values of the signed type int.
If the modification of the pixel data produces negative
values or positive value greater than 255, this should be dealt with before
returning the modified pixel data. Otherwise, the returned values will
simply be truncated to eight bits before display, and the result of displaying
those truncated bits may not be as expected.
(It is possible, however, to create some interesting visual effects by
taking advantage of such truncation. You might want to play around
with this.)
Dealing with out-of-range values
There are at least two ways to deal with out-of-range values. One way is to
simply clip all negative values at zero and to clip all values greater than 255
at 255.
The other way is to map the values from the most negative to the most
positive into the range from 0 to 255. With this approach, all
the pixel values would be modified the same way such that the minimum value
contained in all the pixel color values would be 0 and the maximum value would
be 255.
There are many possible variations on the latter approach. There is no one approach that is
the right approach for all situations.
Instantiate an image-processing object
The program named ImgMod02 reaches a point where it has captured the
pixel data from the original image in a three-dimensional array of type int
suitable for processing. Then it invokes the newInstance method of the
class named Class, as shown in Listing 1, to instantiate an object of the
image-processing class.
(At this point, the name of the image-processing class is stored as a
String in the variable named theProcessingClass. The
String was either received as a command-line parameter, or was specified
as a default value.)
try{
imageProcessingObject =
(ImgIntfc02)Class.forName(
theProcessingClass).newInstance();
Listing 1
|
The use of the class named Class
If you are unfamiliar with this approach to the instantiation of objects, you
can learn about it in the earlier lesson entitled
More on Inheritance.
You will also find examples of the use of this approach in the lesson entitled
The Essence
of OOP using Java, Array Objects, Part 3, as well as in numerous other
lessons on my website.
As explained in the previous lesson entitled
Processing
Image Pixels using Java, Getting Started, this approach does not support the use of parameterized
constructors.
Fire an ActionEvent
At this point, the program named ImgMod02:
- Has the pixel data in the correct format
- Has an
image-processing object that will process those pixels and will return an array
containing modified pixel values
All that the ImgMod02 program needs to do is to invoke the
processImg method on the image-processing object passing the pixel data and
other appropriate information as parameters.
The ImgMod02 program executes the statement in Listing 2 to invoke the
processImg method on the image-processing object.
Toolkit.getDefaultToolkit().
getSystemEventQueue().postEvent(
new ActionEvent(
replotButton,
ActionEvent.ACTION_PERFORMED,
"Replot"));
Listing 2
|
Post a counterfeit ActionEvent to the system event
queue
Listing 2 posts a counterfeit ActionEvent to the system event queue
and attributes the event to the Replot button. The result is
exactly the same as if the user had clicked the Replot button shown in
Figure 1.
In
either case, the actionPerformed method is invoked on an
ActionListener object that is registered on the Replot button.
The code in the actionPerformed method invokes the processImg
method on the image-processing object.
(If you are unfamiliar with the use of the system event queue, you can
learn about it in the earlier lesson entitled
Posting Synthetic
Events to the System Event Queue.)
The three-dimensional array of pixel data is passed to the processImg
method. The processImg method returns a three-dimensional array of
modified pixel data, which is displayed as an image below the original image as
shown in Figure 1.
The program named ImgMod11
This program is designed to be driven by the program named ImgMod02.
Enter the following on the command line to run this program:
java ImgMod02 ImgMod11 ImagePathAndFileName
Purpose of the program
This program illustrates control of the light intensity in the image. The effect is as though a spotlight is shining on
the object in the center of the image. The center of the image is
illuminated while
the outer edges of the image are dark, as shown in Figure 1.
User input
A small GUI with a text field allows the user to control the radius of the illuminated area. At
startup, the text field contains a default value of 0. To change the radius of the
illuminated area,
type a positive integer value into the text field and press the Replot button at the
bottom of the image. The larger the integer value, the smaller will be the
radius of the illuminated area.
(The bottom image in Figure 1 resulted from a user input value of 1 in
the text field.)
For values of around 10 and above, the illuminated area
will be reduced to approximately the size of a single pixel.
Transparent areas
Note that the
pixel modification in this program has no impact on transparent pixels. If you
don’t see what you expect to see when you run the program, it may be because your image contains large
transparent areas.
The program was tested using J2SE SDK 1.4.2 and WinXP.
Will discuss in fragments
I will break the program down into fragments for discussion. A
complete listing of the program is provided in Listing 14 near the end of the
lesson.
The class definition begins in Listing 3. Note that this class
implements ImgIntfc02. This is a requirement to make this class
compatible with the driver program named ImgMod02.
class ImgMod11 extends Frame
implements ImgIntfc02{
int loops;//User input to control lighting
String inputData;//Obtained via the TextField
TextField input;//User input field
ImgMod11(){//constructor
//Create a user input frame.
setLayout(new FlowLayout());
Label instructions = new Label(
"Type an int and replot.");
add(instructions);
input = new TextField("0",5);
add(input);
setTitle("Copyright 2004, Baldwin");
setBounds(400,0,200,100);
setVisible(true);
}//end constructor
Listing 3
|
The class also extends Frame. This is because an object of the
class serves as a GUI containing a TextField that allows for user
input.
Listing 3 shows three instance variables and the constructor. The
instance variables will be discussed later in conjunction with the discussion of
the code that uses them.
The constructor
The constructor displays a small Frame on the screen
with a single TextField object. The purpose of the text field is to allow
the user to enter a value that controls the radius of the illuminated area.
In operation, the user types a value into the text field and then clicks the
Replot button on the main image display frame.
(The user is not
required to press the Enter key after typing the new value, but it
doesn’t do any harm to do so.)
The code in Listing 3 is straightforward and shouldn’t require further
explanation.
The processImg method
The class defines the processImg method that is declared in the
interface named ImgIntfc02.
The processImg method receives a three-dimensional array
containing alpha, red, green, and blue pixel values for an image. The
values are received as type int (not type byte).
The processImg method begins in Listing 4.
public int[][][] processImg(
int[][][] threeDPix,
int imgRows,
int imgCols){
//Make a working copy of the 3D array to
// avoid making permanent changes to the
// image data.
int[][][] temp3D =
new int[imgRows][imgCols][4];
for(int row = 0;row < imgRows;row++){
for(int col = 0;col < imgCols;col++){
temp3D[row][col][0] =
threeDPix[row][col][0];
temp3D[row][col][1] =
threeDPix[row][col][1];
temp3D[row][col][2] =
threeDPix[row][col][2];
temp3D[row][col][3] =
threeDPix[row][col][3];
}//end inner loop
}//end outer loop
System.out.println("Width = " + imgCols);
System.out.println("Height = " + imgRows);
Listing 4
|
A working copy of the array
The processImg method begins by making a working copy of the incoming
three-dimensional array in order to avoid having to make changes to the original
array of pixel data.
Then the method displays the width and height of the image in pixels as
information to the user.
Get user input
Listing 5 gets the String value currently in the TextField and
converts that String to a value of type int.
loops = Integer.parseInt(input.getText());
Listing 5
|
The first time that the processImg method is called, it get the value
0 that was put into the TextField through initialization when the
TextField object was instantiated. After that, the value retrieved
will be the value typed into the TextField by the user.
Note that there is no requirement for the user to press the Enter key
after typing a new value into the TextField. However, pressing the
Enter key won’t do any harm.
Also note that the code in Listing 5 will throw an exception if the contents
of the TextField cannot be converted to a value of type int.
Calculate the center point
The code in Listing 6 calculates the coordinate value of the pixel at the center
of the image.
int centerWidth = imgCols/2;
int centerHeight = imgRows/2;
Listing 6
|
This is the point that will be the center of the illuminated area in the
modified image.
Get the distance from a corner
Listing 7 calculates the distance from a corner to the center pixel in the
image. This will be used as a base for calculating the relative distance
from any pixel to the center.
double maxDistance = Math.sqrt(
centerWidth*centerWidth +
centerHeight*centerHeight);
Listing 7
|
The distance from the corner is calculated by calculating the length of the
hypotenuse of a right triangle formed by the distances from the center to the
side and to the top of the image.
Control pixel intensity
The effect that you see in Figure 1 is achieved by decreasing the intensity of every pixel
in the image except for the pixel at the center.
For the initial value of 0 in the TextField, the intensity of each pixel decreases
linearly with the distance of the pixel from the center.
When the user
types a non-zero positive integer value into the TextField and presses the
Replot button, the intensity of each pixel decreases more rapidly with the
distance of the pixel from the center.
(For example, for a value
of 1 in the TextField, the intensity decreases as the square of the
distance of the pixel from the center.)
A pair of nested for loops
Listing 8 shows the beginning of a pair of nested for loops that are
used to modify the intensity of each pixel on the basis of the
location of the pixel in the image.
for(int row = 0;row < imgRows;row++){
for(int col = 0;col < imgCols;col++){
double horiz = centerWidth - col;
double vert = centerHeight - row;
Listing 8
|
Get components of displacement vector
Listing 8 also contains the code to calculate the horizontal and vertical
components of a displacement vector that extends from a pixel to the center
of the image.
Get length of displacement vector
Listing 9 calculates the absolute value of the length of the displacement
vector as the length of the hypotenuse of a right triangle formed by the
horizontal and vertical components of the displacement vector.
double distance = Math.sqrt(horiz*horiz
+ vert*vert);
Listing 9
|
The absolute value of the displacement vector is the scalar distance from the
pixel to the center of the image.
Calculate the scale factor
Listing 10 shows the beginning of an if statement that is executed
only if the distance to the pixel from the center is greater than zero.
(The body of the if statement will be executed for all
pixels other than the single pixel at the center of the image.
Therefore, the intensity of the center pixel should never change, no matter
what positive value is entered into the TextField, provided that
value can be converted to a positive int value.)
if((int)distance > 0){
double scale =
1.0 - distance/maxDistance;
Listing 10
|
Listing 10 calculates a scale factor that is used later to scale each of the
three color values belonging to an individual pixel.
For small distances,
the scale factor is very close to unity. For a distance equal to the
distance from a corner to the center, the scale factor is zero. Thus, the
intensity of the pixels near the center will be nearly as great as the intensity
of the same pixels in the original image. The intensity of pixels in the
corners will be reduced to zero.
Modify the scale factor based on user input
The for loop in Listing 11 modifies the scale factor based on the
contents of the TextField.
for(int cnt = 0;cnt < loops;cnt++){
scale = scale*scale;
}//end for loop
Listing 11
|
For the initial default value of 0 in the TextField, the
body of the for loop is not executed. Thus, the value of the
scale factor isn’t modified for this case. The scale factor decreases
linearly with the distance of the pixel from the center.
For a value of 1 in the TextField, the value of the scale factor
decreases as the square of the distance of the pixel from the center. For
a value of 2, the scale factor decreases as the cube of the distance, etc.
Apply the scale factor to each pixel
Still inside the pair of nested for loops that began in Listing 8, the
code in Listing 12 multiplies the red, green, and blue values of the pixel by
the scale factor.
(No change is made to the alpha or transparency value.)
temp3D[row][col][1] =
(int)(scale * temp3D[row][col][1]);
temp3D[row][col][2] =
(int)(scale * temp3D[row][col][2]);
temp3D[row][col][3] =
(int)(scale * temp3D[row][col][3]);
Listing 12
|
As discussed earlier, the color values of the pixels at the corners are
reduced to zero. When all three pixels have a value of zero, the overall
color of the pixel
will be black. Similarly, each of the color values for a pixel between
the corners and the center are reduced by the same scale factor. This
causes the portion of the image attributable to those pixels to appear to be more poorly illuminated.
Return modified pixel data
Listing 13 signals the end of the if statement that began in Listing
10. Listing 13 also signals the end of the nested for loops that
began in Listing 8.
Listing 13 returns a reference to the three-dimensional array object that
contains the modified pixel data. This is the data that will be displayed
by the program named ImgMod02.
}//end if
}//end for loop on col
}//end for loop on row
return temp3D;
}//end processImg
}//end class ImgMod11
Listing 13
|
Listing 13 also signals the end of the ImgMod11 class and the end of
the program.
That’s all there is to it
Once you have the program named ImgMod02 to handle all
of the hard work, all that’s required to create and test a new image-processing
algorithm is to define a new class that:
- Makes a copy of an incoming three-dimensional array of pixel data
representing an image. - Modifies the pixel values in the copy according to some algorithm of your
own design. - Returns a reference to the modified three-dimensional array of pixel
data for display.
Some cautions
A couple of cautions are in order. One caution is to beware of
transparency. You should make certain
that you don’t end up with a modified array in which all the alpha values are
zero.
(Recall that the elements in a new array of type int are
automatically initialized to zero, so this is an easy mistake to make.)
If you do, then your modified image will be completely transparent
regardless of what you do to the color values for the pixels. As a
result, the display will simply show the yellow background color for the frame.
Value ranges
Another caution has to do with the range of alpha and color values associated
with the pixels. None of the values should be negative, and none of the
values should exceed +255. If your values don’t comply with these limits, the
display will probably not be what you expect to see.
Prior to display, each of the
four pixel values of type int will be converted to eight bits by simply discarding all but
the least significant eight bits in each int element in the
three-dimensional array. This is not the same as clipping the
values at 0 and 255, and will probably lead to unexpected results.
Run the Program
I encourage you to copy, compile, and run the program provided in this lesson.
Experiment with it, making changes and observing the results of your changes.
Variable transparency
If you were to modify the alpha value along with the color values, the pixels
would become more transparent as they become darker. This produces an
interesting effect.
Investigation by individual color
The code in Listing 14 contains some statements (disabled by comments)
that you can use to turn colors off and on. This allows you to
see the effect of the algorithm on any combination of the three colors.
Thus, you can see the impact of applying the algorithm to each individual color
among red, green, and blue.
Moving the center of the illuminated area
Another interesting programming exercise would be to allow the user to enter
two values in the GUI with one value controlling the radius of the illuminated
area, and the other value controlling the center of the illuminated area.
An even more interesting exercise would be to make it possible for the user
to control the center of the illuminated area by moving the mouse around in the
top image in Figure 1. There are at least two ways to do this.
The easier of the two ways would be to cause the center of the illuminated
area to move to a new location each time the user clicks on that location in the
top image.
A more difficult approach would be to cause the center to the illuminated
area to track the location of the mouse pointer in the top image without a
requirement for the user to press a mouse button.
(This would probably require more raw compute power than my old computer
can muster, particularly for a large image.)
Have fun and learn
Above all, have fun and learn as much as you can about modifying image pixels
using Java.
A test image
You should be able to right-click on the image in Figure 2 and download and
save it locally. Then you should be able to
replicate the output produced in Figure 1.
Figure 2 Raw image for Figure 1
Summary
I showed you how to control the brightness of pixels in an image. As an
example, I showed you how to create a spotlight that lights up the center of an
image while leaving the outer edges dark.
I will have more to say about controlling brightness in the next lesson in
this series where I explain how to control both brightness and contrast.
What’s Next?
Future lessons will show you how to write image-processing programs that
implement many common special effects as well as a few that aren’t so common.
This will include programs to do the following:
- Control contrast and brightness by modifying the distribution of the
color values. - Blur all or part of an image.
- Deal with the effects of noise in an image.
- Sharpen all or part of an image.
- Perform edge detection on an image.
- Apply color filtering to an image.
- Apply color inversion to an image.
- Morph one image into another image.
- Rotate an image.
- Change the size of an image.
- Other special effects that I may dream up or discover while doing the
background research for the lessons in this series.
Complete Program Listing
A complete listing of the program discussed in this lesson is provided in
Listing 14.
A disclaimer
The programs that I will provide and explain in this series of lessons are
not intended to be used for high-volume production work. Numerous
integrated image-processing programs are available for that purpose. In
addition, the Java Advanced Imaging API (JAI) has a number of special effects built in if you prefer to write
your own production image-processing programs using Java.
The programs that I will provide in this series are intended to
make it easier for you to develop and experiment with image-processing algorithms and
to gain a better understanding of how they work, and why they do what they do.
/*File ImgMod11.java.java
Copyright 2004, R.G.Baldwin
This program is designed to be driven by the
program named ImgMod02.java.
Enter the following on the command line to run
this program:
java ImgMod02 ImgMod11 FileName
This program illustrates an image special effect
involving the control of light intensity in the
image. The effect is as though a spotlight is
shining on the object in the center of the image.
The center of the image is well lit while the
outer edges of the image are dark.
A small GUI with a text field is provided to
allow the user to control the radius of the
lighted area. At startup, the text field
contains a 0. To change the radius of the
lighted area, type an integer value into the
text field and press the Replot button at the
bottom of the image. The larger the integer
value, the smaller will be the radius of the
lighted area. For values of around 10 and
above, the lighted area will be reduced to
approximately the size of a single pixel.
Note that the pixel modification in this program
has no impact on transparent pixels. If you
don't see what you expect, it may be because your
image contains large transparent areas.
Tested using SDK 1.4.2 and WinXP
************************************************/
import java.awt.*;
class ImgMod11 extends Frame
implements ImgIntfc02{
int loops;//User input to control lighting
String inputData;//Obtained via the TextField
TextField input;//User input field
ImgMod11(){//constructor
//Create a user input frame.
setLayout(new FlowLayout());
Label instructions = new Label(
"Type an int and replot.");
add(instructions);
input = new TextField("0",5);
add(input);
setTitle("Copyright 2004, Baldwin");
setBounds(400,0,200,100);
setVisible(true);
}//end constructor
//-------------------------------------------//
//This method must be defined to implement
// the interface named ImgIntfc02.
public int[][][] processImg(
int[][][] threeDPix,
int imgRows,
int imgCols){
//Make a working copy of the 3D array to
// avoid making permanent changes to the
// image data.
int[][][] temp3D =
new int[imgRows][imgCols][4];
for(int row = 0;row < imgRows;row++){
for(int col = 0;col < imgCols;col++){
temp3D[row][col][0] =
threeDPix[row][col][0];
temp3D[row][col][1] =
threeDPix[row][col][1];
temp3D[row][col][2] =
threeDPix[row][col][2];
temp3D[row][col][3] =
threeDPix[row][col][3];
}//end inner loop
}//end outer loop
System.out.println("Width = " + imgCols);
System.out.println("Height = " + imgRows);
//Get the user input from the text field.
// First time through, the input value is the
// value set into the text field when it was
// instantiated. After that, the input value
// is the value typed by the user.
loops = Integer.parseInt(input.getText());
//Calculate the center point of the image
int centerWidth = imgCols/2;
int centerHeight = imgRows/2;
//Calculate the distance from a corner to the
// center point of the image. This will be
// used as a base for calculating the
// relative distance from any pixel to the
// center.
double maxDistance = Math.sqrt(
centerWidth*centerWidth +
centerHeight*centerHeight);
//Decrease the intensity of every pixel
// except the one in the center of the image.
// Initially the intensity will decrease
// linearly with the distance of a pixel from
// the center pixel. The user can modify
// this through input at the text field
// later.
//Use a nested loop to operate on each pixel.
for(int row = 0;row < imgRows;row++){
for(int col = 0;col < imgCols;col++){
//Get the horizontal and vertical
// distances from the center as the two
// sides of a right triangle.
double horiz = centerWidth - col;
double vert = centerHeight - row;
//Get the distance to the center as the
// hypotenuse of a right triangle.
double distance = Math.sqrt(horiz*horiz
+ vert*vert);
if((int)distance > 0){
//Calculate the scale factor to apply
// to the three color values for the
// pixel in order to control the
// intensity.
double scale =
1.0 - distance/maxDistance;
//Adjust the light intensity based on
// user input. For a user input value
// of 0 (the default at startup), the
// intensity decreases linearly with
// the distance from the center. For a
// user input value of 1, the intensity
// decreases as the square of the
// distance. For an input value of 2,
// the intensity decreases as the cube
// of the distance, etc.
for(int cnt = 0;cnt < loops;cnt++){
scale = scale*scale;
}//end for loop
//Multiply each of the three color
// values by the scale factor. Don't
// make any changes to the alpha value.
temp3D[row][col][1] =
(int)(scale * temp3D[row][col][1]);
temp3D[row][col][2] =
(int)(scale * temp3D[row][col][2]);
temp3D[row][col][3] =
(int)(scale * temp3D[row][col][3]);
/*
//As an interesting experiment, you can
// filter out two colors by enabling
// these two statements and setting the
// value of the third dimension to 1,
// 2, or 3. As written here, green and
// blue will be eliminated leaving only
// red.
temp3D[row][col][2] = 0;
temp3D[row][col][3] = 0;
*/
}//end if
}//end for loop on col
}//end for loop on row
return temp3D;
}//end processImg
//-------------------------------------------//
}//end class ImgMod11
Listing 14
|
Copyright 2004, Richard G. Baldwin. Reproduction in whole or in
part in any form or medium without express written permission from Richard
Baldwin is prohibited.
About the author
Richard Baldwin
is a college professor (at Austin Community College in Austin, TX) and
private consultant whose primary focus is a combination of Java, C#, and
XML. In addition to the many platform and/or language independent benefits
of Java and C# applications, he believes that a combination of Java, C#,
and XML will become the primary driving force in the delivery of structured
information on the Web.
Richard has participated in numerous consulting projects, and he frequently
provides onsite training at the high-tech companies located in and around
Austin, Texas. He is the author of Baldwin’s Programming Tutorials,
which has gained a worldwide following among experienced and aspiring programmers.
He has also published articles in JavaPro magazine.
In addition to his programming expertise, Richard has many years of
practical experience in Digital Signal Processing (DSP). His first
job after he earned his Bachelor’s degree was doing DSP in the Seismic Research
Department of Texas Instruments. (TI is still a world leader in DSP.)
In the following years, he applied his programming and DSP expertise to other
interesting areas including sonar and underwater acoustics.
Richard holds an MSEE degree from Southern Methodist University and
has many years of experience in the application of computer technology
to real-world problems.
-end-
