Summary

The Image class represents a generic image. Its two child classes, Bitmap and Metafile, represent specific file types.

The Bitmap class lets you manipulate pixel-oriented image data. Its GetPixel and SetPixel methods let you get and set a pixel’s color. Those methods are fast enough for most applications, but when performance is really critical, you can use unsafe methods to access the pixel data more directly and manipulate pixels much faster. When you are finished, you can use the Bitmap object’s Save method to save the result in many different kinds of graphics files including BMP, EMF, EXIF, GUID, Icon, JPEG, MemoryBmp, PNG, TIFF, and WMF.

The Metafile class represents a collection of drawing commands. Metafiles are reasonably standardized, so you can use them to import and export graphic data between your application and external programs (such as Microsoft Word and CorelDRAW).

Chapters 20 through 23 explain how to draw shapes, text, and images on the screen. Chapter 24 shows how to generate similar output on a printer. The basic approach you use for printing shapes, text, and images is the same as it is for displaying those objects on the screen, but when and where you generate printed output requires some new techniques.