OpenGL Programming Guide

Chapter 8
Drawing Pixels, Bitmaps, Fonts, and Images

Chapter Objectives

After reading this chapter, you'll be able to do the following:

• Position and draw bitmapped data
  
  

• Read pixel data (bitmaps and images) from the framebuffer into processor memory and from memory into the framebuffer
  
  

• Copy pixel data from one buffer to another, or to another location in the same buffer
  
  

• Magnify or reduce an image as it's written to the framebuffer
  
  

• Control pixel-data formatting and perform other transformations as the data is moved to and from the framebuffer

So far, most of the discussion in this guide has concerned the rendering of geometric data - points, lines, and polygons. Two other important classes of data that can be rendered by OpenGL are the following:

• Bitmaps, typically used for characters in fonts
  
  

• Image data, which might have been scanned in or calculated

Both bitmaps and image data take the form of rectangular arrays of pixels. One difference between them is that a bitmap consists of a single bit of information about each pixel, and image data typically includes several pieces of data per pixel (the complete red, green, blue, and alpha color components, for example). Also, bitmaps are like masks in that they're used to overlay another image, but image data simply overwrites or is blended with whatever data might have existed previously.

This chapter describes how to read pixel data (bitmaps and images) from the framebuffer into processor memory (and vice versa), and how to copy pixel data from one buffer to another, or within a single buffer to another position. This chapter contains the following major sections:

• "Bitmaps and Fonts" describes the commands for positioning and drawing bitmapped data. Such data may describe a font.
  
  

• "Images" presents the basic information about reading and copying pixel data. It also explains how to magnify or reduce an image as it's written to the framebuffer.
  
  

• "Storing, Transforming, and Mapping Pixels" covers all the details of how pixel data is stored in memory and how to transform it as it's moved into or out of memory.

In most cases, the necessary pixel operations are simple, so the first two sections might be all you need to read for your application. However, pixel manipulation can be complex - there are many ways to store pixel data in memory, and you can apply any of several transformations to pixels as they're moved to and from the framebuffer. These details are the subject of the third section of this chapter; most likely, you'll want to read this section only when you actually need to make use of the information.

Bitmaps and Fonts
Images
Storing, Transforming, and Mapping Pixels

OpenGL Programming Guide