unsigned char* buffer (FreeType2 Bitmap) to System::Drawing::Bitmap.

Question

Hi,

I'm trying to convert a FreeType2 bitmap to a System::Drawing::Bitmap in C++/CLI. FT_Bitmap has a unsigned char* buffer that contains the data to write.

I believe that the size of byte[] is incorrect and that my data is truncated.

Any hints/tips/ideas on what is going on here would be greatly appreciated. Links to articles explaining byte layout and pixel formats etc. would be helpful.

Thanks!!

C++/CLI code.

  FT_Bitmap *bitmap = &face->glyph->bitmap;

  int width = (face->bitmap->metrics.width / 64);
  int height = (face->bitmap->metrics.height / 64);

  // must be aligned on a 32 bit boundary or 4 bytes
  int depth = 8;
  int stride = ((width * depth + 31) & ~31) >> 3;
  int bytes = (int)(stride * height);

  // as *.bmp
  array<Byte>^ values = gcnew array<Byte>(bytes);  
  Marshal::Copy((IntPtr)glyph->buffer, values, 0, bytes);

  Bitmap^ systemBitmap = gcnew Bitmap(width, height, PixelFormat::Format24bppRgb);

  // create bitmap data, lock pixels to be written.
  BitmapData^ bitmapData = systemBitmap->LockBits(Rectangle(0, 0, width, height), ImageLockMode::WriteOnly, bitmap->PixelFormat);
  Marshal::Copy(values, 0, bitmapData->Scan0, bytes);
  systemBitmap->UnlockBits(bitmapData);

  systemBitmap->Save("Test.bmp");

Update. Changed PixelFormat to 8bppIndexed.

  FT_Bitmap *bitmap = &face->glyph->bitmap; 

  // stride must be aligned on a 32 bit boundary or 4 bytes
  int depth = 8;
  int stride = ((width * depth + 31) & ~31) >> 3;
  int bytes = (int)(stride * height);

  target = gcnew Bitmap(width, height, PixelFormat::Format8bppIndexed);

  // create bitmap data, lock pixels to be written.
  BitmapData^ bitmapData = target->LockBits(Rectangle(0, 0, width, height), ImageLockMode::WriteOnly, target->PixelFormat);  

  array<Byte>^ values = gcnew array<Byte>(bytes);  
  Marshal::Copy((IntPtr)bitmap->buffer, values, 0, bytes);
  Marshal::Copy(values, 0, bitmapData->Scan0, bytes);

  target->UnlockBits(bitmapData);

Answer 1

Your "depth" value doesn't match the PixelFormat of the Bitmap. It needs to be 24 to match Format24bppRgb. The PF for the bitmap needs to match the PF and stride of the FT_Bitmap as well, I don't see you take care of that.

Answer 2

Ah ha. Worked it out.

FT_Bitmap is an 8bit image, so the correct PixelFormat was 8bppIndexed, which resulted this output.

System::Drawing::Bitmap needs to be aligned on a 32 bit boundary.

I was calculating the stride but was not padding it when writing the bitmap. Copied the FT_Bitmap buffer to a byte[] and then wrote that to a MemoryStream, adding the necessary padding.

  int stride = ((width * pixelDepth + 31) & ~31) >> 3;
  int padding = stride - (((width * pixelDepth) + 7) / 8);

  array<Byte>^ pad = gcnew array<Byte>(padding);
  array<Byte>^ buffer = gcnew array<Byte>(size);  
  Marshal::Copy((IntPtr)source->buffer, buffer, 0, size);

  MemoryStream^ ms = gcnew MemoryStream();

  for (int i = 0; i < height; ++i)
  {
    ms->Write(buffer, i * width, width);
    ms->Write(pad, 0, padding);    
  }

Pinned the memory so the GC would leave it alone.

  // pin memory and create bitmap
  GCHandle handle = GCHandle::Alloc(ms->ToArray(), GCHandleType::Pinned);
  target = gcnew Bitmap(width, height, stride, PixelFormat::Format8bppIndexed, handle.AddrOfPinnedObject());   
  ms->Close();

As there is no Format8bppIndexed Grey the image was still not correct.

Then changed the bitmap palette to grey scale 256.

  // 256-level greyscale palette
  ColorPalette^ palette = target->Palette;
  for (int i = 0; i < palette->Entries->Length; ++i)
    palette->Entries[i] = Color::FromArgb(i,i,i);

  target->Palette = palette;

---

Final solution.

  error = FT_Load_Char(face, ch, FT_LOAD_RENDER);
  if (error)
    throw gcnew InvalidOperationException("Failed to load and render character");

  FT_Bitmap *source = &face->glyph->bitmap; 

  int width = (face->glyph->metrics.width / 64);
  int height = (face->glyph->metrics.height / 64);
  int pixelDepth = 8;   
  int size = width * height;

  // stride must be aligned on a 32 bit boundary or 4 bytes
  // padding is the number of bytes to add to make each row a 32bit aligned row
  int stride = ((width * pixelDepth + 31) & ~31) >> 3;
  int padding = stride - (((width * pixelDepth) + 7) / 8);

  array<Byte>^ pad = gcnew array<Byte>(padding);
  array<Byte>^ buffer = gcnew array<Byte>(size);  
  Marshal::Copy((IntPtr)source->buffer, buffer, 0, size);

  MemoryStream^ ms = gcnew MemoryStream();

  for (int i = 0; i < height; ++i)
  {
    ms->Write(buffer, i * width, width);
    ms->Write(pad, 0, padding);    
  }

  // pin memory and create bitmap
  GCHandle handle = GCHandle::Alloc(ms->ToArray(), GCHandleType::Pinned);
  target = gcnew Bitmap(width, height, stride, PixelFormat::Format8bppIndexed, handle.AddrOfPinnedObject());   
  ms->Close();

  // 256-level greyscale palette
  ColorPalette^ palette = target->Palette;
  for (int i = 0; i < palette->Entries->Length; ++i)
    palette->Entries[i] = Color::FromArgb(i,i,i);

  target->Palette = palette;

  FT_Done_FreeType(library);