Windows 2000 Graphics API Black Book [Illustrated] [Paperback]

Damon Chandler (Author)

Book Description

Series: Black Book (Coriolis Group Books Paperback) | Publication Date: February 15, 2001

Focuses on three vital Windows graphics programming technologies: the Windows Graphics Device Interface (GDI), DirectDraw, and Image Color Management (ICM) 2.0. Contains in-depth coverage of image manipulation, file format management, and ICM technologies. Teaches how to control every aspect of Windows bitmaps, reliably render/capture images to the printer and other devices, and compressing and decompressing images. Demonstrates how to read and write common image file formats, manipulate images in the pixel and frequency domains and cross-dissolve, warp, and morph images.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Windows 2000 Graphics API Black Book is designed to serve as a definitive, no nonsense reference to creating robust and efficient graphics-based applications for Windows 95, 98, ME, NT, and—of course—2000. Whether you’re adding only minimal graphics support to an existing project, or you’re creating a full-fledged graphics-based application, this text will guide you through the steps necessary to get the job done quickly and effectively. Each chapter opens with a comprehensive “In Depth” section that’s designed to cut through the technical jargon and get you up to speed with the latest Windows graphics-based technologies such as the GDI, DirectDraw, and ICM (image color management). This book also provides a solutions-oriented “Immediate Solutions” section that reinforces the concepts from the “In Depth” section. There are over 250 solutions; each solution provides a step-by-step recipe—along with a code example—that you can follow to get the job done without delay.

There are over 100 pages dedicated specifically to image processing (including morphing, the discrete cosine transform, and wavelets), 150 pages dedicated specifically to bitmaps (DDB, DIB, and DIB section bitmaps), and over 120 pages dedicated to ICM (image color management; including color science, chromatic adaptation, ICC device profiles, and proofing).

The CD-ROM contains a multitude of demos, utility functions, and reusable C++ classes. Sample projects are provided for both Borland C++Builder and Microsoft Visual C++.

About the Author

Michael Fötsch (Graz, Austria) gained his first programming experience when writing text adventures in BASIC at the age of 13. He used to program for VGA and SVGA graphics cards under MS-DOS before he made friends with DirectX and 32-bit Windows. He currently develops graphics and multimedia applications for Windows and DirectX.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 1224 pages
• Publisher: Coriolis Technology Press (February 15, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1576108767
• ISBN-13: 978-1576108765
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.4 x 2.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,408,518 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An essential book for every serious graphics developer, June 23, 2001

By 

Aras Geylani "Aras" (Calgary, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Windows 2000 Graphics API Black Book (Paperback)

This is a mammoth undertaking that was necessary in today's market of Windows-dominated graphics applications. This book may be too much for a beginner. However, for the serious graphics developer, this is a must-have reference and handbook all-in-one. Before seeing this book, my favourite hard-core computer graphics book was "Computer Graphics" by James D. Foley and Andries van Dam. This "black book" does an better job when it comes to the Microsoft Windows-specific approach of doing things. From page one it jumps into a direct explanation of topics. It cuts through the chase when it comes to developing high-performance applications. The examples are in C++ however as a Delphi developer, I used it effectively in a major project that involved both video capturing and image processing in the medical software industry.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars It is a good book to have for the price it is sold, May 1, 2007

By 

Olivier Langlois "www.OlivierLanglois.net" (Montreal, Quebec Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Windows 2000 Graphics API Black Book (Paperback)

This book covers in details the GDI API and the DirectDraw API. Even if it was written for Windows 2000, it is safe to assume that these APIs have not changed much in Windows XP. The source code samples contain mistakes but it remains an excellent reference. I recommend this out of print book because you can probably get it for a very cheap price.

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Hmmm...why no metafile coverage?, July 27, 2003

By 

D. Stone (Berkeley, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Windows 2000 Graphics API Black Book (Paperback)

Frankly amazing to me that in a Win graphics book of this size and, in other respects, scope and excellence, that neither "metafile" nor "enhanced metafile" is in the index, nor is there anywhere else a mention that I could find. Consistent with this, all of the metafile-related GDI functions are missing as well---hardly a "comprehensive treatment of the Windows GDI" as stated in the Introduction. It seems to me that this rather large omission deserves at least a tiny explanation or justification somewhere, but there isn't one...instead it appears we are pretending that metafiles are not part of the Win2K GDI. A bit surreal!

DLS