Java 2D Graphics

- Publisher: O’Reilly Media, Inc.
- Number Of Pages: 366
- Publication Date: 1999-05-05
- Sales Rank: 554838
- ISBN / ASIN: 1565924843
- EAN: 9781565924840
- Binding: Paperback
- Manufacturer: O’Reilly Media, Inc.
- Studio: O’Reilly Media, Inc.
Amazon.com:
Java 2D Graphics is a remarkably accessible guide to graphics programming using Sun’s new Java 2D API. Besides the basic navigation of the API, this title delivers plenty of useful advanced material for extending Java 2D’s capabilities.
After a simple introductory example, the book focuses on the graphics architecture of Java 2D and its rendering pipeline. Support classes in Java 2D receive ample coverage as well, with sections outlining topics like storing points, shapes, and paths. For basic graphics output, the book demonstrates the simple–which can be found in the process of drawing common shapes like lines, ellipses, and rectangles–as well as the complex seen in modifying graphics output through translating, rescaling, rotating, or shearing.
Amazon.com:
Java 2D Graphics is a remarkably accessible guide to graphics programming using Sun’s new Java 2D API. Besides the basic navigation of the API, this title delivers plenty of useful advanced material for extending Java 2D’s capabilities.
After a simple introductory example, the book focuses on the graphics architecture of Java 2D and its rendering pipeline. Support classes in Java 2D receive ample coverage as well, with sections outlining topics like storing points, shapes, and paths. For basic graphics output, the book demonstrates the simple–which can be found in the process of drawing common shapes like lines, ellipses, and rectangles–as well as the complex seen in modifying graphics output through translating, rescaling, rotating, or shearing.
Text output in Java 2D receives its due as well, since the book acknowledges Java 2D’s advanced font capabilities that allow it to handle right-to-left languages such as Arabic. Further sections delve into Java 2D color models (including support for the CIEXYZ and sRGB color standards). Concerning the display of images, the book covers the built-in support for image filtering in Java 2D, which allows programmers to build toggles and fades into their code that alter brightness, contrast, blurring, and sharpening.
For advanced readers, Java 2D Graphics presents techniques like double buffering and matrix operations for custom image effects. Another expert section on the internal storage classes for image data will be useful for those who want to write image decoders. (A sample PNG decoder shows off the basics here.) Final sections look at printing, animation, and performance issues.
In all, Java 2D Graphics provides a fine introduction to the latest in 2-D graphics programming from Sun, in a title that will be useful to both beginning and advanced Java developers. –Richard Dragan
Book Description:
One weakness of Java has been its graphics capabilities. Java 1.0 and 1.1 only included simple primitives for line drawing: lines could only be one pixel wide, they could only be solid, and there wasn’t any good way to draw curves. Font management and color management were also weak. Java 2D (collectively called the “2D API”) signals a major improvement in Java’s graphics capabilities. It covers many of the classes in Java 1.2 that address graphics handling and improves on many weaknesses that were present in the previous versions of Java. The 2D API allows you to produce high-quality, professional images on a screen or printer. Java 2D Graphics describes the 2D API from top to bottom, demonstrating how to set line styles and pattern fills as well as more advanced techniques of image processing and font handling. You’ll see how to create and manipulate the three types of graphics objects: shapes, text, and images. Other topics include image data storage, color management, font glyphs, and printing. Java 2D Graphics assumes no prior knowledge of graphics. Chock full of detailed explanations and examples, this book provides beginning Java programmers with a solid foundation in 2D graphics and helps more advanced programmers create and use high-quality images in their applications. Topics covered in the book include:
- The rendering pipeline
- Shapes and paths
- Geometry
- Painting with solid colors, gradients, and textures
- Stroking paths, including dashed lines
- Transformations: translation, rotation, shearing, and scaling
- Alpha compositing
- Clipping
- Rasterizing and antialiasing
- Fonts and text
- Font metrics
- Glyphs
- Colors and color spaces
- sRGB and CIEXYZ
- ICC color profiles
- Images, image color models, and image data
- Image processing
- Image data storage
- Graphics devices
- Printing
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
In computing, Java 2D is an API for drawing two-dimensional graphics using the Java programming language. Every Java 2D drawing operation can ultimately be treated as filling a shape using a paint and compositing the result onto the screen.
This book, although seven years old, is the best in print on learning the basics of Java 2D. Several other reviewers have said that the Java docs for the API from Sun are just as good, but I disagree. This book does a good job of taking a complex API and laying out what it takes to produce graphics using it.
It starts out explaining the architecture of the Java 2D API, and includes a very long “Hello Java 2D” example showcasing what the API can do. The author admits at the time it is presented that it is likely the reader will not understand the code until the book has been read.
Next, the author introduces the drawing of shapes, and then adds painting, stroking, transforming, compositing, and clipping to the equation, one by one, while explaining the nuances of each feature being added. Next, the author goes into adding text to your figures and also explains how to do simple image processing with the Java 2D API, even explaining how to “roll your own” image transform operations.
The book concludes with a discussion of printing, animation, and measuring performance with Java 2D. The author includes a flexible framework for performing animations using Java 2D. There is example code throughout the book that can be downloaded from the publisher’s website. If you are looking for a book of image processing tricks and recipes in Java, this is not the book that you want. In that case you might want to read Hardy’s excellent but out-of-print work, “Java 2D API Graphics”, after you read this book. However, if you want a good foundation in programming with the Java 2D API and understanding its architecture, this is a very good source. I highly recommend it.
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