Imager::Draw(3p)

NAME
Imager::Draw - Draw primitives to images

SYNOPSIS
  use Imager;
  use Imager::Fill;

  $img = ...;
  $blue = Imager::Color->new( 0, 0, 255 );
  $fill = Imager::Fill->new(hatch=>'stipple');

  $img->line(color=>$blue, x1=>10, x2=>100,
                           y1=>20, y2=>50, aa=>1, endp=>1 );

  $img->polyline(points=>[[$x0,$y0], [$x1,$y1], [$x2,$y2]],
                 color=>$blue);
  $img->polyline(x=>[$x0,$x1,$x2], y=>[$y0,$y1,$y2], aa=>1);

  $img->box(color=> $blue, xmin=> 10, ymin=>30,
                           xmax=>200, ymax=>300, filled=>1);
  $img->box(fill=>$fill);

  $img->arc(color=>$blue, r=>20, x=>200, y=>100,
            d1=>10, d2=>20 );

  $img->circle(color=>$blue, r=>50, x=>200, y=>100);

  $img->polygon(points=>[[$x0,$y0], [$x1,$y1], [$x2,$y2]],
                color=>$blue);

  $img->polygon(x=>[$x0,$x1,$x2], y=>[$y0,$y1,$y2]);

  $img->flood_fill(x=>50, y=>50, color=>$color);

  $img->setpixel(x=>50, y=>70, color=>$color);

  $img->setpixel(x=>[ 50, 60, 70 ], y=>[20, 30, 40], color=>$color);

  my $color = $img->getpixel(x=>50, y=>70);

  my @colors = $img->getpixel(x=>[ 50, 60, 70 ], y=>[20, 30, 40]);

  # drawing text
  my $font = Imager::Font->new(...) or die;
  $img->string(x => 50, y => 70,
               font => $font,
               string => "Hello, World!",
               color => 'red',
               size => 30,
               aa => 1);

  # bottom right-hand corner of the image
  $img->align_string(x => $img->getwidth() - 1,
                     y => $img->getheight() - 1,
                     halign => 'right',
                     valign => 'bottom',
                     string => 'Imager',
                     font => $font,
                     size => 12);

  # low-level functions
  my @colors = $img->getscanline(y=>50, x=>10, width=>20);

  $img->setscanline(y=>60, x=>20, pixels=>\@colors);

  my @samples = $img->getsamples(y=>50, x=>10, width=>20,
                                 channels=>[ 2, 0 ]);

DESCRIPTION
It is possible to draw with graphics primitives onto images. Such primitives include boxes, arcs, circles, polygons and lines. The coordinate system in Imager has the origin "(0,0)" in the upper left corner of an image with co-ordinates increasing to the right and bottom. For non anti-aliasing operation all coordinates are rounded towards the nearest integer. For anti-aliased operations floating point coordinates are used.

Drawing is assumed to take place in a coordinate system of infinite resolution. This is the typical convention and really only matters when it is necessary to check for off-by-one cases. Typically it's useful to think of "(10, 20)" as "(10.00, 20.00)" and consider the consequences.

  Color Parameters
The "color" parameter for any of the drawing methods can be an Imager::Color object, a simple scalar that Imager::Color can understand, a hashref of parameters that Imager::Color->new understands, or an arrayref of red, green, blue values, for example:

  $image->box(..., color=>'red');
  $image->line(..., color=>'#FF0000');
  $image->flood_fill(..., color=>[ 255, 0, 255 ]);

While supplying colors as names, array references or CSS color specifiers is convenient, for maximum performance you should supply the color as an Imager::Color object:

  my @colors = map Imager::Color->new($_), qw/red green blue/
  for my $i (1..1000) {
    $image->box(..., color => $colors[rand @colors]);
  }

  Fill Parameters
All filled primitives, i.e. arc(), box(), circle(), polygon() and the flood_fill() method can take a "fill" parameter instead of a "color" parameter which can either be an Imager::Fill object, or a reference to a hash containing the parameters used to create the fill, for example:

  $image->box(..., fill=>{ hatch => 'check1x1' });
  my $fillimage = Imager->new;
  $fillimage->read(file=>$somefile) or die;
  $image->flood_fill(..., fill=>{ image=>$fillimage });

Currently you can create opaque or transparent plain color fills, hatched fills, image based fills and fountain fills. See Imager::Fill for more information.

  Polygon Fill Modes
When filling a polygon that overlaps itself, or when filling several polygons with polypolygon() that overlap each other, you can supply a "mode" parameter that controls how the overlap is resolved. This can have one of two possible values:

•   "evenodd" - if areas overlap an odd number of times, they are filled, and are otherwise unfilled. This is the default and the historical Imager polygon fill mode.

•   "nonzero" - areas that have an unbalanced clockwise and anti-clockwise boundary are filled. This is the same as "WindingRule" for X and "WINDING" for Win32 GDI.

"nonzero" allows polygons to overlap, either with itself, or with another polygon in the same polypolygon() call, without producing unfilled area in the overlap, and also allows areas to be cut out of the area by specifying the points making up a cut-out in the opposite order.

  List of primitives

line()
      $img->line(color=>$green, x1=>10, x2=>100,
                                y1=>20, y2=>50, aa=>1, endp=>1 );

    Draws a line from (x1,y1) to (x2,y2). The endpoint (x2,y2) is drawn by default. If "endp" of 0 is specified then the endpoint will not be drawn. If "aa" is set then the line will be drawn anti-aliased. The "antialias" parameter is still available for backwards compatibility.

    Parameters:

    •   "x1", "y1" - starting point of the line. Required.

    •   "x2", "y2" - end point of the line. Required.

    •   "color" - the color of the line. See "Color Parameters". Default: black.

    •   "endp" - if zero the end point of the line is not drawn. Default: 1 - the end point is drawn. This is useful to set to 0 when drawing a series of connected lines.

    •   "aa" - if true the line is drawn anti-aliased. Default: 0.

polyline()
      $img->polyline(points=>[[$x0,$y0],[$x1,$y1],[$x2,$y2]],color=>$red);
      $img->polyline(x=>[$x0,$x1,$x2], y=>[$y0,$y1,$y2], aa=>1);

    "polyline" is used to draw multiple lines between a series of points. The point set can either be specified as an arrayref to an array of array references (where each such array represents a point). The other way is to specify two array references.

    The "antialias" parameter is still available for backwards compatibility.

    •   points - a reference to an array of references to arrays containing the co-ordinates of the points in the line, for example:

          my @points = ( [ 0, 0 ], [ 100, 0 ], [ 100, 100 ], [ 0, 100 ] );
          $img->polyline(points => \@points);

    •   x, y - each is an array of x or y ordinates. This is an alternative to supplying the "points" parameter.

          # same as the above points example
          my @x = ( 0, 100, 100, 0 );
          my @y = ( 0, 0, 100, 100 );
          $img->polyline(x => \@x, y => \@y);

    •   "color" - the color of the line. See "Color Parameters". Default: black.

    •   "aa" - if true the line is drawn anti-aliased. Default: 0. Can also be supplied as "antialias" for backward compatibility.

box()
      $blue = Imager::Color->new( 0, 0, 255 );
      $img->box(color => $blue, xmin=>10, ymin=>30, xmax=>200, ymax=>300,
                filled=>1);

    If any of the edges of the box are omitted it will snap to the outer edge of the image in that direction. If "filled" is omitted the box is drawn as an outline. Instead of a color it is possible to use a "fill" pattern:

      $fill = Imager::Fill->new(hatch=>'stipple');
      $img->box(fill=>$fill);  # fill entire image with a given fill pattern

      $img->box(xmin=>10, ymin=>30, xmax=>150, ymax=>60,
                fill => { hatch=>'cross2' });

    Also if a color is omitted a color with (255,255,255,255) is used instead. [NOTE: This may change to use "$img->fgcolor()" in the future].

    Box does not support fractional coordinates yet.

    Parameters:

    •   "xmin" - left side of the box. Default: 0 (left edge of the image)

    •   "ymin" - top side of the box. Default: 0 (top edge of the image)

    •   "xmax" - right side of the box. Default: "$img->getwidth-1". (right edge of the image)

    •   "ymax" - bottom side of the box. Default: "$img->getheight-1". (bottom edge of the image)

        Note: "xmax" and "ymax" are inclusive - the number of pixels drawn for a filled box is "(xmax-xmin+1) * (ymax-ymin+1)".

    •   "box" - a reference to an array of (left, top, right, bottom) co-ordinates. This is an alternative to supplying "xmin", "ymin", "xmax", "ymax" and overrides their values.

    •   "color" - the color of the line. See "Color Parameters". Default: white. This is ignored if the filled parameter

    •   "filled" - if non-zero the box is filled with color instead of outlined. Default: an outline is drawn.

    •   "fill" - the fill for the box. If this is supplied then the box will be filled. See "Fill Parameters".

arc()
      $img->arc(color=>$red, r=>20, x=>200, y=>100, d1=>10, d2=>20 );

    This creates a filled red arc with a 'center' at (200, 100) and spans 10 degrees and the slice has a radius of 20.

    It's also possible to supply a "fill" parameter.

    To draw just an arc outline - just the curve, not the radius lines, set filled to 0:

    Parameters:

      $img->arc(color=>$red, r=>20, x=>200, y=>100, d1=>10, d2=>20, filled=>0 );

    •   "x", "y" - center of the filled arc. Default: center of the image.

    •   "r" - radius of the arc. Default: 1/3 of min(image height, image width).

    •   "d1" - starting angle of the arc, in degrees. Default: 0

    •   "d2" - ending angle of the arc, in degrees. Default: 361.

    •   "color" - the color of the filled arc. See "Color Parameters". Default: white. Overridden by "fill".

    •   "fill" - the fill for the filled arc. See "Fill Parameters"

    •   "aa" - if true the filled arc is drawn anti-aliased. Default: false.

        Anti-aliased arc() is experimental for now, I'm not entirely happy with the results in some cases.

    •   "filled" - set to 0 to draw only an outline.

      # arc going through angle zero:
      $img->arc(d1=>320, d2=>40, x=>100, y=>100, r=>50, color=>'blue');

      # complex fill arc
      $img->arc(d1=>135, d2=>45, x=>100, y=>150, r=>50,
                fill=>{ solid=>'red', combine=>'diff' });

      # draw an anti-aliased circle outline
      $img->arc(x => 100, y => 150, r => 150, filled => 0,
                color => '#F00', aa => 1);

      # draw an anti-aliased arc
      $img->arc(x => 100, y => 150, r => 90, filled => 0,
                color => '#0f0', aa => 1, d1 => 90, d2 => 180);

circle()
      $img->circle(color=>$green, r=>50, x=>200, y=>100, aa=>1, filled=>1);

    This creates an anti-aliased green circle with its center at (200, 100) and has a radius of 50. It's also possible to supply a "fill" parameter instead of a color parameter.

      $img->circle(r => 50, x=> 150, y => 150, fill=>{ hatch => 'stipple' });

    To draw a circular outline, set "filled" to 0:

      $img->circle(color=>$green, r=>50, x=>200, y=>100, aa=>1, filled=>0);

    •   "x", "y" - center of the filled circle. Default: center of the image.

    •   "r" - radius of the circle. Default: 1/3 of min(image height, image width).

    •   "color" - the color of the filled circle. See "Color Parameters". Default: white. Overridden by "fill".

    •   "fill" - the fill for the filled circle. See "Fill Parameters"

    •   "aa" - if true the filled circle is drawn anti-aliased. Default: false.

    •   "filled" - set to 0 to just draw an outline.

polygon()
      $img->polygon(points=>[[$x0,$y0],[$x1,$y1],[$x2,$y2]],color=>$red);
      $img->polygon(x=>[$x0,$x1,$x2], y=>[$y0,$y1,$y2], fill=>$fill);

    Polygon is used to draw a filled polygon. Currently the polygon is always drawn anti-aliased, although that will change in the future. Like other anti-aliased drawing functions its coordinates can be specified with floating point values. As with other filled shapes it's possible to use a "fill" instead of a color.

    •   "points" - a reference to an array of references to arrays containing the co-ordinates of the points in the line, for example:

          my @points = ( [ 0, 0 ], [ 100, 0 ], [ 100, 100 ], [ 0, 100 ] );
          $img->polygon(points => \@points);

    •   "x", "y" - each is an array of x or y ordinates. This is an alternative to supplying the "points" parameter.

          # same as the above points example
          my @x = ( 0, 100, 100, 0 );
          my @y = ( 0, 0, 100, 100 );
          $img->polygon(x => \@x, y => \@y);

    •   "color" - the color of the filled polygon. See "Color Parameters". Default: black. Overridden by "fill".

    •   "fill" - the fill for the filled circle. See "Fill Parameters"

    •   "mode" - fill mode for the polygon. See "Polygon Fill Modes"

    Note: the points specified are as offsets from the top-left of the image, not as pixel locations. This means that:

      $img->polygon(points => [ [ 0, 0 ], [ 1, 0 ], [ 1, 1 ], [ 0, 1 ] ]);

    fills only a single pixel at "(0, 0)", not four.

polypolygon()
      $img->polypolygon(points => $points, color => $color);

    Draw multiple polygons, either filled or unfilled.

    •   "points" - is an array reference containing polygon definitions, each polygon definition is a reference to an array containing two arrays, one each for the "x" and "y" co-ordinates.

    •   "filled" - if true, fill the polygons with the color defined by "color".

    •   "color" - the color to draw the polygons with if "fill" is not supplied.

    •   "fill" - fill the polygons with this fill if supplied.

    •   "mode" - fill mode for the polygon. See "Polygon Fill Modes"

    Note: the points specified are as offsets from the top-left of the image, not as pixel locations. This means that:

      $img->polypolygon(points => [ [ [ 0, 1, 1, 0 ], [ 0, 0, 1, 1 ] ] ],
                        filled => 1);

    fills only a single pixel at "(0, 0)", not four.

flood_fill()
    You can fill a region that all has the same color using the flood_fill() method, for example:

      $img->flood_fill(x=>50, y=>50, color=>$color);

    will fill all regions the same color connected to the point (50, 50).

    Alternatively you can fill a region limited by a given border color:

      # stop at the red border
      $im->flood_fill(x=>50, y=>50, color=>$color, border=>"red");

    You can also fill with a complex fill:

      $img->flood_fill(x=>50, y=>50, fill=>{ hatch=>'cross1x1' });

    Parameters:

    •   "x", "y" - the start point of the fill.

    •   "color" - the color of the filled area. See "Color Parameters". Default: white. Overridden by "fill".

    •   "fill" - the fill for the filled area. See "Fill Parameters"

    •   "border" - the border color of the region to be filled. If this parameter is supplied flood_fill() will stop when it finds this color. If this is not supplied then a normal fill is done. "border" can be supplied as a "Color Parameters".

setpixel()
      $img->setpixel(x=>50, y=>70, color=>$color);
      $img->setpixel(x=>[ 50, 60, 70 ], y=>[20, 30, 40], color=>$color);

    setpixel() is used to set one or more individual pixels.

    You can supply a single set of co-ordinates as scalar "x" and "y" parameters, or set either to an arrayref of ordinates.

    If one array is shorter than another the final value in the shorter will be duplicated until they match in length.

    If only one of "x" or "y" is an array reference then setpixel() will behave as if the non-reference value were an array reference containing only that value.

    eg.

      my $count = $img->setpixel(x => 1, y => [ 0 .. 3 ], color => $color);

    behaves like:

      my $count = $img->setpixel(x => [ 1 ], y => [ 0 .. 3 ], color => $color);

    and since the final element in the shorter array is duplicated, this behaves like:

      my $count = $img->setpixel(x => [ 1, 1, 1, 1 ], y => [ 0 .. 3 ],
                                 color => $color);

    To set an entire or partial row of pixels in one call, consider the "setscanline()" in Imager::Draw or "setsamples()" in Imager::Draw methods.

    Parameters:

    •   x, y - either integers giving the co-ordinates of the pixel to set or array references containing a set of pixels to be set.

    •   color - the color of the pixels drawn. See "Color Parameters". Default: white.

    Returns the number of pixels drawn, if no pixels were drawn, but none of the errors below occur, returns "0 but true".

    For other errors, setpixel() returns an empty list and sets errstr().

    Possible errors conditions include:

    •   the image supplied is empty

    •   a reference to an empty array was supplied for "x" or "y"

    •   "x" or "y" wasn't supplied

    •   "color" isn't a valid color, and can't be converted to a color.

getpixel()
      my $color = $img->getpixel(x=>50, y=>70); my @colors =
      $img->getpixel(x=>[ 50, 60, 70 ], y=>[20, 30, 40]); my $colors_ref =
      $img->getpixel(x=>[ 50, 60, 70 ], y=>[20, 30, 40]);

    getpixel() is used to retrieve one or more individual pixels.

    You can supply a single set of co-ordinates as scalar "x" and "y" parameters, or set each to an arrayref of ordinates.

    If one array is shorter than another the final value in the shorter will be duplicated until they match in length.

    If only one of "x" or "y" is an array reference then getpixel() will behave as if the non-reference value were an array reference containing only that value.

    eg.

      my @colors = $img->getpixel(x => 0, y => [ 0 .. 3 ]);

    behaves like:

      my @colors = $img->getpixel(x => [ 0 ], y => [ 0 .. 3 ]);

    and since the final element in the shorter array is duplicated, this behaves like:

      my @colors = $img->getpixel(x => [ 0, 0, 0, 0 ], y => [ 0 .. 3 ]);

    To receive floating point colors from getpixel(), set the "type" parameter to 'float'.

    To retrieve an entire or partial row of pixels, or pixel data, in one call, consider the "getscanline()" in Imager::Draw or "getsamples()" in Imager::Draw methods.

    Parameters:

    •   "x", "y" - either integers giving the co-ordinates of the pixel to set or array references containing a set of pixels to be set.

    •   "type" - the type of color object to return, either '8bit' for Imager::Color objects or 'float' for Imager::Color::Float objects. Default: '8bit'.

    When called with an array reference for either or "x" or "y", getpixel() will return a list of colors in list context, and an arrayref in scalar context.

    If a supplied co-ordinate is outside the image then "undef" is returned for the pixel.

    Each color is returned as an Imager::Color object or as an Imager::Color::Float object if "type" is set to "float".

    Possible errors conditions include:

    •   the image supplied is empty

    •   a reference to an empty array was supplied for "x" or "y"

    •   "x" or "y" wasn't supplied

    •   "type" isn't a valid value.

    For any of these errors getpixel() returns an empty list.

string()
      my $font = Imager::Font->new(file=>"foo.ttf");
      $img->string(x => 50, y => 70,
                   string => "Hello, World!",
                   font => $font,
                   size => 30,
                   aa => 1,
                   color => 'white');

    Draws text on the image.

    Parameters:

    •   "x", "y" - the point to draw the text from. If "align" is 0 this is the top left of the string. If "align" is 1 (the default) then this is the left of the string on the baseline. Required.

    •   "string" - the text to draw. Required unless you supply the "text" parameter.

    •   "font" - an Imager::Font object representing the font to draw the text with. Required.

    •   "aa" - if non-zero the output will be anti-aliased. Default: the value set in Imager::Font->new() or 0 if not set.

    •   "align" - if non-zero the point supplied in (x,y) will be on the base-line, if zero then (x,y) will be at the top-left of the string.

        i.e. if drawing the string "yA" and align is 0 the point (x,y) will aligned with the top of the A. If align is 1 (the default) it will be aligned with the baseline of the font, typically bottom of the A, depending on the font used.

        Default: the value set in Imager::Font->new, or 1 if not set.

    •   "channel" - if present, the text will be written to the specified channel of the image and the color parameter will be ignore.

    •   "color" - the color to draw the text in. Default: the color supplied to Imager::Font->new, or red if none.

    •   "size" - the point size to draw the text at. Default: the size supplied to Imager::Font->new, or 15.

    •   "sizew" - the width scaling to draw the text at. Default: the value of "size".

    •   "utf8" - for drivers that support it, treat the string as UTF-8 encoded. For versions of perl that support Unicode (5.6 and later), this will be enabled automatically if the "string" parameter is already a UTF-8 string. See "UTF-8" in Imager::Font for more information.

    •   "vlayout" - for drivers that support it, draw the text vertically. Note: I haven't found a font that has the appropriate metrics yet.

    •   "text" - alias for the "string" parameter.

    On error, string() returns false and you can use $img->errstr to get the reason for the error.

align_string()
    Draws text aligned around a point on the image.

      # "Hello" centered at 100, 100 in the image.
      my ($left, $top, $right, $bottom) =
        $img->align_string(string=>"Hello",
                           x=>100, y=>100,
                           halign=>'center', valign=>'center',
                           font=>$font);

    Parameters:

    •   "x", "y" - the point to draw the text from. If "align" is 0 this is the top left of the string. If "align" is 1 (the default) then this is the left of the string on the baseline. Required.

    •   "string" - the text to draw. Required unless you supply the "text" parameter.

    •   "font" - an Imager::Font object representing the font to draw the text with. Required.

    •   "aa" - if non-zero the output will be anti-aliased

    •   "valign" - vertical alignment of the text against (x,y)

        •   "top" - Point is at the top of the text.

        •   "bottom" - Point is at the bottom of the text.

        •   "baseline" - Point is on the baseline of the text. This is the default.

        •   "center" - Point is vertically centered within the text.

    •   "halign" - horizontal alignment of the text against (x,y)

        •   "left" - The point is at the left of the text. This is the default.

        •   "start" - The point is at the start point of the text.

        •   "center" - The point is horizontally centered within the text.

        •   "right" - The point is at the right end of the text.

        •   "end" - The point is at the end point of the text.

    •   "channel" - if present, the text will be written to the specified channel of the image and the color parameter will be ignore.

    •   "color" - the color to draw the text in. Default: the color supplied to Imager::Font->new, or red if none.

    •   "size" - the point size to draw the text at. Default: the size supplied to Imager::Font->new, or 15.

    •   "sizew" - the width scaling to draw the text at. Default: the value of "size".

    •   "utf8" - for drivers that support it, treat the string as UTF-8 encoded. For versions of perl that support Unicode (5.6 and later), this will be enabled automatically if the "string" parameter is already a UTF-8 string. See "UTF-8" in Imager::Font for more information.

    •   "vlayout" - for drivers that support it, draw the text vertically. Note: I haven't found a font that has the appropriate metrics yet.

    •   "text" - alias for the "string" parameter.

    On success returns a list of bounds of the drawn text, in the order left, top, right, bottom.

    On error, align_string() returns an empty list and you can use "$img->errstr" to get the reason for the error.

setscanline()
    Set all or part of a horizontal line of pixels to an image. This method is most useful in conjunction with "getscanline()".

    The parameters you can pass are:

    •   "y" - vertical position of the scan line. This parameter is required.

    •   "x" - position to start on the scan line. Default: 0

    •   "pixels" - either a reference to an array containing Imager::Color objects, an reference to an array containing Imager::Color::Float objects or a scalar containing packed color data.

        If "type" is "index" then this can either be a reference to an array of palette color indexes or a scalar containing packed indexes.

        See "Packed Color Data" for information on the format of packed color data.

    •   "type" - the type of pixel data supplied. If you supply an array reference then this is determined automatically. If you supply packed color data this defaults to '8bit', if your data is packed floating point color data then you need to set this to 'float'.

        You can use "float" or "8bit" samples with any image.

        If this is "index" then "pixels" should be either an array of palette color indexes or a packed string of color indexes.

    Returns the number of pixels set.

    Each of the following sets 5 pixels from (5, 10) through (9, 10) to blue, red, blue, red, blue:

      my $red_color = Imager::Color->new(255, 0, 0);
      my $blue_color = Imager::Color->new(0, 0, 255);

      $image->setscanline(y=>10, x=>5, pixels=>
                          [ ($blue_color, $red_color) x 2, $blue_color ]);

      # use floating point color instead, for 16-bit plus images
      my $red_colorf = Imager::Color::Float->new(1.0, 0, 0);
      my $blue_colorf = Imager::Color::Float->new(0, 0, 1.0);

      $image->setscanline(y=>10, x=>5, pixels=>
                          [ ($blue_colorf, $red_colorf) x 2, $blue_colorf ]);

      # packed 8-bit data
      $image->setscanline(y=>10, x=>5, pixels=>
                          pack("C*", ((0, 0, 255, 255), (255, 0, 0, 255)) x 2,
                                (0, 0, 255, 255)));

      # packed floating point samples
      $image->setscanline(y=>10, x=>5, type=>'float', pixels=>
                          pack("d*", ((0, 0, 1.0, 1.0), (1.0, 0, 0, 1.0)) x 2,
                                (0, 0, 1.0, 1.0)));

    Copy even rows from one image to another:

      for (my $y = 0; $y < $im2->getheight; $y+=2) {
        $im1->setscanline(y=>$y,
                          pixels=>scalar($im2->getscanline(y=>$y)));
      }

    Set the blue channel to 0 for all pixels in an image. This could be done with convert too:

      for my $y (0..$im->getheight-1) {
        my $row = $im->getscanline(y=>$y);
        $row =~ s/(..).(.)/$1\0$2/gs;
        $im->setscanline(y=>$y, pixels=>$row);
      }

getscanline()
    Read all or part of a horizontal line of pixels from an image. This method is most useful in conjunction with "setscanline()".

    The parameters you can pass are:

    •   "y" - vertical position of the scan line. This parameter is required.

    •   "x" - position to start on the scan line. Default: 0

    •   "width" - number of pixels to read. Default: $img->getwidth - x

    •   "type" - the type of pixel data to return. Default: "8bit".

        Permitted values are "8bit" and "float" and "index".

    In list context this method will return a list of Imager::Color objects when type is "8bit", or a list of Imager::Color::Float objects when type if "float", or a list of integers when type is "index".

    In scalar context this returns a packed 8-bit pixels when type is "8bit", or a list of packed floating point pixels when type is "float", or packed palette color indexes when type is "index".

    The values of samples for which the image does not have channels is undefined. For example, for a single channel image the values of channels 1 through 3 are undefined.

    Check image for a given color:

      my $found;
      YLOOP: for my $y (0..$img->getheight-1) {
        my @colors = $img->getscanline(y=>$y);
        for my $color (@colors) {
          my ($red, $green, $blue, $alpha) = $color->rgba;
          if ($red == $test_red && $green == $test_green && $blue == $test_blue
              && $alpha == $test_alpha) {
            ++$found;
            last YLOOP;
          }
        }
      }

    Or do it using packed data:

      my $found;
      my $test_packed = pack("CCCC", $test_red, $test_green, $test_blue,
                             $test_alpha);
      YLOOP: for my $y (0..$img->getheight-1) {
        my $colors = $img->getscanline(y=>$y);
        while (length $colors) {
          if (substr($colors, 0, 4, '') eq $test_packed) {
            ++$found;
            last YLOOP;
          }
        }
      }

    Some of the examples for "setscanline()" for more examples.

getsamples()
    Read specified channels from all or part of a horizontal line of pixels from an image.

    The parameters you can pass are:

    •   "y" - vertical position of the scan line. This parameter is required.

    •   "x" - position to start on the scan line. Default: 0

    •   "width" - number of pixels to read. Default: "$img->getwidth - x"

    •   "type" - the type of sample data to return. Default: "8bit".

        Permitted values are "8bit" and "float".

        As of Imager 0.61 this can be "16bit" only for 16 bit images.

    •   "channels" - a reference to an array of channels to return, where 0 is the first channel. Default: "[ 0 .. $self->getchannels()-1 ]"

    •   "target" - if an array reference is supplied in target then the samples will be stored here instead of being returned.

    •   "offset" - the offset within the array referenced by target

    In list context this will return a list of integers between 0 and 255 inclusive when type is "8bit", or a list of floating point numbers between 0.0 and 1.0 inclusive when type is "float".

    In scalar context this will return a string of packed bytes, as with " pack("C*", ...) " when type is "8bit" or a string of packed doubles as with " pack("d*", ...) " when type is "float".

    If the target option is supplied then only a count of samples is returned.

    Example: Check if any pixels in an image have a non-zero alpha channel:

      my $has_coverage;
      for my $y (0 .. $img->getheight()-1) {
        my $alpha = $img->getsamples(y=>$y, channels=>[0]);
        if ($alpha =~ /[^\0]/) {
          ++$has_coverage;
          last;
        }
      }

    Example: Convert a 2 channel gray image into a 4 channel RGBA image:

      # this could be done with convert() instead
      my $out = Imager->new(xsize => $src->getwidth(),
                            ysize => $src->getheight(),
                            channels => 4);
      for my $y ( 0 .. $src->getheight()-1 ) {
        my $data = $src->getsamples(y=>$y, channels=>[ 0, 0, 0, 1 ]);
        $out->setscanline(y=>$y, pixels=>$data);
      }

    Retrieve 16-bit samples:

      if ($img->bits == 16) {
        my @samples;
        $img->getsamples(x => 0, y => $y, target => \@samples, type => '16bit');
      }

setsamples()
    This allows writing of samples to an image.

    Parameters:

    •   "y" - vertical position of the scan line. This parameter is required.

    •   "x" - position to start on the scan line. Default: 0

    •   "width" - number of pixels to write. Default: "$img->getwidth - x". The minimum of this and the number of pixels represented by the samples provided will be written.

    •   "type" - the type of sample data to write. This parameter is required.

        This can be "8bit", "float" or for 16-bit images only, "16bit".

    •   "channels" - a reference to an array of channels to return, where 0 is the first channel. Default: "[ 0 .. $self->getchannels()-1 ]"

    •   "data" - for a type of "8bit" or "float" this can be a reference to an array of samples or a scalar containing packed samples. If "data" is a scalar it may only contain characters from \x00 to \xFF.

        For a type of "16bit" this can only be a reference to an array of samples to write.

        Required.

    •   "offset" - the starting offset within the array referenced by data. If "data" is a scalar containing packed samples this offset is in samples.

    Returns the number of samples written.

      $targ->setsamples(y => $y, data => \@data);

      $targ->setsamples(y => $y, data => \@data, offset => $src->getchannels);

    Copy from one image to another:

      my $targ = Imager->new(xsize => $src->getwidth,
            ysize => $src->getheight, channels => $src->getchannels);
      for my $y (0 .. $targ->getheight()-1) {
        my $row = $src->getsamples(y => $y)
          or die $src->errstr;
        $targ->setsamples(y => $y, data => $row)
          or die $targ->errstr;;
      }

    Compose an image from separate source channels:

      my @src = ...; # images to work from, up to 4
      my $targ = Imager->new(xsize => $src[0]->getwidth,
         ysize => $src[0]->getheight, channels => scalar(@src));
      for my $y (0 .. $targ->getheight()-1) {
        for my $ch (0 .. $#src) {
          my $row = $src[$ch]->getsamples(y => $y, channels => [ 0 ]);
          $targ->setsamples(y => $y, data => $row, channels => [ $ch ] );
        }
      }

Packed Color Data
The getscanline() and setscanline() methods can work with pixels packed into scalars. This is useful to remove the cost of creating color objects, but should only be used when performance is an issue.

The getsamples() and setsamples() methods can work with samples packed into scalars.

Packed data can either be 1 byte per sample or 1 double per sample.

Each pixel returned by getscanline() or supplied to setscanline() contains 4 samples, even if the image has fewer then 4 channels. The values of the extra samples as returned by getscanline() is not specified. The extra samples passed to setscanline() are ignored.

To produce packed 1 byte/sample pixels, use the pack "C" template:

  my $packed_8bit_pixel = pack("CCCC", $red, $blue, $green, $alpha);

To produce packed double/sample pixels, use the pack "d" template:

  my $packed_float_pixel = pack("dddd", $red, $blue, $green, $alpha);

Note that double/sample data is always stored using the C "double" type, never "long double", even if "perl" is built with "-Duselongdouble".

If you use a type parameter of "index" then the values are palette color indexes, not sample values:

  my $im = Imager->new(xsize => 100, ysize => 100, type => 'paletted');
  my $black_index = $im->addcolors(colors => [ 'black' ]);
  my $red_index = $im->addcolors(colors => [ 'red' ]);
  # 2 pixels
  my $packed_index_data = pack("C*", $black_index, $red_index);
  $im->setscanline(y => $y, pixels => $packed_index_data, type => 'index');

Combine Types
Some methods accept a "combine" parameter, this can be any of the following:

"none"
    The fill pixel replaces the target pixel.

"normal"
    The fill pixels alpha value is used to combine it with the target pixel.

"multiply"
"mult"
    Each channel of fill and target is multiplied, and the result is combined using the alpha channel of the fill pixel.

"dissolve"
    If the alpha of the fill pixel is greater than a random number, the fill pixel is alpha combined with the target pixel.

"add"
    The channels of the fill and target are added together, clamped to the range of the samples and alpha combined with the target.

"subtract"
    The channels of the fill are subtracted from the target, clamped to be >= 0, and alpha combined with the target.

"diff"
    The channels of the fill are subtracted from the target and the absolute value taken this is alpha combined with the target.

"lighten"
    The higher value is taken from each channel of the fill and target pixels, which is then alpha combined with the target.

"darken"
    The higher value is taken from each channel of the fill and target pixels, which is then alpha combined with the target.

"hue"
    The combination of the saturation and value of the target is combined with the hue of the fill pixel, and is then alpha combined with the target.

"sat"
    The combination of the hue and value of the target is combined with the saturation of the fill pixel, and is then alpha combined with the target.

"value"
    The combination of the hue and value of the target is combined with the value of the fill pixel, and is then alpha combined with the target.

"color"
    The combination of the value of the target is combined with the hue and saturation of the fill pixel, and is then alpha combined with the target.

combines()
    Returns a list of possible combine types.

BUGS
box() does not support anti-aliasing yet. Default color is not unified yet.

AUTHOR
Tony Cook <tonyc@cpan.org>, Arnar M. Hrafnkelsson.

SEE ALSO
Imager(3), Imager::Cookbook(3)

REVISION
$Revision$