Changing the Opacity of a Bitmap image

Question

I have a form which has a image. I am using a slider to change the opacity of the image. So in the \"ValueChanged\" event of the slider I am calling the following method to

Answer 1

I am not familiar with the ImageAttributes approach, but you should be able to simply run through all the pixels of the image and modify the alpha component of the color of the pixel.

Answer 2

Try this one from CodeProject - Change Opacity of Image in C#:

/// <summary>  
/// method for changing the opacity of an image  
/// </summary>  
/// <param name="image">image to set opacity on</param>  
/// <param name="opacity">percentage of opacity</param>  
/// <returns></returns>  
public Image SetImageOpacity(Image image, float opacity)  
{  
    try  
    {  
        //create a Bitmap the size of the image provided  
        Bitmap bmp = new Bitmap(image.Width, image.Height);  

        //create a graphics object from the image  
        using (Graphics gfx = Graphics.FromImage(bmp)) {  

            //create a color matrix object  
            ColorMatrix matrix = new ColorMatrix();      

            //set the opacity  
            matrix.Matrix33 = opacity;  

            //create image attributes  
            ImageAttributes attributes = new ImageAttributes();      

            //set the color(opacity) of the image  
            attributes.SetColorMatrix(matrix, ColorMatrixFlag.Default, ColorAdjustType.Bitmap);    

            //now draw the image  
            gfx.DrawImage(image, new Rectangle(0, 0, bmp.Width, bmp.Height), 0, 0, image.Width, image.Height, GraphicsUnit.Pixel, attributes);
        }
        return bmp;  
    }  
    catch (Exception ex)  
    { 
        MessageBox.Show(ex.Message);  
        return null;  
    }  
} 

Answer 3

The ImageAttributes method will work fine with PNG as the original post has it listed, but for JPEG you need to flood fill the graphics canvas with a color first. Since this can leave a tiny undesired border, only do it if the opacity is something less than 1.0:

if(opacity < 1.0)
{
    // g is a Graphics object
    g.Clear(Color.White);
}
// set color matrix and draw image as shown in other posts
// ...

Answer 4

You loop over the pixels and play only the alpha channel. If you do this with Bitmap.LockBits it will actually be very fast.

    private const int bytesPerPixel = 4;

    /// <summary>
    /// Change the opacity of an image
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="originalImage">The original image</param>
    /// <param name="opacity">Opacity, where 1.0 is no opacity, 0.0 is full transparency</param>
    /// <returns>The changed image</returns>
    public static Image ChangeImageOpacity(Image originalImage, double opacity)
    {
        if ((originalImage.PixelFormat & PixelFormat.Indexed) == PixelFormat.Indexed)
        {
            // Cannot modify an image with indexed colors
            return originalImage;
        }

        Bitmap bmp = (Bitmap)originalImage.Clone();

        // Specify a pixel format.
        PixelFormat pxf = PixelFormat.Format32bppArgb;

        // Lock the bitmap's bits.
        Rectangle rect = new Rectangle(0, 0, bmp.Width, bmp.Height);
        BitmapData bmpData = bmp.LockBits(rect, ImageLockMode.ReadWrite, pxf);

        // Get the address of the first line.
        IntPtr ptr = bmpData.Scan0;

        // Declare an array to hold the bytes of the bitmap.
        // This code is specific to a bitmap with 32 bits per pixels 
        // (32 bits = 4 bytes, 3 for RGB and 1 byte for alpha).
        int numBytes = bmp.Width * bmp.Height * bytesPerPixel;
        byte[] argbValues = new byte[numBytes];

        // Copy the ARGB values into the array.
        System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal.Copy(ptr, argbValues, 0, numBytes);

        // Manipulate the bitmap, such as changing the
        // RGB values for all pixels in the the bitmap.
        for (int counter = 0; counter < argbValues.Length; counter += bytesPerPixel)
        {
            // argbValues is in format BGRA (Blue, Green, Red, Alpha)

            // If 100% transparent, skip pixel
            if (argbValues[counter + bytesPerPixel - 1] == 0)
                continue;

            int pos = 0;
            pos++; // B value
            pos++; // G value
            pos++; // R value

            argbValues[counter + pos] = (byte) (argbValues[counter + pos] * opacity);
        }

        // Copy the ARGB values back to the bitmap
        System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal.Copy(argbValues, 0, ptr, numBytes);

        // Unlock the bits.
        bmp.UnlockBits(bmpData);

        return bmp;
    }