The Cairo graphics tutorial -------Compositing

In this part of the Cairo graphics programming tutorial, we will define compositing operations.

Compositing is the combining of visual elements from separate sources into single images. They are used to create the illusion that all those elements are parts of the same scene. Compositing is videly used in film industry to create crowds, entire new worlds which would be expensive orimpossible to create otherwise. (wikipedia.org)

Operations

There are several compositing operations. The Cairo graphics library has 14 different compositing operations.

#include <cairo.h>
#include <gtk/gtk.h>


static void draw(cairo_t *cr, gint x, gint w,
    gint h, cairo_operator_t op)
{

  cairo_t *first_cr, *second_cr;
  cairo_surface_t *first, *second;

  first = cairo_surface_create_similar(cairo_get_target(cr),
      CAIRO_CONTENT_COLOR_ALPHA, w, h);

  second = cairo_surface_create_similar(cairo_get_target(cr),
      CAIRO_CONTENT_COLOR_ALPHA, w, h);

  first_cr = cairo_create(first);
  cairo_set_source_rgb(first_cr, 0, 0, 0.4);
  cairo_rectangle(first_cr, x, 20, 50, 50);
  cairo_fill(first_cr);

  second_cr = cairo_create(second);
  cairo_set_source_rgb(second_cr, 0.5, 0.5, 0);
  cairo_rectangle(second_cr, x+10, 40, 50, 50);
  cairo_fill(second_cr);

  cairo_set_operator(first_cr, op);
  cairo_set_source_surface(first_cr, second, 0, 0);
  cairo_paint(first_cr);

  cairo_set_source_surface(cr, first, 0, 0);
  cairo_paint(cr);

  cairo_surface_destroy(first);
  cairo_surface_destroy(second);

  cairo_destroy(first_cr);
  cairo_destroy(second_cr);

}

static gboolean
on_expose_event(GtkWidget *widget,
    GdkEventExpose *event,
    gpointer data)
{
  cairo_t *cr;
  gint w, h;
  gint x, y;

  cairo_operator_t oper[] = {
    CAIRO_OPERATOR_DEST_OVER, 
    CAIRO_OPERATOR_DEST_IN, 
    CAIRO_OPERATOR_OUT,
    CAIRO_OPERATOR_ADD, 
    CAIRO_OPERATOR_ATOP,
    CAIRO_OPERATOR_DEST_ATOP,
  };

  gtk_window_get_size(GTK_WINDOW(widget), &w, &h);

  cr = gdk_cairo_create(widget->window); 

  gint i;
  for(x=20, y=20, i=0; i < 6; x+=80, i++) {
      draw(cr, x, w, h, oper[i] );
  }

  cairo_destroy(cr);

  return FALSE;
}


int main (int argc, char *argv[])
{
  GtkWidget *window;

  gtk_init(&argc, &argv);

  window = gtk_window_new(GTK_WINDOW_TOPLEVEL);

  g_signal_connect(window, "expose-event",
      G_CALLBACK(on_expose_event), NULL);
  g_signal_connect(window, "destroy",
      G_CALLBACK(gtk_main_quit), NULL);

  gtk_window_set_position(GTK_WINDOW(window), GTK_WIN_POS_CENTER);
  gtk_window_set_default_size(GTK_WINDOW(window), 510, 120);
  gtk_widget_set_app_paintable(window, TRUE);

  gtk_widget_show_all(window);

  gtk_main();

  return 0;
}

In our example, we will show 6 different compositing operations on two squares.

 first = cairo_surface_create_similar(cairo_get_target(cr),
     CAIRO_CONTENT_COLOR_ALPHA, w, h);

 second = cairo_surface_create_similar(cairo_get_target(cr),
     CAIRO_CONTENT_COLOR_ALPHA, w, h);

We create two surfaces.

 first_cr = cairo_create(first);
 cairo_set_source_rgb(first_cr, 0, 0, 0.4);
 cairo_rectangle(first_cr, x, 20, 50, 50);
 cairo_fill(first_cr);

We draw a rectangle into the surface.

 cairo_set_operator(first_cr, op);
 cairo_set_source_surface(first_cr, second, 0, 0);
 cairo_paint(first_cr);

We apply the compositing operation on the surfaces.

 cairo_set_source_surface(cr, first, 0, 0);
 cairo_paint(cr);

Finally we draw the outcome onto the GTK+ window.

 cairo_operator_t oper[] = {
   CAIRO_OPERATOR_DEST_OVER, 
   CAIRO_OPERATOR_DEST_IN, 
   CAIRO_OPERATOR_OUT,
   CAIRO_OPERATOR_ADD, 
   CAIRO_OPERATOR_ATOP,
   CAIRO_OPERATOR_DEST_ATOP,
 };

In our example, we use these six compositing operations.

Figure: Compositing operations

---

This chapter covered Cairo compositing.