Applying Artistic Effects

The following functions are designed specifically for artistic effects:

Function	Purpose
LBitmap::AddNoise	Adds random pixels to a bitmap, letting you specify the percentage of coverage and the color plane.
LBitmap::AddShadow	Adds shadows to a bitmap, letting you specify the threshold value, the direction of the light source, and whether the shadows are colored or grayscale.
LBitmap::Aging	Adds effects that simulate random color changes, scratches, dust and pits, making a bitmap look like it was made from an old film.
LBitmap::Bending	Wraps the bitmap along the inside or outside of an arc pattern.
LBitmap::BricksTexture	Creates a brick texture that makes the image look like it has been drawn on a brick wall.
LBitmap::BumpMap	Adds a three-dimensional texture pattern by applying the bump image to the destination image.
LBitmap::Canvas	Applies an image as an overlay for another image.
LBitmap::Clouds	Generates different cloud patterns.
LBitmap::ColoredBalls	Adds colored balls to the bitmap. Various parameters control the color and appearance of the balls.
LBitmap::ColoredPencil	Applies a colored pencil effect to a bitmap. Brightens the bitmap and enhances its edges.
LBitmap::ColoredPencilExt	Applies a colored pencil effect to a bitmap. Brightens the bitmap and enhances its edges.
LBitmap::Cubism	Remaps the bitmap into a collection of rotated rectangles (cubic faces), in the Cubist style.
LBitmap::Cylindrical	Warps the bitmap to a cylindrical shape.
LBitmap::DiceEffect	Splits the image into square or rectangular blocks. If the blocks are square, rotates each block by 0, 90, 180, or 270 degrees. If the blocks are rectangular, flips the blocks around the X-axis and Y-axis.
LBitmap::DiffuseGlow	Adds a colored glow to a bitmap's light or dark areas, making these areas shine with a neon glow.
LBitmap::DisplaceMap	Displaces bitmap pixels horizontally and vertically according to the values of the displacement map image.
LBitmap::DrawStar	Draws a star on the bitmap.
LBitmap::Dry	Simulates painting an image with the watercolor dry brush technique.
LBitmap::Emboss	Applies an emboss effect to a bitmap, letting you specify the depth and direction of the effect.
LBitmap::Fragment	Averages a bitmap with its shifted copies.
LBitmap::FreeHandShear	Shears the bitmap by the wave drawn using amplitude values obtained from LBitmap::GetCurvePoints.
LBitmap::FreeHandWave	Distorts the bitmap by the wave drawn using amplitude values obtained from LBitmap::GetCurvePoints and a specified angle.
LBitmap::FreePlaneBend	Wraps the bitmap onto a 3D plane shaped by pnCurve.
LBitmap::FreeRadBend	Wraps the bitmap along its radius on a 3D surface shaped by pnCurve.
LBitmap::FunctionalLight	Adds light to the bitmap according to a function-based distribution. This functional light will be generated by one of the following methods: linear, quadratic, sine, cosine, or using freehand points.
LBitmap::HalfTonePattern	Creates a halftone screen effect for an image while keeping its continuous range of tones.
LBitmap::GlassEffect	Divides the image into cells and makes it look as if it is being viewed through glass blocks.
LBitmap::GlowFilter	Makes colored edges shine with a neon-like glow.
LBitmap::Impressionist	Makes a bitmap look like it was painted by an impressionist painter.
LBitmap::LensFlare	Simulates the secondary reflections caused when bright lights are facing the camera lens.
LBitmap::LightControl	Lightens or darkens all or part of a bitmap by remapping the pixel values.
LBitmap::Light	Adds many spots of directed light sources to the bitmap.
LBitmap::MaskConvolution	Multiplies the pixels of an image by a kernel, resulting in one of several 3D edge effects being applied to the image.
LBitmap::Mosaic	Imposes a mosaic effect on a bitmap by dividing the bitmap into tiles of a specified size and changing the color of all pixels in each tile to the average color of pixels within the tile.
LBitmap::MosaicTiles	Divides an image into rectangular or arc-shaped cells with irregular boundaries. This function makes an image look like a mosaic made from tiles. Tiles can be rectangular or arc-shaped, depending upon the coordinate system used to draw the tiles.
LBitmap::MotionBlur	Applies a filter, which creates the illusion of movement in an image.
LBitmap::Ocean	Reflects the bitmap on an ocean surface.
LBitmap::Oilify	Applies an oil-painting effect to a bitmap.
LBitmap::Offset	Shifts the bitmap pixels horizontally and vertically.
LBitmap::Perspective	Gives a bitmap a 3-D depth, as if it exists on a flat plane and has been skewed into a different shape.
LBitmap::PlasmaFilter	Applies color patterns that blend into each other like plasma.
LBitmap::Pointillist	Pointillism is a painting technique where the image is composed of tiny, separate dots of primary color. Non primary colors are created by placing primary colors beside each other and allowing the "mixing" to be performed when the image is viewed. This filter creates a similar effect.
LBitmap::Perlin	Uses a pseudo-random number generator in order to create a Perlin noise, and then procedurally transforms that noise into a texture.
LBitmap::Pixelate	Divides the bitmap into rectangular or circular cells and then recreates the image using those cells filled with the minimum, maximum, or average pixel value, depending upon the effect that was set.
LBitmap::PlaneBend	Places the bitmap on parallel planes along the Z-axis bent towards a center point.
LBitmap::Plane	Places the bitmap on parallel planes along the Z-axis.
LBitmap::Polar	Converts the bitmap from rectangular to polar coordinates and vice versa.
LBitmap::Posterize	Imposes a poster effect on a bitmap by quantizing the bitmap's colors to a specified number of color levels per plane. For example, two levels means two of red, two of green, and two of blue.
LBitmap::Punch	Warps the bitmap by pinching it toward the center or expanding the bitmap away from its center.
LBitmap::PuzzleEffect	Splits the image into square blocks and randomizes these blocks inside the image.
LBitmap::RadialBlur	Rotates the bitmap pixels around a center point.
LBitmap::RadWave	Distorts a bitmap using a wave radiating from the specified center.
LBitmap::RemoveRedEye	Replaces the red component of the pixels with the specified color. To replace only the red component for those pixels in the eyes of the bitmap, select a small region around the eye(s).
LBitmap::RevEffect	Adds a pseudo-3D wave effect to the bitmap by drawing horizontal lines across the bitmap and basing each line’s height at each point on its brightness at that point.
LBitmap::RingEffect	Divides the image into a certain number of rings. Each ring is rotated according to a rotate angle. The rotate angle for each ring will be chosen randomly by the function or can be passed to the function.
LBitmap::Ripple	Warps the image in concentric rings.
LBitmap::RomanMosaic	Divides the bitmap into rectangular or rounded rectangular cells and then fills each cell with a color chosen randomly from the colors of each tile’s pixels.
LBitmap::SampleTarget	Corrects color values by shifting the sample colors to the target colors.
LBitmap::Segment	Divides the bitmap into segments where each segment’s pixels have approximately the same color (homogenous color).
LBitmap::SmoothEdges	Smoothes the rough edges in the bitmap.
LBitmap::Solarize	Applies an effect that mimics the accidental exposure of photographic film to light.
LBitmap::Spherize	Warps the image around a 3D spherical shape.
LBitmap::Swirl	Produces a swirl pattern by rotating the bitmap the specified number of degrees about the specified point.
LBitmap::TextureAlphaBlend	Combines image data from pBitmapMask and pBitmapUnderlay with an underlay effect. The result is used as a fade mask that will be used to combine pBitmapSrc and pBitmapDst with variable opacity. The result is combined again with pBitmapDst using a constant opacity (using nOpacity).
LBitmap::Tunnel	Places the bitmap inside a tunnel along the Z-axis.
LBitmap::Vignette	Draws a specified shape and feathers it to the bitmap.
LBitmap::Wave	Distorts the bitmap with two perpendicular waves at the specified angle and with the specified wave type.
LBitmap::Wind	Creates thin lines, directed along the specified angle, on the specified bitmap.
LBitmap::ZoomBlur	Blurs the bitmap along radial lines starting from the specified center point.
LBitmap::ZoomWave	Distorts the bitmap with a wave zoomed from the specified center.
LBitmapBase::Underlay	Combines two bitmaps so that one appears to be an underlying texture for the other.
LBitmap::ZigZag	Radially distorts the bitmap by creating waves that twist the image around a specified center.

With any of these functions, except LBitmapBase::Underlay, you can limit the effect to a specified region of interest. For information about regions, refer to Defining and Using a Bitmap Region.

Treating the bitmap as a device context opens up many possibilities for artistic effects. The LBitmapBase::CreateLeadDC function lets you get the device context. You can then use the LEADTOOLS special effects functions to combine images in interesting ways. For example, when painting one image on top of another, you could specify a multi-pass paint with a brush effect; then quit before finishing all of the passes. The result would be a blending of the two images. For details, refer to Implementing Special Effects.