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I would like to read a PNG image file using C (a c++ code is also acceptable) and store the data in an array. Does anyone know a library or bunch of code or a blueprint for how to do that?
I know libpng and imagmagik. However; I want see the code and structure of it. I want to learn how a code do that.
A quick check shows that libpng is open source, so you can always peruse the source code to find out.
I don't know you saw the source code of libpng or not.
There are many headers and sources. Some of them along together do a specific job. It is hard to say for example what function does what.
Also, I am not professional in reading source code. So, a simple level code is appropriate for me.
PNG is not a simple format, so there isn't simple code to read it.
If you want simple code, then BMP is the file format for you.
What is that text image file extension used by some instructors? Maybe that will be better for an newbie.
Tim S.
I wrote a code for that, and also that was also not simple as it shows.
A "bmp" image has big volume and it is not common like "png".
So, I prefer to write one for "png".
I don't want simple code. I want a simple structure code with comments that describes what happened in the algorithm.
It sounds like the libpng API should be what you're interested in. Am I wrong?Quote:
Originally Posted by ALIN
> I don't want simple code. I want a simple structure code with comments that describes what happened in the algorithm.
Probably doesn't exist.
Carefully annotated simple code for any passing noob is a hell of an investment for someone to make.
For one thing, the code is not going to make use of any optimisations that might confuse the poor reader, and as a result, it would suck as an implementation.
The same goes for anything else you want to study. There isn't a "noob" version of every single piece of code out there.
Sooner or later, you need to stand on your own.
There isn't just one algorithm, there are many.
Portable Network Graphics - Wikipedia
I rally don't know. I think I should start from that library.
Maybe you want this then.
A simple libpng example program
Just type "libpng example" into your favourite search engine and read a few examples.
Hi Alin,
I've written a PNG file decoder earlier this year. Here's how it works,
There is a small wrapper that has the signature, image size and some other details in it, including color depth and transparency.
You then have 'chunks' of either metedata, possibly a colour palette, and then the main data blocks - see Portable Network Graphics (PNG) Specification (Second Edition)
The data blocks consist of 'lines'. The first byte of the line tells you how this has been pre-filtered to help increase the redundancy in the pixel values, then pixel data for that line. See PNG Specification: Filter Algorithms
These lines are then compressed using LZSS compressed and Huffman coding, following the "deflate" standard detailed in in RFC1951 and RFC1950 - Deflate - Wikipedia and
The 'Deflate' algorithm uses either a fixed symbol dictionary or a custom dictionary. The custom dictionary is once again LZSS compressed and Huffman coded, using a smaller symbol set that can be optimized by the encoder.
So to read to read a PNG file you have to be
- Comfortable with reading 'chunked' data files
- Able to 'undo' the pixel filtering algorithms
- familiar with color palettes and transparency
- able to unpack binary data
- able to convert pixels between different color depths and formats (e.g. 4bpp to 24bpp)
- Able to decompress Huffman Codes
- Able to expand LZSS compression
It's a big project with lots of learning.