Bitmaps

Views supports bitmap (also called raster) images. Bitmaps have the following characteristics.

Color Bitmaps

If your display system has no true-color capabilities, each pixel value represents a color index. To find the exact color that will be displayed for this pixel, the system lookup table is consulted. If your display system has true-color capabilities, each pixel of the bitmap stores its complete color information.

Black-and-White Bitmaps

Images can also be monochrome. In this case, there is only one bit per pixel. The drawing of these one-bit-deep bitmaps takes place by setting the “1” pixels to the foreground color of the palette given to the IlvDisplay instance and the “0” pixels to the background color of the palette. When displayed as a transparent bitmap, the “0” pixels leave the destination port unchanged.

Transparent Bitmaps and Masks

A colored bitmap can be associated with a mask. A mask is a monochrome bitmap that indicates which of the pixels in the actual source image will be displayed. The pixels in the bitmap that correspond to “0” bits in the mask are not displayed, achieving the effect of a transparent bitmap. A transparent bitmap is a color bitmap that has transparent parts.