Java 2D API Graphics

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Book Excerpt Index

[Chapter 6 |GLF Download| Chapter 15]

Java 2D API Graphics, from Sun Microsystems Press, is a comprehensive, full-color guide to graphics development using the powerful Java 2D API. Using simple, step-by-step explanations and code instructions, this book details how to use the Java 2D API to create complex and innovative graphics, which involves combining and extending the Java 2D API features (for example, creating custom Paints or image filters).

This book also discusses the Graphic Layers Framework (GLF), which offers a high-level programming model to further simplify these intricate graphical compositions. Java 2D API Graphics demonstrates the nearly limitless creative possibilites offered through the Java 2D API and provides numerous, specific graphical examples to ensure that your understanding can be translated into usable and enjoyable skills.

Java 2D API Graphics will be available early November 1999. For a sneak preview, here are two chapter excerpts from the book, as well as the downloadable code for the Graphic Layer Framework itself. Chapter 6, "The Graphic Layers Framework Fundamentals" introduces and explains the Graphic Layer Framework; Chapter 15, "Tinting Photographs" features a postcard application that combines several techniques such as custom filtering, masking, or shadowing.

The Java 2D API is a sophisticated, generic, and low-level API that covers a broad portion of computer 2D graphics, and is designed to serve all kinds of graphics needs. It provides the underlying support for the graphics in the Java platform, for example, other APIs such as the Abstract Window Toolkit (AWT) or Swing, rely on the Java 2D API for all drawing operations. For more information about the Java 2D API, see the Java 2D API web page.

With such a wealth of features in the API, it may not be obvious how they can or should be used. It depends on the type of application, or whether you are, for example, writing a satellite image processing program or a web animation. This book helps you understand what the features are about, how to extend them, and how to combine them creatively.

Chapter 6: The Graphic Layers Framework Fundamentals

Chapter 15: Tinting Photographs

GLF Download

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About the Author

Vincent Hardy is a Java technology architect at Sun Microsystems in Menlo Park, CA. Vincent is a regular columnist on the Java 2D API for the "Java Report."