Windows Forms: Making a cursor bitmap partially transparent

Question

I want to use partially transparent images in drag/drop operations. This is all set up and works fine, but the actual transformation to transparency has a weird side effect. For some reason, the pixels seem to be blended against a black background.

The following image describes the problem:

Figure a) is the original bitmap.

Figure b) is what is produced after alpha blending has been performed. Obviously this is a lot darker than the intended 50% alpha filter intended.

Figure c) is the desired effect, image a) with 50% transparency (added to the composition with a drawing program).

The code I use to produce the trasparent image is the following:

Bitmap bmpNew = new Bitmap(bmpOriginal.Width, bmpOriginal.Height);
Graphics g = Graphics.FromImage(bmpNew);

// Making the bitmap 50% transparent:
float[][] ptsArray ={ 
    new float[] {1, 0, 0, 0, 0},        // Red
    new float[] {0, 1, 0, 0, 0},        // Green
    new float[] {0, 0, 1, 0, 0},        // Blue
    new float[] {0, 0, 0, 0.5f, 0},     // Alpha
    new float[] {0, 0, 0, 0, 1}         // Brightness
};
ColorMatrix clrMatrix = new ColorMatrix(ptsArray);
ImageAttributes imgAttributes = new ImageAttributes();
imgAttributes.SetColorMatrix(clrMatrix, ColorMatrixFlag.Default, ColorAdjustType.Bitmap);
g.DrawImage(bmpOriginal, new Rectangle(0, 0, bmpOriginal.Width, bmpOriginal.Height), 0, 0, bmpOriginal.Width, bmpOriginal.Height, GraphicsUnit.Pixel, imgAttributes);
Cursors.Default.Draw(g, new Rectangle(bmpOriginal.Width / 2 - 8, bmpOriginal.Height / 2 - 8, 32, 32));
g.Dispose();
imgAttributes.Dispose();
return bmpNew;

Does anyone know why the alpha blending does not work?

Update I:

For clarity, the code does work if I'm alphablending on top of a drawn surface. The problem is that I want to create a completely semitransparent image from an existing image and use this as a dynamic cursor during drag/drop operations. Even skipping the above and only painting a filled rectangle of color 88ffffff yields a dark grey color. Something fishy is going on with the icon.

Update II:

Since I've reseached a whole lot and believe this has got something to do with the Cursor creation, I'm gonna include that code below too. If I GetPixel-sample the bitmap just before the CreateIconIndirect call, the four color values seem to be intact. Thus I have a feeling the culprits might be the hbmColor or the hbmMask members of the IconInfo structure.

Here's the IconInfo structure:

public struct IconInfo {    // http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms648052(VS.85).aspx
    public bool fIcon;      // Icon or cursor. True = Icon, False = Cursor
    public int xHotspot;
    public int yHotspot;
    public IntPtr hbmMask;  // Specifies the icon bitmask bitmap. If this structure defines a black and white icon, 
                            // this bitmask is formatted so that the upper half is the icon AND bitmask and the lower 
                            // half is the icon XOR bitmask. Under this condition, the height should be an even multiple of two. 
                            // If this structure defines a color icon, this mask only defines the AND bitmask of the icon.
    public IntPtr hbmColor; // Handle to the icon color bitmap. This member can be optional if this structure defines a black 
                            // and white icon. The AND bitmask of hbmMask is applied with the SRCAND flag to the destination; 
                            // subsequently, the color bitmap is applied (using XOR) to the destination by using the SRCINVERT flag. 

}

And here is the code that actually creates the Cursor:

    public static Cursor CreateCursor(Bitmap bmp, int xHotSpot, int yHotSpot) {
        IconInfo iconInfo = new IconInfo();
        GetIconInfo(bmp.GetHicon(), ref iconInfo);
        iconInfo.hbmColor = (IntPtr)0;
        iconInfo.hbmMask = bmp.GetHbitmap();
        iconInfo.xHotspot = xHotSpot;
        iconInfo.yHotspot = yHotSpot;
        iconInfo.fIcon = false;

        return new Cursor(CreateIconIndirect(ref iconInfo));
    }

The two external functions are defined as follows:

    [DllImport("user32.dll", EntryPoint = "CreateIconIndirect")]
    public static extern IntPtr CreateIconIndirect(ref IconInfo icon);

    [DllImport("user32.dll")]
    [return: MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.Bool)]
    public static extern bool GetIconInfo(IntPtr hIcon, ref IconInfo pIconInfo);

Answer 1

GDI+ has a number of problems related to alpha blending when doing interop with GDI (and Win32). In this case, the call to bmp.GetHbitmap() will blend your image with a black background. An article on CodeProject gives more detail on the problem, and a solution that was used for adding images to an image list.

You should be able to use similar code to get the HBITMAP to use for the mask:

[DllImport("kernel32.dll")]
public static extern bool RtlMoveMemory(IntPtr dest, IntPtr source, int dwcount);
[DllImport("gdi32.dll")]
public static extern IntPtr CreateDIBSection(IntPtr hdc, [In, MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPStruct)]BITMAPINFO pbmi, uint iUsage, out IntPtr ppvBits, IntPtr hSection, uint dwOffset);

public static IntPtr GetBlendedHBitmap(Bitmap bitmap)
{
    BITMAPINFO bitmapInfo = new BITMAPINFO();
    bitmapInfo.biSize = 40;
    bitmapInfo.biBitCount = 32;
    bitmapInfo.biPlanes = 1;

    bitmapInfo.biWidth = bitmap.Width;
    bitmapInfo.biHeight = -bitmap.Height;

    IntPtr pixelData;
    IntPtr hBitmap = CreateDIBSection(
        IntPtr.Zero, bitmapInfo, 0, out pixelData, IntPtr.Zero, 0);

    Rectangle bounds = new Rectangle(0, 0, bitmap.Width, bitmap.Height);
    BitmapData bitmapData = bitmap.LockBits(
        bounds, ImageLockMode.ReadOnly, PixelFormat.Format32bppArgb );
    RtlMoveMemory(
        pixelData, bitmapData.Scan0, bitmap.Height * bitmapData.Stride);

    bitmap.UnlockBits(bitmapData);
    return hBitmap;
}

Answer 2

A while ago, I read this problem arises out of a requirement for pre-multiplied alpha channels in the bitmaps. I'm not sure if this was an issue with Windows cursors or GDI, and for the life of me, I cannot find documentation regarding this. So, while this explanation may or may not be correct, the following code does indeed do what you want, using a pre-multiplied alpha channel in the cursor bitmap.

public class CustomCursor
{
  // alphaLevel is a value between 0 and 255. For 50% transparency, use 128.
  public Cursor CreateCursorFromBitmap(Bitmap bitmap, byte alphaLevel, Point hotSpot)
  {
    Bitmap cursorBitmap = null;
    External.ICONINFO iconInfo = new External.ICONINFO();
    Rectangle rectangle = new Rectangle(0, 0, bitmap.Width, bitmap.Height);

    try
    {
      // Here, the premultiplied alpha channel is specified
      cursorBitmap = new Bitmap(bitmap.Width, bitmap.Height, PixelFormat.Format32bppPArgb);

      // I'm assuming the source bitmap can be locked in a 24 bits per pixel format
      BitmapData bitmapData = bitmap.LockBits(rectangle, ImageLockMode.ReadOnly, PixelFormat.Format24bppRgb);
      BitmapData cursorBitmapData = cursorBitmap.LockBits(rectangle, ImageLockMode.WriteOnly, cursorBitmap.PixelFormat);

      // Use either SafeCopy() or UnsafeCopy() to set the bitmap contents
      SafeCopy(bitmapData, cursorBitmapData, alphaLevel);
      //UnsafeCopy(bitmapData, cursorBitmapData, alphaLevel);

      cursorBitmap.UnlockBits(cursorBitmapData);
      bitmap.UnlockBits(bitmapData);

      if (!External.GetIconInfo(cursorBitmap.GetHicon(), out iconInfo))
        throw new Exception("GetIconInfo() failed.");

      iconInfo.xHotspot = hotSpot.X;
      iconInfo.yHotspot = hotSpot.Y;
      iconInfo.IsIcon = false;

      IntPtr cursorPtr = External.CreateIconIndirect(ref iconInfo);
      if (cursorPtr == IntPtr.Zero)
        throw new Exception("CreateIconIndirect() failed.");

      return (new Cursor(cursorPtr));
    }
    finally
    {
      if (cursorBitmap != null)
        cursorBitmap.Dispose();
      if (iconInfo.ColorBitmap != IntPtr.Zero)
        External.DeleteObject(iconInfo.ColorBitmap);
      if (iconInfo.MaskBitmap != IntPtr.Zero)
        External.DeleteObject(iconInfo.MaskBitmap);
    }
  }

  private void SafeCopy(BitmapData srcData, BitmapData dstData, byte alphaLevel)
  {
    for (int y = 0; y < srcData.Height; y++)
      for (int x = 0; x < srcData.Width; x++)
      {
        byte b = Marshal.ReadByte(srcData.Scan0, y * srcData.Stride + x * 3);
        byte g = Marshal.ReadByte(srcData.Scan0, y * srcData.Stride + x * 3 + 1);
        byte r = Marshal.ReadByte(srcData.Scan0, y * srcData.Stride + x * 3 + 2);

        Marshal.WriteByte(dstData.Scan0, y * dstData.Stride + x * 4, b);
        Marshal.WriteByte(dstData.Scan0, y * dstData.Stride + x * 4 + 1, g);
        Marshal.WriteByte(dstData.Scan0, y * dstData.Stride + x * 4 + 2, r);
        Marshal.WriteByte(dstData.Scan0, y * dstData.Stride + x * 4 + 3, alphaLevel);
      }
  }

  private unsafe void UnsafeCopy(BitmapData srcData, BitmapData dstData, byte alphaLevel)
  {
    for (int y = 0; y < srcData.Height; y++)
    {
      byte* srcRow = (byte*)srcData.Scan0 + (y * srcData.Stride);
      byte* dstRow = (byte*)dstData.Scan0 + (y * dstData.Stride);

      for (int x = 0; x < srcData.Width; x++)
      {
        dstRow[x * 4] = srcRow[x * 3];
        dstRow[x * 4 + 1] = srcRow[x * 3 + 1];
        dstRow[x * 4 + 2] = srcRow[x * 3 + 2];
        dstRow[x * 4 + 3] = alphaLevel;
      }
    }
  }
}

The pinvoke declarations are found in the External class, shown here:

public class External
{
  [StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)]
  public struct ICONINFO
  {
    public bool IsIcon;
    public int xHotspot;
    public int yHotspot;
    public IntPtr MaskBitmap;
    public IntPtr ColorBitmap;
  };

  [DllImport("user32.dll")]
  public static extern bool GetIconInfo(IntPtr hIcon, out ICONINFO piconinfo);

  [DllImport("user32.dll")]
  public static extern IntPtr CreateIconIndirect([In] ref ICONINFO piconinfo);

  [DllImport("gdi32.dll")]
  public static extern bool DeleteObject(IntPtr hObject);

  [DllImport("gdi32.dll")]
  public static extern IntPtr CreateBitmap(int nWidth, int nHeight, uint cPlanes, uint cBitsPerPel, IntPtr lpvBits);
}

A few notes on the code:

1. To use the unsafe method, UnsafeCopy(), you must compile with the /unsafe flag.
2. The bitmap copying methods are ugly, especially the safe method, which uses Marshal.ReadByte()/Marshal.WriteByte() calls. There must be a faster way to copy bitmap data while also inserting alpha bytes.
3. I do assume that the source bitmap is able to be locked in a 24 bits per pixel format. This should not be a problem, though.

Answer 3

try lowering Blue's value to .7 or .6 and see if that is closer to what you want.

Here's a good site that explains ColorMatrix:

Answer 4

When I run your code to modify an image in a picturebox with a background grid image, I get the effect you desired without changing your code. Perhaps your image is being drawn over the top of something that has a dark color...

Answer 5

Forgive me if my suggestion is too simplistic (I'm still new to C#) but I found this on the MSDN site and maybe this might point you in the right direction?

/matt