How do I create an 8-bit PNG with transparency from an NSBitmapImageRep? - cocoa

Question

I have a 32-bit NSBitmapImageRep which has an alpha channel with essentially 1-bit values (the pixels are either on or off).
I want to save this bitmap to an 8-bit PNG file with transparency. If I use the -representationUsingType:properties: method of NSBitmapImageRep and pass in NSPNGFileType, a 32-bit PNG is created, which is not what I want.
I know that 8-bit PNGs can be read, they open in Preview with no problems, but is it possible to write this type of PNG file using any built-in Mac OS X APIs? I'm happy to drop down to Core Image or even QuickTime if necessary. A cursory examination of the CGImage docs didn't reveal anything obvious.
EDIT:
I've started a bounty on this question, if someone can provide working source code that takes a 32-bit NSBitmapImageRep and writes a 256-color PNG with 1-bit transparency, it's yours.

Answer 1

How about pnglib? It's really lightweight and easy to use.

Answer 2

pngnq (and new pngquant which achieves higher quality) has BSD-style license, so you can just include it in your program. No need to spawn as separate task.

Answer 3

A great reference for working with lower level APIs is Programming With Quartz
Some of the code below is based on examples from that book.
Note: This is un-tested code meant to be a starting point only....
- (NSBitmapImageRep*)convertImageRep:(NSBitmapImageRep*)startingImage{
CGImageRef anImage = [startingImage CGImage];
CGContextRef bitmapContext;
CGRect ctxRect;
size_t bytesPerRow, width, height;
width = CGImageGetWidth(anImage);
height = CGImageGetHeight(anImage);
ctxRect = CGRectMake(0.0, 0.0, width, height);
bytesPerRow = (width * 4 + 63) & ~63;
bitmapData = calloc(bytesPerRow * height, 1);
bitmapContext = createRGBBitmapContext(width, height, TRUE);
CGContextDrawImage (bitmapContext, ctxRect, anImage);
//Now extract the image from the context
CGImageRef bitmapImage = nil;
bitmapImage = CGBitmapContextCreateImage(bitmapContext);
if(!bitmapImage){
fprintf(stderr, "Couldn't create the image!\n");
return nil;
}
NSBitmapImageRep *newImage = [[NSBitmapImageRep alloc] initWithCGImage:bitmapImage];
return newImage;
}
Context Creation Function:
CGContextRef createRGBBitmapContext(size_t width, size_t height, Boolean needsTransparentBitmap)
{
CGContextRef context;
size_t bytesPerRow;
unsigned char *rasterData;
//minimum bytes per row is 4 bytes per sample * number of samples
bytesPerRow = width*4;
//round up to nearest multiple of 16.
bytesPerRow = COMPUTE_BEST_BYTES_PER_ROW(bytesPerRow);
int bitsPerComponent = 2; // to get 256 colors (2xRGBA)
//use function 'calloc' so memory is initialized to 0.
rasterData = calloc(1, bytesPerRow * height);
if(rasterData == NULL){
fprintf(stderr, "Couldn't allocate the needed amount of memory!\n");
return NULL;
}
// uses the generic calibrated RGB color space.
context = CGBitmapContextCreate(rasterData, width, height, bitsPerComponent, bytesPerRow,
CGColorSpaceCreateWithName(kCGColorSpaceGenericRGB),
(needsTransparentBitmap ? kCGImageAlphaPremultipliedFirst :
kCGImageAlphaNoneSkipFirst)
);
if(context == NULL){
free(rasterData);
fprintf(stderr, "Couldn't create the context!\n");
return NULL;
}
//Either clear the rect or paint with opaque white,
if(needsTransparentBitmap){
CGContextClearRect(context, CGRectMake(0, 0, width, height));
}else{
CGContextSaveGState(context);
CGContextSetFillColorWithColor(context, getRGBOpaqueWhiteColor());
CGContextFillRect(context, CGRectMake(0, 0, width, height));
CGContextRestoreGState(context);
}
return context;
}
Usage would be:
NSBitmapImageRep *startingImage; // assumed to be previously set.
NSBitmapImageRep *endingImageRep = [self convertImageRep:startingImage];
// Write out as data
NSData *outputData = [endingImageRep representationUsingType:NSPNGFileType properties:nil];
// somePath is set elsewhere
[outputData writeToFile:somePath atomically:YES];

Answer 4

One thing to try would be creating a NSBitmapImageRep with 8 bits, then copying the data to it.
This would actually be a lot of work, as you would have to compute the color index table yourself.

Answer 5

CGImageDestination is your man for low-level image writing, but I don't know if it supports that specific ability.