fast way to create a big bitmap from an array of bitmap?

Question

I have this code,

copy/paste in a new winform app and this will write a file on your desktop if you run it: test123abcd.png

Private Sub Form         


        

Answer 1

By assuming that the generation part (g.FillRectangles(Brushes.White, Rect), pretty time-consuming too) cannot be avoided, the best thing you can do is avoiding a second graph-generation process (also for board) and just copying the information from _board. Copying is much quicker than a new generation (as shown below), but you have the problem that the source information (_board) do not match the destination format (board by relying on .SetPixel) and thus you will have to create a function determining the current pixel (X/Y point) from the provided information (current rectangle).

Below you can see a simple code showing the time requirement differences between both approaches:

Dim SquareSize As Integer = 5
Dim _board As Bitmap = Bitmap.FromFile("in.png")
Dim board As Bitmap = New Bitmap(_board.Width * SquareSize, _board.Height * SquareSize)

For x As Integer = 0 To _board.Width - 1
    For y As Integer = 0 To _board.Height - 1
        board.SetPixel(x * SquareSize, y * SquareSize, _board.GetPixel(x, y))
    Next
Next

board.Save("out1.png", Imaging.ImageFormat.Png)


board = New Bitmap(_board.Width, _board.Height)

Using board
    Using graph = Graphics.FromImage(board)
        Using _board
            Using g As Graphics = Graphics.FromImage(_board)
                For x As Integer = 0 To _board.Width - 1
                    For y As Integer = 0 To _board.Height - 1
                        graph.DrawImageUnscaled(_board, x, y)
                    Next
                Next
            End Using
        End Using
    End Using
    board.Save("out2.png", Imaging.ImageFormat.Png)
End Using

Bear in mind that it is not a "properly-working code". Its whole point is showing how to copy pixels between bitmaps (by multiplying by a factor, just to get different outputs than inputs); and putting the DrawImageUnscaled method under equivalent conditions (although the output picture is, logically, different) to get a good feeling of the differences in time requirements between both methodologies.

As said via comment, this is all what I can do under the current conditions. I hope that will be enough to help you find the best solution.