Change the alpha value of a BufferedImage?

Question

How do I change the global alpha value of a BufferedImage in Java? (I.E. make every pixel in the image that has a alpha value of 100 have a alpha value of 80)

Answer 1

You may need to first copy your BufferedImage to an image of type BufferedImage.TYPE_INT_ARGB. If your image is of type, say, BufferedImage.TYPE_INT_RGB, then the alpha component won't be set correctly. If your BufferedImage is of type BufferedImage.TYPE_INT_ARGB, then the code below works. /** * Modifies each pixel of the BufferedImage so that the selected component (R, G, B, or A) * is adjusted by delta. Note: the BufferedImage must be of type BufferedImage.TYPE_INT_ARGB. * @param src BufferedImage of type BufferedImage.TYPE_INT_ARGB. * @param colorIndex 0=red, 1=green, 2=blue, 3= alpha * @param delta amount to change component * @return */ public static BufferedImage adjustAColor(BufferedImage src,int colorIndex, int delta) { int w = src.getWidth(); int h = src.getHeight(); assert(src.getType()==BufferedImage.TYPE_INT_ARGB); for (int y = 0; y < h; y++) for (int x = 0; x < w; x++) { int rgb = src.getRGB(x,y); java.awt.Color color= new java.awt.Color(rgb,true); int red=color.getRed(); int green=color.getGreen(); int blue=color.getBlue(); int alpha=color.getAlpha(); switch (colorIndex) { case 0: red=adjustColor(red,delta); break; case 1: green=adjustColor(green,delta); break; case 2: blue=adjustColor(blue,delta); break; case 3: alpha=adjustColor(alpha,delta); break; default: throw new IllegalStateException(); } java.awt.Color adjustedColor=new java.awt.Color(red,green,blue,alpha); src.setRGB(x,y,adjustedColor.getRGB()); int gottenColorInt=src.getRGB(x,y); java.awt.Color gottenColor=new java.awt.Color(gottenColorInt,true); assert(gottenColor.getRed()== red); assert(gottenColor.getGreen()== green); assert(gottenColor.getBlue()== blue); assert(gottenColor.getAlpha()== alpha); } return src; } private static int adjustColor(int value255, int delta) { value255+= delta; if (value255<0) { value255=0; } else if (value255>255) { value255=255; } return value255; }

Answer 2

I'm 99% sure the methods that claim to deal with an "RGB" value packed into an int actually deal with ARGB. So you ought to be able to do something like:

for (all x,y values of image) {
  int argb = img.getRGB(x, y);
  int oldAlpha = (argb >>> 24);
  if (oldAlpha == 100) {
    argb = (80 << 24) | (argb & 0xffffff);
    img.setRGB(x, y, argb);
  }
}

For speed, you could maybe use the methods to retrieve blocks of pixel values.

Answer 3

@Neil Coffey: Thanks, I've been looking for this too; however, Your code didn't work very well for me (white background became black).

I coded something like this and it works perfectly:

public void setAlpha(byte alpha) {       
    alpha %= 0xff; 
    for (int cx=0;cx<obj_img.getWidth();cx++) {          
        for (int cy=0;cy<obj_img.getHeight();cy++) {
            int color = obj_img.getRGB(cx, cy);

            int mc = (alpha << 24) | 0x00ffffff;
            int newcolor = color & mc;
            obj_img.setRGB(cx, cy, newcolor);            

        }

    }
}

Where obj_img is BufferedImage.TYPE_INT_ARGB.

I change alpha with setAlpha((byte)125); alpha range is now 0-255.

Hope someone finds this useful.

Answer 4

This is an old question, so I'm not answering for the sake of the OP, but for those like me who find this question later.

AlphaComposite

As @Michael's excellent outline mentioned, an AlphaComposite operation can modify the alpha channel. But only in certain ways, which to me are somewhat difficult to understand:

is the formula for how the "over" operation affects the alpha channel. Moreover, this affects the RGB channels too, so if you have color data that needs to be unchanged, AlphaComposite is not the answer.

BufferedImageOps

LookupOp

There are several varieties of BufferedImageOp (see 4.10.6 here). In the more general case, the OP's task could be met by a LookupOp, which requires building lookup arrays. To modify only the alpha channel, supply an identity array (an array where table[i] = i) for the RGB channels, and a separate array for the alpha channel. Populate the latter array with table[i] = f(i), where f() is the function by which you want to map from old alpha value to new. E.g. if you want to "make every pixel in the image that has a alpha value of 100 have a alpha value of 80", set table[100] = 80. (The full range is 0 to 255.) See how to increase opacity in gaussian blur for a code sample.

RescaleOp

But for a subset of these cases, there is a simpler way to do it, that doesn't require setting up a lookup table. If f() is a simple, linear function, use a RescaleOp. For example, if you want to set newAlpha = oldAlpha - 20, use a RescaleOp with a scaleFactor of 1 and an offset of -20. If you want to set newAlpha = oldAlpha * 0.8, use a scaleFactor of 0.8 and an offset of 0. In either case, you again have to provide dummy scaleFactors and offsets for the RGB channels:

new RescaleOp({1.0f, 1.0f, 1.0f, /* alpha scaleFactor */ 0.8f},
              {0f, 0f, 0f, /* alpha offset */ -20f}, null)

Again see 4.10.6 here for some examples that illustrate the principles well, but are not specific to the alpha channel.

Both RescaleOp and LookupOp allow modifying a BufferedImage in-place.

Answer 5

for a nicer looking alpha change effect, you can use relative alpha change per pixel (rather than static set, or clipping linear)

public static void modAlpha(BufferedImage modMe, double modAmount) {
        //
    for (int x = 0; x < modMe.getWidth(); x++) {          
        for (int y = 0; y < modMe.getHeight(); y++) {
                //
            int argb = modMe.getRGB(x, y); //always returns TYPE_INT_ARGB
            int alpha = (argb >> 24) & 0xff;  //isolate alpha

            alpha *= modAmount; //similar distortion to tape saturation (has scrunching effect, eliminates clipping)
            alpha &= 0xff;      //keeps alpha in 0-255 range

            argb &= 0x00ffffff; //remove old alpha info
            argb |= (alpha << 24);  //add new alpha info
            modMe.setRGB(x, y, argb);            
        }
    }
}

Answer 6

I don't believe there's a single simple command to do this. A few options:

• copy into another image with an AlphaComposite specified (downside: not converted in place)
• directly manipulate the raster (downside: can lead to unmanaged images)
• use a filter or BufferedImageOp

The first is the simplest to implement, IMO.