To copy bitmap data from
one image to another, you can use several methods:
clone()
,
copyPixels()
,
copyChannel()
,
draw()
,
and
drawWithQuality()
(
drawWithQuality
method
available in Flash Player 11.3 and higher; AIR 3.3 and higher).
As its name suggests, the
clone()
method lets
you clone, or sample, bitmap data from one BitmapData object to
another. When called, the method returns a new BitmapData object
that is an exact clone of the original instance it was copied from.
The following example clones a copy of an orange (parent) square
and places the clone beside the original parent square:
import flash.display.Bitmap;
import flash.display.BitmapData;
var myParentSquareBitmap:BitmapData = new BitmapData(100, 100, false, 0x00ff3300);
var myClonedChild:BitmapData = myParentSquareBitmap.clone();
var myParentSquareContainer:Bitmap = new Bitmap(myParentSquareBitmap);
this.addChild(myParentSquareContainer);
var myClonedChildContainer:Bitmap = new Bitmap(myClonedChild);
this.addChild(myClonedChildContainer);
myClonedChildContainer.x = 110;
The
copyPixels()
method is a quick and easy
way of copying pixels from one BitmapData object to another. The
method takes a rectangular snapshot (defined by the
sourceRect
parameter)
of the source image and copies it to another rectangular area (of
equal size). The location of the newly “pasted” rectangle is defined
within the
destPoint
parameter.
The
copyChannel()
method samples a predefined
color channel value (alpha, red, green, or blue) from a source BitmapData
object and copies it into a channel of a destination BitmapData
object. Calling this method does not affect the other channels in
the destination BitmapData object.
The
draw()
and
drawWithQuality()
methods
draw, or render, the graphical content from a source sprite, movie
clip, or other display object on to a new bitmap. Using the
matrix
,
colorTransform
,
blendMode
,
and destination
clipRect
parameters, you can modify
the way in which the new bitmap is rendered. This method uses the
vector renderer in Flash Player and AIR to generate the data.
When you call
draw()
or
drawWithQuality()
,
you pass the source object (sprite, movie clip, or other display
object) as the first parameter, as demonstrated here:
myBitmap.draw(movieClip);
If the source object has had any transformations (color, matrix,
and so forth) applied to it after it was originally loaded, these
transformations are not copied across to the new object. If you
want to copy the transformations to the new bitmap, then you need
to copy the value of the
transform
property from
the original object to the
transform
property of
the Bitmap object that uses the new BitmapData object.
