TGifImage Transparency Issue - delphi

Question

I am using TGifImage that is included with Delphi XE.
What I am trying to do is load a Gif from a File and and extract all the frames to a Bitmap.
This is what I did so far:
procedure ExtractGifFrames(FileName: string);
var
Gif: TGifImage;
Bmp: TBitmap;
i: Integer;
begin
Gif := TGifImage.Create;
try
Gif.LoadFromFile(FileName);
Bmp := TBitmap.Create;
try
Bmp.SetSize(Gif.Width, Gif.Height);
for i := 0 to Gif.Images.Count - 1 do
begin
if not Gif.Images[i].Empty then
begin
Bmp.Assign(Gif.Images[i]);
Bmp.SaveToFile('C:\test\bitmap' + IntToStr(i) + '.bmp');
end;
end;
finally
Bmp.Free;
end;
finally
Gif.Free;
end;
end;
procedure TForm1.Button1Click(Sender: TObject);
begin
if OpenPictureDialog1.Execute then
begin
ExtractGifFrames(OpenPictureDialog1.FileName);
end;
end;
The problem I am facing is with some transparency issue with a lot of different Gifs, and also size problems.
Here are some example bitmaps that were saved using my code above:
As you can see the results are not great, they have size and transparency issues.
I know the Gif Files themselves are not corrupt, because I can load them through my web browser and they display correctly without fault.
How can I load a Gif from File, assign each frame to Bitmap without losing any quality?

Answer 1

For older Delphi Versions (Pre 2009): Take a look at the code of GIFImage unit, you might want to check how TGIFPainter renders the images based on each Frame's Disposal method.
I have wrote a small code utilizing TGIFPainter.OnAfterPaint event handler to save the active frame to BMP, and do all the "hard work".
Note: GIFImage unit version 2.2 Release: 5 (23-MAY-1999)
type
TForm1 = class(TForm)
Button1: TButton;
ProgressBar1: TProgressBar;
procedure Button1Click(Sender: TObject);
public
FBitmap: TBitmap;
procedure AfterPaintGIF(Sender: TObject);
end;
...
procedure TForm1.Button1Click(Sender: TObject);
var
GIF: TGIFImage;
begin
GIF := TGIFImage.Create;
FBitmap := TBitmap.Create;
Button1.Enabled := False;
try
GIF.LoadFromFile('c:\test\test.gif');
GIF.DrawOptions := GIF.DrawOptions - [goLoop, goLoopContinously, goAsync];
GIF.AnimationSpeed := 1000; // Max - no delay
FBitmap.Width := GIF.Width;
FBitmap.Height := GIF.Height;
GIF.OnAfterPaint := AfterPaintGIF;
ProgressBar1.Max := Gif.Images.Count;
ProgressBar1.Position := 0;
ProgressBar1.Smooth := True;
ProgressBar1.Step := 1;
// Paint the GIF onto FBitmap, Let TGIFPainter do the painting logic
// AfterPaintGIF will fire for each Frame
GIF.Paint(FBitmap.Canvas, FBitmap.Canvas.ClipRect, GIF.DrawOptions);
ShowMessage('Done!');
finally
FBitmap.Free;
GIF.Free;
Button1.Enabled := True;
end;
end;
procedure TForm1.AfterPaintGIF(Sender: TObject);
begin
if not (Sender is TGIFPainter) then Exit;
if not Assigned(FBitmap) then Exit;
// The event will ignore Empty frames
FBitmap.Canvas.Lock;
try
FBitmap.SaveToFile(Format('%.2d.bmp', [TGIFPainter(Sender).ActiveImage]));
finally
FBitmap.Canvas.Unlock;
end;
ProgressBar1.StepIt;
end;
Note: No error handling to simplify the code.
For newer Delphi Versions (2009+): With build-in GIFImg unit, you can do this quit easy with the use of TGIFRenderer (which completely replaced old TGIFPainter) e.g.:
procedure TForm1.Button1Click(Sender: TObject);
var
GIF: TGIFImage;
Bitmap: TBitmap;
I: Integer;
GR: TGIFRenderer;
begin
GIF := TGIFImage.Create;
Bitmap := TBitmap.Create;
try
GIF.LoadFromFile('c:\test\test.gif');
Bitmap.SetSize(GIF.Width, GIF.Height);
GR := TGIFRenderer.Create(GIF);
try
for I := 0 to GIF.Images.Count - 1 do
begin
if GIF.Images[I].Empty then Break;
GR.Draw(Bitmap.Canvas, Bitmap.Canvas.ClipRect);
GR.NextFrame;
Bitmap.SaveToFile(Format('%.2d.bmp', [I]));
end;
finally
GR.Free;
end;
finally
GIF.Free;
Bitmap.Free;
end;
end;
Using GDI+:
uses ..., GDIPAPI, GDIPOBJ, GDIPUTIL;
procedure ExtractGifFrames(const FileName: string);
var
GPImage: TGPImage;
encoderClsid: TGUID;
BmpFrame: TBitmap;
MemStream: TMemoryStream;
FrameCount, FrameIndex: Integer;
begin
GPImage := TGPImage.Create(FileName);
try
if GPImage.GetLastStatus = Ok then
begin
GetEncoderClsid('image/bmp', encoderClsid);
FrameCount := GPImage.GetFrameCount(GDIPAPI.FrameDimensionTime);
for FrameIndex := 0 to FrameCount - 1 do
begin
GPImage.SelectActiveFrame(GDIPAPI.FrameDimensionTime, FrameIndex);
MemStream := TMemoryStream.Create;
try
if GPImage.Save(TStreamAdapter.Create(MemStream), encoderClsid) = Ok then
begin
MemStream.Position := 0;
BmpFrame := TBitmap.Create;
try
BmpFrame.LoadFromStream(MemStream);
BmpFrame.SaveToFile(Format('%.2d.bmp', [FrameIndex]));
finally
BmpFrame.Free;
end;
end;
finally
MemStream.Free;
end;
end;
end;
finally
GPImage.Free;
end;
end;

Answer 2

The frames of an animated GIF file often only contain the differences from the previous frame (an optimisation technique to reduce file size). So in order to produce a snapshot of the GIF at a particular point, you'll have to paste all the frames up to that point, one after the other.
We can achieve this by using Draw() with its 'draw transparently' option set:
procedure ExtractGifFrames(FileName: string);
var
Gif: TGifImage;
Bmp: TBitmap;
i: Integer;
Bounds: TRect;
begin
Gif := TGifImage.Create;
try
Gif.LoadFromFile(FileName);
Bounds := Rect(0, 0, Gif.Width-1, Gif.Height-1);
Bmp := TBitmap.Create;
try
Bmp.SetSize(Gif.Width, Gif.Height);
Bmp.PixelFormat := pf32bit;
for i := 0 to Gif.Images.Count - 1 do
begin
if not Gif.Images[i].Empty then
begin
Gif.Images[i].Draw(Bmp.Canvas, Bounds, True, True);
Bmp.SaveToFile(IntToStr(i) + '.bmp');
end;
end;
finally
Bmp.Free;
end;
finally
Gif.Free;
end;
end;
NB: There are other elements to the animated GIF format, which specify the amount of times frames are to be repeated etc. but they may not concern you.