A Hands-On Guide and Introduction to Quartz 2D

On Mac OS X, Macintosh developers depend on the graphics and imaging frameworks of the Core Graphics system to implement multimedia features in their applications. With Core Graphics Apple has answered the increasing demands of graphics developers with a powerful collection of tools, including Quartz 2D and Core Image. Quartz 2D is a modern drawing API with a powerful imaging model. Beginning with Mac OS X 10.4, Tiger, Quartz 2D replaces the QuickDraw® graphics library in legacy applications and provides the functionality developers need to take advantage of the latest hardware.

Quartz 2D Graphics for Mac OS X® Developers is a hands-on guide and introduction to Quartz 2D. Differences between the interfaces and features of QuickDraw and Quartz 2D are making the switch challenging for developers. Through in-depth practical coverage, Mac developer and consultant Scott Thompson leads you smoothly through the transition and sets you on the path to developing cutting edge graphics in Core Image.

Through this invaluable guide, you will learn how to

• Forge connections between Quartz 2D and graphics devices using CGContexts

• Simplify the drawing process using transformations

• Draw line art using path-drawing operations on Bezier paths

• Use pixel data to create images

• Import and export images from Quartz 2D with Image I/O and QuickTime

• Generate text and implement special text effects

• Draw in offscreen environments, such as CGLayers and offscreen bitmaps

• Create shadings and patterns

• Create PDFs from Quartz 2D drawings or import PDFs into your drawings

If you depend on QuickDraw for your graphics needs, or are interested in a system that pushes the envelope in computer graphics, now is the time to make the switch to Core Graphics (Quartz 2D, Core Image). This is the book that walks you through that change–step-by-step!

The companion CD-ROM contains projects and source code covered in this book so you can run each sample. The samples demonstrate how to call Quartz 2D from both Carbon and Cocoa applications as well as from Mac OS X’s Python scripting interface.

Amazon.com® Reader Reviews (Ranked by Helpfulness)

Average Amazon.com® Rating:  Based on 5 Ratings

Informative but Irrelevant. Obsolete! - 2007-12-08
Reviewer Rating:
This was great for learning quartz in TIGER but a lot of the examples don't compile in Leopard. A lot of stuff is also (bizarrely) written in C++ in Carbon. Almost the first sentence of every other Mac programming book I've ever read was "Use Cocoa and Objective C". Almost every paragraph in the book tells Cocoa programmers where to look for documentation instead. Even the examples that are written in Cocoa are in "Objective-C++" (.mm).

Granted it was a decent introduction to Quartz and drawing, but if you want to take anything out of the book you have to follow the author's links to where to learn about Cocoa, open up your developer library, and translate everything into actual Objective-C yourself.

So unless you plan on developing for Tiger for the rest of your life, stick to Apple's online documentation for learning how to write Mac OS X applications.

Best Practices for Mac programmers. - 2006-05-31
Reviewer Rating:
I thought this was a great book for Mac programmers who want to know more about Quartz. It is well written and easy to follow. There is a CD-ROM with the sample code included with the book. It covers the essentials and gives "Best Practices" advice on actually using Quartz in a professional program, including performance issues. R. Scott Thompson is a talented author and I hope he will write more programming books in the future.

It starts with a clear introduction to Quartz, but gets right to some useful techniques, such as off-screen bitmaps, writing images to a PNG file, etc. It covers the basics, like CGContexts, Affine transforms, Bezier curves, and Paths, in a clear and insightful manner. You could learn most of this material from the manuals, but Scott has a way of clearing things up and making you feel comfortable with the topic. The examples he gives are short but useful in learning the subtle points of the Quartz API.

Next comes a more in-depth look at off-screen drawing, clipping and the masking of images. Scott shows you how to work with PNG, JPEG data, and gives code for importing and exporting other image formats using QuickTime.

I especially like the chapter on Core Image, which isn't covered anywhere else. Scott shows you how to wrap the API in C to gain access to the powerful filters and transition effects provided by Core Image.

This book is not a complete reference or encyclopedia of the Quartz API, (get "Programming with Quartz" by Gelphman & Laden for that). Mac programmers will want both.

Good, albeit overpriced, overview of Quartz 2D Graphics - 2007-09-18
Reviewer Rating:
I just purchased this book today at the full list price of $49.99. This is too much IMO for a 300 page overview of a graphics system (no matter how well written.) That said, by chapter 2 I've already noticed a number of mistakes not picked up by editors (probably because the words substituted are not incorrectly spelled: ie. 'inherit' instead of 'inherent', or 'combing' instead of 'combining') Maybe I'm just being nitpicky, but I'm growing tired of laziness on the part of publishing houses.

All in all, this is a good introduction to the topic. For the discounted Amazon price, it's worth the money.

The book on how to use Quartz right away. - 2006-10-13
Reviewer Rating:
Quartz is 2D Graphics lightweight C-based API on Mac OS X. It is by design resolution and device independent. It is based on the industry standard PDF imaging model. Is is a primary drawing API on a Mac OS X, and it supersedes QuickDraw.

Now about the book: I like author's approachable style of presentation. The content of the book is quite supplementary to the Apple's own documentation, which sometimes gets very terse. The book doesn't assume very much from the reader, so even Mac programming newbie could find it quite useful. The author made a great effort to keep the reader engaged through the examples, source code for which is available on the supplementing CD. The book has a very good layout and is very handy to use.

I wish there were more programming books like that these days.

Great Overview - 2007-02-03
Reviewer Rating:
Well presented material. Good overview of state-of-the-art Mac graphics. Simply written. Good reference.

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