C H A P T E R  12

Java 2D Graphics

To put things simply, Java 2D is an API to render two-dimensional graphics on surfaces such as computer screens, printers, and devices. This powerful API allows you to do things such as drawing geometric shapes, image processing, alpha compositing (combining images), text font rendering, antialiasing, clipping, creating transformations, stroking, filling, and printing.

Breaking news! When giving news I'm sure you've heard people say, “I've got good news and bad news". Well, in the case of Java 2D, it is good news and more good news. First, the Java 2D API has virtually been unchanged since its major release (Java 2), which is a testament to good design. Now for more good news, new to Java 7 is that the 2D API is getting a new graphics pipeline called XRender. XRender will have access to hardware accelerated features on systems with modern graphics processing units (GPUs). This is great news to many existing Java applications that use Java 2D already because they will gain excellent rendering performance without changing any code. Things can only get better as the major players get onboard with the Open J....