From: ned@challis2000.fsnet.co.uk   
      
   Good morning everyone   
      
   I am currently doing quite a large project in VB6 and ACCESS for college,   
   for a Photographers company assignment. I am posting here to see if anyone   
   has any advice on what I might want to try to counter the problems I seem to   
   be facing...   
      
   The only area of the project I am struggling on is the graphical side.   
   Basically, I need to take in a load of large photographs, create a thumbnail   
   for each, create a preview size for each, and then watermark the preview   
   size. The thumbnail size and preview size images will later be uploaded to   
   the web server so customers can view them.   
      
   Currently I am using two different methods for the different tasks. For   
   resizing, including preview size and thumbnails I have been using FreeImage   
   which seems to work pretty well actually. It hasn't been easy to find (free)   
   watermarking .DLLs/modules/activeX controls though, and I am currently using   
   something I found on a forum, which basically takes two pictures boxes and   
   loops through each pixel and combines the two picture boxes creating the   
   watermark. It is very hit and miss.. but it is kind of the best thing I can   
   use right now.   
      
   What I was wondering is does anyone know of a good method of doing the tasks   
   I want without having to include more than one or two .DLLs or something   
   like a control that supports all these features. There are loads out there I   
   have found on Google, but being a student I can't afford the huge price   
   tags! Any suggestions or ideas would be welcome and thanks for your time.   
      
   Lenny Challis   
      
   FYI: Here is some examples of the code I am using/referencing to make my   
   own:   
      
   ___________________   
   Watermarking   
   ___________________   
   Option Explicit   
      
   ' Return (A * clr1 + (255-A) * clr2)\256.   
   Private Function CombineColors(ByVal clr1 As OLE_COLOR, ByVal clr2 As   
   OLE_COLOR, ByVal A As Byte) As OLE_COLOR   
   Dim r1 As Long   
   Dim g1 As Long   
   Dim b1 As Long   
   Dim r2 As Long   
   Dim g2 As Long   
   Dim b2 As Long   
      
       b1 = Int(clr1 / 65536)   
       g1 = Int((clr1 - (65536 * b1)) / 256)   
       r1 = clr1 - ((b1 * 65536) + (g1 * 256))   
      
       b2 = Int(clr2 / 65536)   
       g2 = Int((clr2 - (65536 * b2)) / 256)   
       r2 = clr2 - ((b2 * 65536) + (g2 * 256))   
      
       r1 = (A * r1 + (255 - A) * r2) \ 256   
       g1 = (A * g1 + (255 - A) * g2) \ 256   
       b1 = (A * b1 + (255 - A) * b2) \ 256   
      
       CombineColors = r1 + 256 * g1 + 65536 * b1   
   End Function   
      
   Private Sub Command1_Click()   
      
   DrawWatermark Picture1, picBackground, (picBackground.ScaleWidth / 2 -   
   Picture1.ScaleWidth / 2), (picBackground.ScaleHeight / 2 -   
   Picture1.ScaleHeight / 2)   
      
   End Sub   
      
   ' Copy the watermark image over the result image.   
   Private Sub DrawWatermark(ByVal wm_pic As PictureBox, ByVal bg_pic As   
   PictureBox, ByVal x As Integer, ByVal y As Integer)   
   Const ALPHA As Byte = 128   
   Dim transparent As OLE_COLOR   
   Dim wm_clr As OLE_COLOR   
   Dim bg_clr As OLE_COLOR   
   Dim new_clr As OLE_COLOR   
   Dim px As Integer   
   Dim py As Integer   
      
       ' Get the transparent color.   
       transparent = wm_pic.Point(0, 0)   
      
       ' Combine the images.   
       wm_pic.ScaleMode = vbPixels   
       bg_pic.ScaleMode = vbPixels   
       For py = 0 To wm_pic.ScaleHeight - 1   
           For px = 0 To wm_pic.ScaleWidth - 1   
               wm_clr = wm_pic.Point(px, py)   
               If wm_clr <> transparent Then   
                   bg_clr = bg_pic.Point(x + px, y + py)   
                   new_clr = CombineColors(wm_clr, bg_clr, ALPHA)   
                   bg_pic.PSet (x + px, y + py), new_clr   
               End If   
           Next px   
       Next py   
   End Sub   
      
   Private Sub Form_Load()   
      
   End Sub   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)