Question

In computer graphics, a distinction is often made between vector graphics and bitmap graphics. The first is what we have been doing so far in this chapter—specifying a picture by giving a logical description of shapes. Bitmap graphics, on the other hand, don’t specify actual shapes but rather work with pixel data (rasters of colored dots).

The drawImage method allows us to draw pixel data onto a canvas. This pixel data can originate from an <img> element or from another canvas, and neither has to be visible in the actual document. The following example creates a detached <img> element and loads an image file into it. But it cannot immediately start drawing from this picture because the browser may not have fetched it yet. To deal with this, we register a "load" event handler and do the drawing after the image has loaded.

<canvas></canvas>
<script>
  var cx = document.querySelector("canvas").getContext("2d");
  var img = document.createElement("img");
  img.src = "img/hat.png";
  img.addEventListener("load", function() {
    for (var x = 10; x < 200; x += 30)
      cx.drawImage(img, x, 10);
  });
</script>

By default, drawImage will draw the image at its original size. You can also give it two additional arguments to dictate a different width and height.

When drawImage is given nine arguments, it can be used to draw only a fragment of an image. The second through fifth arguments indicate the rectangle (x, y, width, and height) in the source image that should be copied, and the sixth to ninth arguments give the rectangle (on the canvas) into which it should be copied.

This can be used to pack multiple sprites (image elements) into a single image file and then draw only the part you need. For example, we have this picture containing a game character in multiple poses:

By alternating which pose we draw, we can show an animation that looks like a walking character.

To animate the picture on a canvas, the clearRect method is useful. It resembles fillRect , but instead of coloring the rectangle, it makes it transparent, removing the previously drawn pixels.

We know that each sprite, each subpicture, is 24 pixels wide and 30 pixels high. The following code loads the image and then sets up an interval (repeated timer) to draw the next frame:

<canvas></canvas>
<script>
  var cx = document.querySelector("canvas").getContext("2d");
  var img = document.createElement("img");
  img.src = "img/player.png";
  var spriteW = 24, spriteH = 30;
  img.addEventListener("load", function() {
    var cycle = 0;
    setInterval(function() {
      cx.clearRect(0, 0, spriteW, spriteH);
      cx.drawImage(img,
                   // source rectangle
                   cycle * spriteW, 0, spriteW, spriteH,
                   // destination rectangle
                   0,               0, spriteW, spriteH);
      cycle = (cycle + 1) % 8;
    }, 120);
  });
</script>

The cycle variable tracks our position in the animation. Each frame, it is incremented and then clipped back to the 0 to 7 range by using the remainder operator. This variable is then used to compute the x-coordinate that the sprite for the current pose has in the picture.

This is a book about getting computers to do what you want them to do. Computers are about as common as screwdrivers today, but they contain a lot more hidden complexity and thus are harder to operate and understand. To many, they remain alien, slightly threatening things.