4D v13.4

Picture Operators

Home

 
4D v13.4
Picture Operators

Picture Operators  


 

 

An expression that uses a picture operator returns a picture. The following table shows the picture operators.

OperationSyntaxAction
Horizontal concatenationPict1 + Pict2Add Pict2 to the right of Pict1
Vertical concatenationPict1 / Pict2Add Pict2 to the bottom of Pict1
Exclusive superimpositionPict1 & Pict2Perform an XOR on Pict1 and Pict2
Inclusive superimpositionPict1 | Pict2Perform a OR on Pict1 and Pict2
Horizontal movePicture + NumberMove Picture horizontally Number pixels
Vertical movePicture / NumberMove Picture vertically Number pixels
ResizingPicture * NumberResize Picture by Number ratio
Horizontal scalingPicture *+ NumberResize Picture horizontally by Number ratio
Vertical scalingPicture */ NumberResize Picture vertically by Number ratio

The two operators & and | always return a bitmapped picture, no matter what the nature of the two source pictures. The reason is that 4D first draws the pictures into memory bitmaps, then calculates the resulting picture by performing graphical exclusive or inclusive OR on the pixels of the bitmaps.

Note: The COMBINE PICTURES command can be used to superimpose pictures while keeping the characteristics of each source picture in the resulting picture.

The other picture operators return vectorial pictures if the two source pictures are vectorial. Remember, however, that pictures printed by the display format On Background are printed bitmapped.

Example  

In the following examples, all of the pictures are shown using the display format On Background.

Here is the picture circle:

Here is the picture rectangle:

In the following examples, each expression is followed by its graphical representation.

  • Horizontal concatenation
 circle+rectangle ` Place the rectangle to the right of the circle

 rectangle+circle ` Place the circle to the right of the rectangle

  • Vertical concatenation
 circle/rectangle ` Place the rectangle under the circle

 rectangle/circle ` Place the circle under the rectangle

  • Exclusive superimposition (XOR)
 circle&rectangle ` Exclusive OR of the two pictures

  • Inclusive superimposition (OR)
 circle|rectangle ` Inclusive OR of the two pictures

  • Horizontal move
 rectangle+50 ` Move the rectangle 50 pixels to the right

 rectangle-50 ` Move the rectangle 50 pixels to the left

  • Vertical move
 rectangle/50 ` Move the rectangle down by 50 pixels

 rectangle/-20 ` Move the rectangle up by 20 pixels

  • Resize
 rectangle*1.5 ` The rectangle becomes 50% bigger

 rectangle*0.5 ` The rectangle becomes 50% smaller

  • Horizontal scaling
 circle*+3 ` The circle becomes 3 times wider

 circle*+0.25 ` The circle's width becomes a quarter of what it was

  • Vertical scaling
 circle*/2 ` The circle becomes twice as tall

 circle*/0.25 ` The circle's height becomes a quarter of what it was

 
PROPERTIES 

Product: 4D
Theme: Operators

 
SEE ALSO 

Bitwise Operators
COMBINE PICTURES
Comparison Operators
Date Operators
Logical Operators
Numeric Operators
Operators
Pictures
String Operators
Time Operators
TRANSFORM PICTURE