When working with image galleries, reports, or marketing materials, simply merging images can often lead to visual confusion. Adding borders and labels enhances clarity and professionalism by separating images clearly and providing context such as dates or product information. This blog post will guide you through the process of merging images with custom borders and text labels using Aspose.Imaging for .NET.

Introduction

Aspose.Imaging for .NET is a powerful library that simplifies image processing tasks, including merging multiple images into one composite image. By leveraging its Graphics API, developers can easily add borders around each merged image and overlay custom text to provide additional context or information.

This tutorial will walk you through the process of setting up your development environment, preparing images for merging, creating a composite image with borders and labels, and saving the final output. We’ll also cover best practices and tips for optimizing the appearance and functionality of your image composites.

Prerequisites

Before diving into the code examples, ensure that you have the following prerequisites in place:

  1. Visual Studio 2019 or later

  2. .NET 6.0 or later (or .NET Framework 4.6.2+)

  3. Aspose.Imaging for .NET installed via NuGet Package Manager

    PM> Install-Package Aspose.Imaging

  4. A set of images to merge and annotate

Step-by-Step Implementation

Step 1: Initial Setup

First, we need to initialize the metered license and load our input files.

// Initialize metered license
Metered metered = new Metered();
metered.SetMeteredKey("your-public-key", "your-private-key");

using (Image image1 = Image.Load("path/to/image1.jpg"))
{
    // Load additional images as needed
}

Step 2: Configuring the Output Size

Next, we calculate the output size based on the number of images and desired layout. We also account for space required for borders and labels.

int width = image1.Width + borderThickness * 2; // Width including borders
int height = image1.Height + borderThickness * 2; // Height including borders

// Calculate total output dimensions based on number of images and layout (horizontal/vertical)

Step 3: Creating the Composite Image

We create an instance of Image with the calculated size, then draw each source image onto it.

using (Image composite = Image.Create(new JpegOptions(), width * numberOfImages, height))
{
    using (Graphics graphics = new Graphics(composite))
    {
        // Draw images and borders
    }
}

Step 4: Adding Borders to Each Image

Using the Graphics class, we draw a border around each image.

graphics.DrawRectangle(new Pen(borderColor), x, y, width - borderThickness * 2, height - borderThickness * 2);

Step 5: Overlaying Custom Text Labels

Finally, we add custom text labels to provide additional context or information for each image.

Font font = new Font("Arial", fontSize);
SolidBrush brush = new SolidBrush(textColor);

graphics.DrawString(labelText, font, brush, x + borderThickness, y + height - borderThickness * 2);

Step 6: Saving the Final Composite Image

Once all images are merged and annotated, we save the composite image to a file.

composite.Save("path/to/output.jpg");

Feel free to experiment with different layouts, border styles, and font options to achieve the desired visual effect in your composite images.

More in this category