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5.5 Image Data and DataBuffers

The DataBuffer belonging to a Raster represents an array of image data. When you create a Raster directly or through the BufferedImage constructors, you specify a width and height in pixels, along with a SampleModel for the image data. This information is used to create a DataBuffer of the appropriate data type and size.

There are three subclasses of DataBuffer, each representing a different type of data element:

As defined earlier, elements are the discrete members of the array of the data buffer, and components or samples are the discrete values that together make up a pixel. There can be various mappings between a particular type of element in a DataBuffer and a particular type of pixel represented by a SampleModel. It is the responsibility of the various SampleModel subclasses to implement that mapping and provide a way to get specific pixels from a specific DataBuffer.

DataBuffer constructors provide ways to create buffers of a specific size and a specific number of banks.

While you can access image data in a DataBuffer directly, it's generally easier and more convenient to do so through the methods of the Raster and WritableRaster classes.



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