DelphiBlend2D - Blend2D for Delphi

Language bindings and framework for Blend2D

Blend2D is high-performance 2D vector graphics engine. It was written from scratch with the goal to achieve the best possible software-based acceleration of 2D rendering. Blend2D provides a high-quality analytic rasterizer, a new stroking engine that uses curve offsetting instead of flattening, and a 2D pipeline generator that uses JIT compilation to generate optimal 2D pipelines at runtime.

DelphiBlend2D opens op Blend2D for Delphi developers. It provides header translations for the Blend2D C API, as well as an object oriented framework to make it easier to use.

Note that Blend2D (and thus DelphiBlend2D) is still in beta. The API and framework is subject to change.

DelphiBlend2D currently supports Windows (32 and 64-bit). Support for macOS, iOS and Android is planned for future versions.

The Blend2D libraries that are currently used are not fully optimized yet. Although performance is already excellent, expect even better performance once Blend2D goes out of beta.

Easy to Use API

The DelphiBlend2D OOP framework follows the Blend2D C++ API as closely as possible. It uses interfaces for automatic resource management. The snippet below is taken from the blGettingStarted05 sample project.

procedure Run;
var
  Image: IBLImage;
  Context: IBLContext;
  Radial, Linear: IBLGradient;
  Codec: IBLImageCodec;
begin
  Image := TBLImage.Create(480, 480);

  Context := TBLContext.Create(Image);
  Context.CompOp := TBLCompOp.SrcCopy;
  Context.FillAll;

  { First shape filled by a radial gradient. }
  Radial := TBLGradient.Create(BLRadialGradientValues(180, 180, 180, 180, 180));
  Radial.AddStop(0.0, BLRgba32($FFFFFFFF));
  Radial.AddStop(1.0, BLRgba32($FFFF6F3F));

  Context.CompOp := TBLCompOp.SrcOver;
  Context.SetFillStyle(Radial);
  Context.FillCircle(180, 180, 160);

  { Second shape filled by a linear gradient. }
  Linear := TBLGradient.Create(BLLinearGradientValues(195, 195, 470, 470));
  Linear.AddStop(0.0, BLRgba32($FFFFFFFF));
  Linear.AddStop(1.0, BLRgba32($FF3F9FFF));

  Context.CompOp := TBLCompOp.Difference;
  Context.SetFillStyle(Linear);
  Context.FillRoundRect(195, 195, 270, 270, 25);

  Context.Finish;

  Codec := TBLImageCodec.Create;
  if (Codec.FindByName('BMP')) then
    Image.WriteToFile('blGettingStarted05.bmp', Codec);
end;

It creates the following output:

Documentation

Documentation can currently be found as code comments in the Blend2D.pas unit. Separate documentation will be provided once Blend2D goes out of beta.

Since the framework matches the original C++ API where possible, you can also use the original Blend2D documentation.

Samples

DelphiBlend2D comes with a variety of sample applications that match the original sample applications of Blend2D:

• The Samples\GettingStarted directory contains console applications that use DelphiBlend2D to create images and save them to .BMP files. These samples do not use the VCL or FireMonkey framework.
• The Samples\FireMonkey directory contains samples that use the FireMonkey framework to provide a simple UI. These match the original Blend2D examples that use the Qt framework. Most of these applications allow you to switch between built-in FireMonkey rendering and Blend2D rendering. Currently, these samples only work on Windows and macOS.

Planned Features

Features planned for future releases include:

• ~~Provide a TPaintBox-like control for VCL and FireMonkey that renders using Blend42 instead.~~
• Provide the possibility to replace the system canvas in FireMonkey applications with a Blend2D canvas. This way, the entire FireMonkey UI will be rendered using Blend2D.

License

Both Blend2D and DelphiBlend2D are released under the Zlib license. See License.txt for details.