Providing a look ahead at some of the most promising innovations in graphics technologies, this guide covers the GDI+ graphical library, the .NET Framework platform, C#, and the DirectX library. Theoretical aspects of graphics, algorithms for solving common problems, and examples of their practical implementation are covered. The support of popular graphic file formats, such as BMP, GIF, TIFF, JPEG, EXI, PNG, ICO, WMF, and EMF, as well as bitmap redrawing with the application of the external alpha channel are discussed. Resizing, stretching, distorting, and rotating bitmaps are addressed in detail, as is gradient filling and support for transparency.