How to Combine Geometries

This topic describes how to combine two geometries. Direct2D supports four modes for combining geometries: Union, Intersect, XOR, and Exclude. These modes are specified in the D2D1_COMBINE_MODE enum type.

To combine two geometries by using any of the four modes

  1. Declare a path geometry: a variable of type ID2D1PathGeometry that will store the result of geometry combination.
  2. Declare a geometry sink: a variable of type ID2D1GeometrySink that will store the path geometry.
  3. Create the path geometry object by calling the ID2D1Factory::CreatePathGeometry method.
  4. Open the geometry sink object by calling the ID2D1PathGeometry::Open method.
  5. Use one of the four modes to combine the two geometries by calling the ID2D1EllipseGeometry::CombineWithGeometry method.
  6. Close the geometry sink object.

The following code declares the variables of type ID2D1PathGeometry and ID2D1GeometrySink.

    ID2D1PathGeometry *m_pPathGeometryUnion;
    ID2D1PathGeometry *m_pPathGeometryIntersect;
    ID2D1PathGeometry *m_pPathGeometryXOR;
    ID2D1PathGeometry *m_pPathGeometryExclude;

The following code uses each of the four modes to combine the two ID2D1EllipseGeometry objects and performs the following actions:

  • Creates two ellipses, m_spEllipseGeometryOne and m_spEllipseGeometryTwo.
  • Creates a path geometry object.
  • Opens a geometry sink object.
  • Combines the two ellipses.
  • Closes the geometry sink object.
HRESULT DemoApp::CreateGeometryResources()
{
    HRESULT hr = S_OK;
    ID2D1GeometrySink *pGeometrySink = NULL;

    // Create the first ellipse geometry to merge.
    const D2D1_ELLIPSE circle1 = D2D1::Ellipse(
        D2D1::Point2F(75.0f, 75.0f),
        50.0f,
        50.0f
        );

    hr = m_pD2DFactory->CreateEllipseGeometry(
        circle1,
        &m_pCircleGeometry1
        );

    if (SUCCEEDED(hr))
    {
        // Create the second ellipse geometry to merge.
        const D2D1_ELLIPSE circle2 = D2D1::Ellipse(
            D2D1::Point2F(125.0f, 75.0f),
            50.0f,
            50.0f
            );

        hr = m_pD2DFactory->CreateEllipseGeometry(circle2, &m_pCircleGeometry2);
    }


    if (SUCCEEDED(hr))
    {
        //
        // Use D2D1_COMBINE_MODE_UNION to combine the geometries.
        //
        hr = m_pD2DFactory->CreatePathGeometry(&m_pPathGeometryUnion);

        if (SUCCEEDED(hr))
        {
            hr = m_pPathGeometryUnion->Open(&pGeometrySink);

            if (SUCCEEDED(hr))
            {
                hr = m_pCircleGeometry1->CombineWithGeometry(
                    m_pCircleGeometry2,
                    D2D1_COMBINE_MODE_UNION,
                    NULL,
                    NULL,
                    pGeometrySink
                    );
            }

            if (SUCCEEDED(hr))
            {
                hr = pGeometrySink->Close();
            }

            SafeRelease(&pGeometrySink);
        }
    }

    if (SUCCEEDED(hr))
    {
        //
        // Use D2D1_COMBINE_MODE_INTERSECT to combine the geometries.
        //
        hr = m_pD2DFactory->CreatePathGeometry(&m_pPathGeometryIntersect);

        if (SUCCEEDED(hr))
        {
            hr = m_pPathGeometryIntersect->Open(&pGeometrySink);

            if (SUCCEEDED(hr))
            {
                hr = m_pCircleGeometry1->CombineWithGeometry(
                    m_pCircleGeometry2,
                    D2D1_COMBINE_MODE_INTERSECT,
                    NULL,
                    NULL,
                    pGeometrySink
                    );
            }

            if (SUCCEEDED(hr))
            {
                hr = pGeometrySink->Close();
            }

            SafeRelease(&pGeometrySink);
        }
    }

    if (SUCCEEDED(hr))
    {
        //
        // Use D2D1_COMBINE_MODE_XOR to combine the geometries.
        //
        hr = m_pD2DFactory->CreatePathGeometry(&m_pPathGeometryXOR);

        if (SUCCEEDED(hr))
        {
            hr = m_pPathGeometryXOR->Open(&pGeometrySink);

            if (SUCCEEDED(hr))
            {
                hr = m_pCircleGeometry1->CombineWithGeometry(
                    m_pCircleGeometry2,
                    D2D1_COMBINE_MODE_XOR,
                    NULL,
                    NULL,
                    pGeometrySink
                    );
            }

            if (SUCCEEDED(hr))
            {
                hr = pGeometrySink->Close();
            }

            SafeRelease(&pGeometrySink);
        }
    }

    if (SUCCEEDED(hr))
    {
        //
        // Use D2D1_COMBINE_MODE_EXCLUDE to combine the geometries.
        //
        hr = m_pD2DFactory->CreatePathGeometry(&m_pPathGeometryExclude);

        if (SUCCEEDED(hr))
        {
            hr = m_pPathGeometryExclude->Open(&pGeometrySink);

            if (SUCCEEDED(hr))
            {
                hr = m_pCircleGeometry1->CombineWithGeometry(
                    m_pCircleGeometry2,
                    D2D1_COMBINE_MODE_EXCLUDE,
                    NULL,
                    NULL,
                    pGeometrySink
                    );
            }

            if (SUCCEEDED(hr))
            {
                hr = pGeometrySink->Close();
            }

            SafeRelease(&pGeometrySink);
        }
    }

    return hr;
}

This code produces the output shown in the following illustration.

illustration of two geometries and four modes for combining the geometries (union, intersection, xor, and exclude)

D2D1_COMBINE_MODE

ID2D1EllipseGeometry

ID2D1PathGeometry

ID2D1GeometrySink