What is the best way to scale a 2D image array? For instance, suppose I have an image of 1024 x 2048 bytes, with each byte being a pixel. Each pixel is a grayscale level from 0 to 255. I would like to be able to scale this image by an arbitrary factor and get a new image. So, if I scale the image by a factor of 0.68, I should get a new image of size 0.68*1024 x 0.68*2048. some pixels will be collapsed onto each other. And, if I scale by a factor of say 3.15, I would get a larger image with pixels being duplicated. So, what's the best way to accomplish this?
Next, I would like to be able to rotate an image by an arbitrary angle, in the range of 0 to 360 degrees (0 - 2Pi). Cropping of the image after rotating isn't an issue. What would be the best way to do this?
There is no simple way of accomplishing this. Neither scaling nor rotating are trivial processes.
It is therefore advisable to use a 2d imaging library. Magick++ can be an idea as divideandconquer.se point out, but there are others.