http://www.gamedev.net/community/forums/topic.asp?topic_id=214798 Bitmap padding The GetDIBits function retrieves the bits of the specified compatible bitmap and copies them into a buffer as a DIB using the specified format. int GetDIBits( HDC hdc, // handle to DC HBITMAP hbmp, // handle to bitmap UINT uStartScan, // first scan line to set UINT cScanLines, // number of scan lines to copy LPVOID lpvBits, // array for bitmap bits LPBITMAPINFO lpbi, // bitmap data buffer UINT uUsage // RGB or palette index ); Parameters hdc [in] Handle to the device context. hbmp [in] Handle to the bitmap. This must be a compatible bitmap (DDB). uStartScan [in] Specifies the first scan line to retrieve. cScanLines [in] Specifies the number of scan lines to retrieve. lpvBits [out] Pointer to a buffer to receive the bitmap data. If this parameter is NULL, the function passes the dimensions and format of the bitmap to the BITMAPINFO structure pointed to by the lpbi parameter. lpbi [in/out] Pointer to a BITMAPINFO structure that specifies the desired format for the DIB data. uUsage [in] Specifies the format of the bmiColors member of the BITMAPINFO structure. It must be one of the following values. Value Meaning DIB_PAL_COLORS The color table should consist of an array of 16-bit indexes into the current logical palette. DIB_RGB_COLORS The color table should consist of literal red, green, blue (RGB) values. Return Values If the lpvBits parameter is non-NULL and the function succeeds, the return value is the number of scan lines copied from the bitmap. Windows 95/98/Me: If the lpvBits parameter is NULL and GetDIBits successfully fills the BITMAPINFO structure, the return value is the total number of scan lines in the bitmap. Windows NT/2000/XP: If the lpvBits parameter is NULL and GetDIBits successfully fills the BITMAPINFO structure, the return value is non-zero. If the function fails, the return value is zero. Windows NT/2000/XP: To get extended error information, call GetLastError. This can be the following value. Value Meaning ERROR_INVALID_PARAMETER One or more input parameters is invalid. Remarks If the requested format for the DIB matches its internal format, the RGB values for the bitmap are copied. If the requested format doesn't match the internal format, a color table is synthesized. The following table describes the color table synthesized for each format. Value Meaning 1_BPP The color table consists of a black and a white entry. 4_BPP The color table consists of a mix of colors identical to the standard VGA palette. 8_BPP The color table consists of a general mix of 256 colors defined by GDI. (Included in these 256 colors are the 20 colors found in the default logical palette.) 24_BPP No color table is returned. If the lpvBits parameter is a valid pointer, the first six members of the BITMAPINFOHEADER structure must be initialized to specify the size and format of the DIB. The scan lines must be aligned on a DWORD except for RLE compressed bitmaps. A bottom-up DIB is specified by setting the height to a positive number, while a top-down DIB is specified by setting the height to a negative number. The bitmap color table will be appended to the BITMAPINFO structure. If lpvBits is NULL, GetDIBits examines the first member of the first structure pointed to by lpbi. This member must specify the size, in bytes, of a BITMAPCOREHEADER or a BITMAPINFOHEADER structure. The function uses the specified size to determine how the remaining members should be initialized. If lpvBits is NULL and the bit count member of BITMAPINFO is initialized to zero, GetDIBits fills in a BITMAPINFOHEADER structure or BITMAPCOREHEADER without the color table. This technique can be used to query bitmap attributes. The bitmap identified by the hbmp parameter must not be selected into a device context when the application calls this function. The origin for a bottom-up DIB is the lower-left corner of the bitmap; the origin for a top-down DIB is the upper-left corner. Requirements Windows NT/2000/XP/Vista: Included in Windows NT 3.1 and later. Windows 95/98/Me: Included in Windows 95 and later. Header: Declared in Wingdi.h; include Windows.h. Library: Use Gdi32.lib. See Also Bitmaps Overview, Bitmap Functions, BITMAPCOREHEADER, BITMAPINFO, BITMAPINFOHEADER, SetDIBits