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`pygame.pixelcopy`
  pygame module for general pixel array copying

  The `pygame.pixelcopy` module contains functions for copying between surfaces and objects exporting an array structure interface. It is a backend for `pygame.surfarray` pygame module for accessing surface pixel data using array interfaces, adding NumPy support. But pixelcopy is more general, and intended for direct use.

  The array struct interface exposes an array's data in a standard way. It was introduced in NumPy. In Python 2.7 and above it is replaced by the new buffer protocol, though the buffer protocol is still a work in progress. The array struct interface, on the other hand, is stable and works with earlier Python versions. So for now the array struct interface is the predominate way pygame handles array introspection.

  For 2d arrays of integer pixel values, the values are mapped to the pixel format of the related surface. To get the actual color of a pixel value use `pygame.Surface.unmap_rgb()`convert a mapped integer color value into a Color. 2d arrays can only be used directly between surfaces having the same pixel layout.

  New in pygame 1.9.2.

  pygame.pixelcopy.surface_to_array()
    copy surface pixels to an array object
    surface_to_array(array, surface, kind='P', opaque=255, clear=0) -> None

    The surface_to_array function copies pixels from a Surface object to a 2D or 3D array. Depending on argument `kind` and the target array dimension, a copy may be raw pixel value, RGB, a color component slice, or colorkey alpha transparency value. Recognized `kind` values are the single character codes 'P', 'R', 'G', 'B', 'A', and 'C'. Kind codes are case insensitive, so 'p' is equivalent to 'P'. The first two dimensions of the target must be the surface size (w, h).

    The default 'P' kind code does a direct raw integer pixel (mapped) value copy to a 2D array and a 'RGB' pixel component (unmapped) copy to a 3D array having shape (w, h, 3). For an 8 bit colormap surface this means the table index is copied to a 2D array, not the table value itself. A 2D array's item size must be at least as large as the surface's pixel byte size. The item size of a 3D array must be at least one byte.

    For the 'R', 'G', 'B', and 'A' copy kinds a single color component of the unmapped surface pixels are copied to the target 2D array. For kind 'A' and surfaces with source alpha (the surface was created with the SRCALPHA flag), has a colorkey (set with `Surface.set_colorkey()`), or has a blanket alpha (set with `Surface.set_alpha()`) then the alpha values are those expected for a SDL surface. If a surface has no explicit alpha value, then the target array is filled with the value of the optional `opaque` surface_to_array argument (default 255: not transparent).

    Copy kind 'C' is a special case for alpha copy of a source surface with colorkey. Unlike the 'A' color component copy, the `clear` argument value is used for colorkey matches, `opaque` otherwise. By default, a match has alpha 0 (totally transparent), while everything else is alpha 255 (totally opaque). It is a more general implementation of `pygame.surfarray.array_colorkey()`Copy the colorkey values into a 2d array.

    Specific to surface_to_array, a ValueError is raised for target arrays with incorrect shape or item size. A TypeError is raised for an incorrect kind code. Surface specific problems, such as locking, raise a pygame.error.

  pygame.pixelcopy.array_to_surface()
    copy an array object to a surface
    array_to_surface(<surface>, <array>) -> None

    See `pygame.surfarray.blit_array()`Blit directly from a array values.

  pygame.pixelcopy.map_array()
    copy an array to another array, using surface format
    map_array(<array>, <array>, <surface>) -> None

    Map an array of color element values - (w, h, ..., 3) - to an array of pixels - (w, h) according to the format of <surface>.

  pygame.pixelcopy.make_surface()
    Copy an array to a new surface
    pygame.pixelcopy.make_surface(array) -> Surface

    Create a new Surface that best resembles the data and format of the array. The array can be 2D or 3D with any sized integer values.

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