Artistic codes · zplCore barcode engine

QR codes and barcodes with design. Readability checked.

Put your logo or a picture into a QR code, give the modules a shape, let a skyline grow out of an EAN-13 – and see right away whether every scanner still reads it. Colour for print and screen, black and white for thermal printers.

Learn more: how the readability check works, limits, privacy

Every design is rendered and then decoded by zplCore at the target resolution – with zxing-cpp and ZXing.Net, on a slightly blurred image as a phone camera sees it. A halftone picture or bar motif that would not scan is weakened step by step until it does; shapes and logos are reported with a clear message (AR001–AR010). The same check runs in your .NET code: Barcode.CheckReadability(), Label.CheckReadability(record, dpi) and Label.Validate(record, dpi).

Your image is sent to the server only for this one render (PNG, JPEG, GIF or WebP, scaled down to 640 px in your browser, at most 150 KB), decoded in memory and never stored. No SVG and no URLs are accepted. The demo allows 30 requests per minute.

Gallery

Every example was decoded after rendering – the badge shows which readers read it.

Logo QR with a clean plateBrand mark on a plate of whole modules, dot modules, rounded finders. Error correction H.Reads: zxing-cpp + ZXing.NetColourPNG SVG

**Halftone QR: sunset**The picture is worked into the modules: every module keeps its data in the centre, the sub-modules around it take the image colours.Reads: zxing-cpp + ZXing.NetColourPNG

**Halftone QR: illustration**A portrait-like motif with circular finders. Finder, timing and alignment patterns stay untouched.Reads: zxing-cpp + ZXing.NetColourPNG

**Gradient fill, rounded modules**Rounded squares with a colour gradient through ArtBarImagePattern.Reads: zxing-cpp + ZXing.NetColourPNG

**Circles with circular finders**Module and finder shape chosen to match – the combination readers like best.Reads: zxing-cpp + ZXing.NetColourPNG SVG

**Diamonds**Diamond modules with rounded finders.Reads: zxing-cpp + ZXing.NetColourPNG SVG

**Horizontal stripes**Neighbouring modules join to stripes; the finders stay solid.Reads: zxing-cpp + ZXing.NetColourPNG SVG

**Data Matrix as dots**The finder L and the clock track stay square, the data area is dots.Reads: zxing-cpp + ZXing.NetColourPNG SVG

**EAN-13 with a city skyline**Your own silhouette cuts the top of the bars (here 38 %). Quiet zones, bar widths and the scan zone below stay untouched.Reads: zxing-cpp + ZXing.NetColourPNG SVG

**Code 128 with grass**Built-in motif: blades of grass on top of the bars.Reads: zxing-cpp + ZXing.NetColourPNG SVG

**UPC-A with waves**Built-in motif: the bar tops follow a wave.Reads: zxing-cpp + ZXing.NetColourPNG SVG

**Rounded bar ends**Half-round bar tops – subtle, best with wide modules.Reads: zxing-cpp + ZXing.NetColourPNG SVG

Thermal print: logo QRThe same logo QR at 203 dpi in black and white – what a Zebra printer prints as ^GFA.Reads: zxing-cpp + ZXing.NetThermal print 203 dpiPNG

**Thermal print: poster halftone**A black-and-white motif rasters cleanly; strength 0.5 keeps it readable.Reads: zxing-cpp + ZXing.NetThermal print 203 dpiPNG

**Thermal print: sunset halftone**The colour picture as error-diffused dots at 203 dpi.Reads: zxing-cppThermal print 203 dpiPNG

**Thermal print: EAN-13 skyline**Built-in skyline motif at 203 dpi.Reads: zxing-cpp + ZXing.NetThermal print 203 dpiPNG

Your own image

Choose a picture or logo, pick the style – the server renders it and checks whether it still scans.

Image (PNG, JPEG, GIF, WebP)

or a sample:

Scaled to 640 px in your browser, max. 150 KB; nothing is stored.

Data Barcode Data Module shape Finder shape Motif Picture strength 0.75 Logo size 24 % Motif height 36 % Colour Resolution Colour output

Picture in colour (thermal print stays black and white)

Thermal print (203 dpi, black and white)

Readability

ZPL for the printer (^GFA)

In your .NET code

The same in C# – the label format has the same properties (JSON names in camelCase).

// logo QR: brand mark on a plate, dots and rounded finders
var logo = new Barcode
{
    Symbology = Symbology.QrCode, Code = "https://zplcore.com", Dpi = 300, BarWidth = 9,
    LogoImage = SKBitmap.Decode("logo.png"), LogoSizePercent = 26,
    ModuleShape = ModuleShape.Dot, FinderShape = FinderShape.Rounded,
};

// halftone QR: the picture in the modules (HalftoneColor = false for thermal printers)
var halftone = new Barcode
{
    Symbology = Symbology.QrCode, Code = "https://zplcore.com", Dpi = 300, BarWidth = 6, QrVersion = 7,
    HalftoneImage = SKBitmap.Decode("picture.jpg"), HalftoneStrength = 0.75, HalftoneColor = true,
};

// vanity barcode: a silhouette in the top 38 % of the bars
var ean = new Barcode
{
    Symbology = Symbology.Ean13, Code = "400638133393", Dpi = 300, BarWidth = 4, BarHeight = 260,
    BarArt = BarArt.Image, BarArtImage = SKBitmap.Decode("skyline.png"), BarArtHeightPercent = 38,
};

var check = halftone.CheckReadability();   // Readable, AppliedHalftoneStrength, Findings (AR001–AR010)
File.WriteAllBytes("halftone.png", halftone.ToPng());
string zpl = "^XA" + logo.ToZplGraphic(30, 30) + "^XZ";   // black-and-white ^GFA for the printer

Docs: artistic codes in the documentation · API reference: Barcode · template demo with the example label “Artistic QR codes”.