[PLUG] data array from a black and white graphics image

[Keith Lofstrom]

Is there any easy-to-use graphics software library with simple
routines that can be pointed at a two-level black-and-white
png/jpg/gif/tif/other? bitmap image, then returns an array of
ones and zeros?  C, C++, or Perl would be acceptable.  

Why?  I am doing a chip design and need to compute the resistance
of a rectangle with a random assortment of odd-shaped holes ( the
electrical equivalent of swiss cheese) with perhaps 10% accuracy.
The source data is unreadable ("GDS format" complex polygons), but
I have a rendering engine that runs under windoze that can draw a
reasonably accurate screen-sized black-and-white image, which I can
then capture with a screen dump.  After transforming the image to
the desired data array, I can throw it at a simple Poisson solver
and let it crank.  A CAD tool that did the whole shebang would be
nice, but I can probably write a simple one-off solver faster than
I could learn to use the tool.

So again, what library can do the image-to-array readin/transform
easily, which routines, and where can I find simple sample code?  
Alternately, which flat, uncompressed image formats are dead
simple to slurp?  I figure some folks here have actual experience
in this.

Keith

-- 
Keith Lofstrom          keithl at keithl.com         Voice (503)-520-1993
KLIC --- Keith Lofstrom Integrated Circuits --- "Your Ideas in Silicon"
Design Contracting in Bipolar and CMOS - Analog, Digital, and Scan ICs