Question

I am wondering how I can both import and export bitmaps to and from C. I’m basically lost on where to begin.

Answer 1

A bitmap in memory looks similar to this:

struct Image {
    int width;
    int height;
    char *data;    // 1 byte per channel & only 1 channel == grayscale
}

struct Image theImage;
theImage.width = 100;
theImage.height = 100;
theImage.data = malloc(sizeof(char) * theImage.width * theImage.height);

As to importing and exporting, there are some really simple file formats out there, take a look at BMP. For more complex formats you best use an already available library.

Most frameworks already have load/save methods for the most common fileformats. You could take a look at SDL if you’re looking for a lightweight library.