Animate

Contents

• Synopsis
• Description
• Examples
• Options
• Mouse Buttons
• Command Widget
• Keyboard Accelerators
• X Resources
• Environment
• Copyright
• Acknowledgement
• Authors

Synopsis

animate [ options ...] file [ [ options ...] file ...]

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Description

animate displays a sequence of images on any workstation display running an X server. animate first determines the hardware capabilities of the workstation. If the number of unique colors in an image is less than or equal to the number the workstation can support, the image is displayed in an X window. Otherwise the number of colors in the image is first reduced to match the color resolution of the workstation before it is displayed.

This means that a continuous-tone 24 bits-per-pixel image can display on a 8 bit pseudo-color device or monochrome device. In most instances the reduced color image closely resembles the original. Alternatively, a monochrome or pseudo-color image sequence can display on a continuous-tone 24 bits-per-pixel device.

To help prevent color flashing on X server visuals that have colormaps, animate creates a single colormap from the image sequence. This can be rather time consuming. You can speed this operation up by reducing the colors in the image before you `animate' them. Use mogrify to color reduce the images to a single colormap. See mogrify(1) for details. Alternatively, you can use a Standard Colormap; or a static, direct, or true color visual. You can define a Standard Colormap with xstdcmap. See xstdcmap(1) for details. This method is recommended for colormapped X server because it eliminates the need to compute a global colormap.

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Examples

To animate a set of images of a cockatoo, use:

  animate cockatoo.*

To animate a cockatoo image sequence while using the Standard Colormap "best", use:

  xstdcmap -best
  animate -map best cockatoo.*

To animate an image of a cockatoo without a border centered on a backdrop, use:

  animate +borderwidth -backdrop cockatoo.*

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Options

-backdrop

display the image centered on a backdrop.

This backdrop covers the entire workstation screen and is useful for hiding other X window activity while viewing the image. The color of the backdrop is specified as the background color. Refer to X Resources for details.

-colormap type

the type of colormap: Shared or Private.

This option only applies when the default X server visual is PseudoColor or GrayScale. Refer to -visual for more details. By default, a shared colormap is allocated. The image shares colors with other X clients. Some image colors could be approximated, therefore your image may look very different than intended. Choose Private and the image colors appear exactly as they are defined. However, other clients may go technicolor when the image colormap is installed.

-colors value

preferred number of colors in the image.

The actual number of colors in the image may be less than your request, but never more. Note, this is a color reduction option. Images with less unique colors than specified with this option will remain unchanged. Refer to quantize for more details.

Note, options -dither, -colorspace, and -treedepth affect the color reduction algorithm.

-colorspace value

the type of colorspace: GRAY, OHTA, RGB, XYZ, YCbCr, YIQ, YPbPr, or YUV.

Color reduction, by default, takes place in the RGB color space. Empirical evidence suggests that distances in color spaces such as YUV or YIQ correspond to perceptual color differences more closely than do distances in RGB space. These color spaces may give better results when color reducing an image. Refer to quantize for more details.

The -colors or -monochrome option is required for this option to take effect.

-crop <width>{%}x<height>{%}{+-}<x offset>{+-}<y offset>

preferred size and location of the cropped image. See X(1) for details about the geometry specification.

To specify a percentage width or height instead, append %. For example to crop the image by ten percent on all sides of the image, use -crop 10%.

Use cropping to apply image processing options to, or display, a particular area of an image. Use -crop 0x0 to remove edges that are the background color.

The equivalent X resource for this option is cropGeometry (class CropGeometry). See X Resources for details.

-delay seconds

display the next image after pausing.

This option is useful for regulating the displayof the sequence of images. milliseconds milliseconds must expire before the display of the next image. The default is 100 milliseconds between each frame of the image sequence.

-density <width>x<height>

vertical and horizontal resolution in pixels of the image.

This option specifies an image density when decoding a PostScript or Portable Document page. The default is 72 pixels per inch in the horizontal and vertical direction.

-display host:display[.screen]

specifies the X server to contact; see X(1).

-dither

apply Floyd/Steinberg error diffusion to the image.

The basic strategy of dithering is to trade intensity resolution for spatial resolution by averaging the intensities of several neighboring pixels. Images which suffer from severe contouring when reducing colors can be improved with this option.

The -colors or -monochrome option is required for this option to take effect.

-gamma value

level of gamma correction.

The same color image displayed on two different workstations may look different due to differences in the display monitor. Use gamma correction to adjust for this color difference. Reasonable values extend from 0.8 to 2.3.

You can apply separate gamma values to the red, green, and blue channels of the image with a gamma value list delineated with commas (i.e. 1.7,2.3,1.2).

-geometry <width>{%}x<height>{%}{+-}<x offset>{+-}<yoffset>{!}{<}{>}

preferred size and location of the Image window. See X(1) for details about the geometry specification. By default, the window size is the image size and the location is chosen by you when it is mapped.

By default, the width and height are maximum values. That is, the image is expanded or contracted to fit the width and height value while maintaining the aspect ratio of the image. Append an exclamation point to the geometry to force the image size to exactly the size you specify. For example, if you specify 640x480! the image width is set to 640 pixels and height to 480. If only one factor is specified, both the width and height assume the value.

To specify a percentage width or height instead, append %. The image size is multiplied by the width and height percentages to obtain the final image dimensions. To increase the size of an image, use a value greater than 100 (e.g. 125%). To decrease an image's size, use a percentage less than 100.

Use < to change the dimensions of the image only if its size exceeds the geometry specification. > resizes the image only if its dimensions is less than the geometry specification. For example, if you specify 640x480> and the image size is 512x512, the image size does not change. However, if the image is 1024x1024, it is resized to 640x480.

When displaying an image on an X server, <x offset> and <y offset> is relative to the root window.

The equivalent X resource for this option is geometry (class Geometry). See X Resources for details.

-interlace type

the type of interlacing scheme: NONE, LINE, or PLANE.

This option is used to specify the type of interlacing scheme for raw image formats such as RGB or YUV. NONE means do not interlace (RGBRGBRGBRGBRGBRGB...), LINE uses scanline interlacing (RRR...GGG...BBB...RRR...GGG...BBB...), and PLANE uses plane interlacing (RRRRRR...GGGGGG...BBBBBB...).

Use LINE, or PLANE to create an interlaced GIF or progressive JPEG image.

-map type

display image using this Standard Colormap type.

Choose from these Standard Colormap types:

      best
      default
      gray
      red
      green
      blue

The X server must support the Standard Colormap you choose, otherwise an error occurs. Use list as the type and display searches the list of colormap types in top-to-bottom order until one is located. See xstdcmap(1) for one way of creating Standard Colormaps.

-monochrome

transform the image to black and white.

-scene value

image scene number.

Use this option to specify an image sequence with a single filename. See the discussion of file below for details.

-size <width>{%}x<height>{%}{+offset}{!}

width and height of the image.

Use this option to specify the width and height of raw images whose dimensions are unknown such as GRAY, RGB, or CMYK. In addition to width and height, use -size to skip any header information in the image or tell the number of colors in a MAP image file, (e.g. -size 640x512+256).

-treedepth value

Normally, this integer value is zero or one. A zero or one tells display to choose a optimal tree depth for the color reduction algorithm.

An optimal depth generally allows the best representation of the source image with the fastest computational speed and the least amount of memory. However, the default depth is inappropriate for some images. To assure the best representation, try values between 2 and 8 for this parameter. Refer to quantize for more details.

The -colors or -monochrome option is required for this option to take effect.

-verbose

print detailed information about the image.

This information is printed: image scene number; image name; image size; the image class (DirectClass or PseudoClass); the total number of unique colors; and the number of seconds to read and transform the image. Refer to miff for a description of the image class.

If -colors is also specified, the total unique colors in the image and color reduction error values are printed. Refer to quantize for a description of these values.

-visual type

display image using this visual type.

Choose from these visual classes:

      StaticGray
      GrayScale
      StaticColor
      PseudoColor
      TrueColor
      DirectColor
      default
      visual id

The X server must support the visual you choose, otherwise an error occurs. If a visual is not specified, the visual class that can display the most simultaneous colors on the default X server screen is chosen.

-window id

set the background pixmap of this window to the image.

id can be a window id or name. Specify root to select X's root window as the target window.

By default the image is tiled onto the background of the target window. If -backdrop or -geometry are specified, the image is surrounded by the background color. Refer to X Resources for details.

The image will not display on the root window if the image has more unique colors than the target window colormap allows. Use -colors to reduce the number of colors.

In addition to those listed above, you can specify these standard X resources as command line options: -background, -bordercolor, -borderwidth, -font, -foreground, -iconGeometry, -iconic, -mattecolor, -name, or -title. See X Resources for details.

Any option you specify on the command line remains in effect until it is explicitly changed by specifying the option again with a different effect. For example, to animate two images, the first with 32 colors and the second with only 16 colors, use:

  animate -colors 32 cockatoo.1 -colors 16 cockatoo.2

Options are processed in command line order. Any option you specify on the command line remains in effect until it is explicitly changed by specifying the option again with a different effect.

Change - to + in any option above to reverse its effect. For example, specify +dither to not apply error diffusion to an image.

By default, the image format is determined by its magic number. To specify a particular image format, precede the filename with an image format name and a colon (i.e. ps:image) or specify the image type as the filename suffix (i.e. image.ps). See convert(1) for a list of valid image formats.

When you specify X as your image type, the filename has special meaning. It specifies an X window by id, name, or root. If no filename is specified, the window is selected by clicking the mouse in the desired window.

Specify file as - for standard input, If file has the extension .Z or .gz, the file is uncompressed with uncompress or gunzip respectively. Precede the image file name with | to pipe from a system command.

Use an optional index enclosed in brackets after a file name to specify a desired subimage of a multi-resolution image format like Photo CD (e.g. img0001.pcd[4]) or a range for MPEG images (e.g. video.mpg[50-75]).

Single images are read with the filename you specify. Alternatively, you can animate an image sequence with a single filename. Define the range of the image sequence with -scene. Each image in the range is read with the filename followed by a period (.) and the scene number. You can change this behavior by embedding a printf format specification in the file name. For example,

  -scene 0-9 image%02d.miff

animates files image00.miff, image01.miff, through image09.miff.

Image filenames may appear in any order on the command line if the image format is MIFF (refer to miff(5) and the scene keyword is specified in the image. Otherwise the images will display in the order they appear on the command line.

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Mouse Buttons

Press any button to map or unmap the Command widget. See the next section for more information about the Command widget.

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Command Widget

The Command widget lists a number of sub-menus and commands. They are

• Animate
  • Play
  • Step
  • Repeat
  • Auto Reverse
• Speed
  • Slower
  • Faster
• Direction
  • Forward
  • Reverse
• Image Info
• Help
• Quit

Menu items with a indented triangle have a sub-menu. They are represented above as the indented items. To access a sub-menu item, move the pointer to the appropriate menu and press a button and drag. When you find the desired sub-menu item, release the button and the command is executed. Move the pointer away from the sub-menu if you decide not to execute a particular command.

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Keyboard Accelerators

   p    Press to animate the sequence of images.

   s    Press to display the next image in the sequence.

   .    Press to continually display the sequence of images.

   a    Press to automatically reverse the sequence of images.

   <    Press to slow the display of the images.  Refer to
        -delay for more information.

   >    Press to speed-up the display of the images.  Refer to
        -delay for more information.

   f    Press to animate in the forward direction.

   r    Press to animate in the reverse direction.

   i    Press to display information about the image.  Press
        any key or button to erase the information.

        This information is printed: image name;  image size;
        and the total number of unique colors in the image.

   h    Press to display helpful information about animate(1).

        Function keys HELP or F1 are synonymous with the

   q    Press to discard all images and exit program.

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X Resources

animate options can appear on the command line or in your X resource file. Options on the command line supersede values specified in your X resource file. See X(1) for more information on X resources.

All animate options have a corresponding X resource. In addition, the animate program uses the following X resources:

background (class Background)

Specifies the preferred color to use for the Image window background. The default is #697B8F.

borderColor (class BorderColor)

Specifies the preferred color to use for the Image window border. The default is black.

borderWidth (class BorderWidth)

Specifies the width in pixels of the Image window border. The default is 2.

font (class Font or FontList)

Specifies the name of the preferred font to use in normal formatted text. The default is 14 point Helvetica.

foreground (class Foreground)

Specifies the preferred color to use for text within the Image window. The default is black.

geometry (class geometry)

Specifies the preferred size and position of the image window. It is not necessarily obeyed by all window managers.

iconGeometry (class IconGeometry)

Specifies the preferred size and position of the application when iconified. It is not necessarily obeyed by all window managers.

iconic (class Iconic)

This resource indicates that you would prefer that the application's windows initially not be visible as if the windows had be immediately iconified by you. Window managers may choose not to honor the application's request.

matteColor (class MatteColor)

Specify the color of windows. It is used for the backgrounds of windows, menus, and notices. A 3D effect is achieved by using highlight and shadow colors derived from this color. Default value: #ddd.

name (class Name)

This resource specifies the name under which resources for the application should be found. This resource is useful in shell aliases to distinguish between invocations of an application, without resorting to creating links to alter the executable file name. The default is the application name.

sharedMemory (class SharedMemory)

This resource specifies whether animate should attempt use shared memory for pixmaps. ImageMagick must be compiled with shared memory support, and the display must support the MIT-SHM extension. Otherwise, this resource is ignored. The default is True.

text_font (class textFont)

Specifies the name of the preferred font to use in fixed (typewriter style) formatted text. The default is 14 point Courier.

title (class Title)

This resource specifies the title to be used for the Image window. This information is sometimes used by a window manager to provide some sort of header identifying the window. The default is the image file name.

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Environment

DISPLAY

To get the default host, display number, and screen.

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Copyright

Permission to use, copy, modify, distribute, and sell this software and its documentation for any purpose is hereby granted without fee, provided that the above copyright notice appear in all copies and that both that copyright notice and this permission notice appear in supporting documentation, and that the name of E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company not be used in advertising or publicity pertaining to distribution of the software without specific, written prior permission. E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company makes no representations about the suitability of this software for any purpose. It is provided "as is" without express or implied warranty.

E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company disclaims all warranties with regard to this software, including all implied warranties of merchantability and fitness, in no event shall E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company be liable for any special, indirect or consequential damages or any damages whatsoever resulting from loss of use, data or profits, whether in an action of contract, negligence or other tortuous action, arising out of or in connection with the use or performance of this software.

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Acknowledgements

The MIT X Consortium for making network transparent graphics a reality.

Michael Halle, Spatial Imaging Group at MIT, for the initial implementation of Alan Paeth's image rotation algorithm.

David Pensak, E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, for providing a computing environment that made this program possible.

Paul Raveling, USC Information Sciences Institute. The spacial subdivision color reduction algorithm is based on his Img software.

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Authors

John Cristy, cristy@dupont.com E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company Incorporated.

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