> NAME

animate - animate a sequence of images
> Contents

Synopsis
Description
Examples
Options
Files and Formats
Mouse Buttons
Command Widget
Keyboard Accelerators
X Resources
Environment
Copyright
Acknowledgement
Authors
> Synopsis

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

> 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

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.

Animate options can appear on the command line or in your X resources file. See X(1). Options on the command line supersede values specified in your X resources file.


> -backdrop color

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.

> -background color

the background color

> -border <width>x<height>

surround the image with a border of color

See X(1) for details about the geometry specification.

> -bordercolor color

the border color

> -borderwidth color

the border width

> -cache threshold

megabytes of memory available to the pixel cache

Image pixels are stored in memory until 80 megabytes of memory have been consumed. Subsequent pixel operations are cached on disk. Operations to memory are significantly faster but if your computer does not have a sufficient amount of free memory you may want to adjust this threshold value.

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

remove pixels from the interior of an image

The width and height give the number of columns and rows to remove, and the offsets give the location of the leftmost column and topmost row to remove.

The -chop option removes entire rows and columns, and moves the remaining corner blocks leftward and upward to close the gaps.

> -colormap type

define the colormap type

Choose between 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 have any duplicate or unused colors removed. Refer to quantize for more details.

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

> -colorspace value

the type of colorspace

Choices are: GRAY, OHTA, RGB, Transparent, XYZ, YCbCr, YIQ, YPbPr, YUV, or CMYK.

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 Transparent color space behaves uniquely in that it preserves the matte channel of the image if it exists.

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.

The width and height give the size of the image that remains after cropping, and the offsets give the location of the top left corner of the cropped image with respect to the original image. To specify the amount to be removed, use -shave instead.

To specify a percentage width or height to be removed instead, append %. For example to crop the image by ten percent (five percent on each side of the image), use -crop 10%.

Use cropping to apply image processing options to, or display, a particular area of an image.

Omit the x and y offset to generate one or more subimages of a uniform size.

Use cropping to crop a particular area of an image. Use -crop 0x0 to trim edges that are the background color. Add an x and y offset to leave a portion of the trimmed edges with the image.

> -debug

enable debug printout

> -delay <1/100ths of a second>

display the next image after pausing

This option is useful for regulating the animation of GIF images within Netscape. Delay/100 seconds must expire before the display of the next image. The default is no delay between each showing of the image sequence. The maximum delay is 65535.

You can specify a delay range (e.g. -delay 10-500) which sets the minimum and maximum delay.

> -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 dots per inch in the horizontal and vertical direction. This option is used in concert with -page.

> -depth value

depth of the image

This is the number of bits in a pixel. The only acceptable values are 8 or 16. Use this option to specify the depth of raw images whose depth is unknown such as GRAY, RGB, or CMYK, or to change the depth of any image after it has been read.

> -display host:display[.screen]

specifies the X server to contact

> -dispose method

GIF disposal method

Here are the valid methods:
     0     No disposal specified.
     1     Do not dispose between frames.      
     2     Overwrite frame with background color from header.
     3     Overwrite with previous frame.

> -dissolve value

dissolve an image

> -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.

Use +dither to render Postscript without text or graphic aliasing.

> -font name

use this font when annotating the image with text

You can tag a font to specify whether it is a Postscript, Truetype, or OPTION1 font. For example, Arial.ttf is a Truetype font, ps:helvetica is Postscript, and x:fixed is OPTION1.

> -foreground color

define the foreground color

> -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 slashes (i.e. 1.7/2.3/1.2).

Use +gamma value to set the image gamma level without actually adjusting the image pixels. This option is useful if the image is of a known gamma but not set as an image attribute (e.g. PNG images).

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

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 specify the maximum area in pixels of an image.

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.

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.

There are 72 pixels per inch in PostScript coordinates.

> -help

print usage instructions

> -iconGeometry geometry

specify the icon geometry

> -iconic

iconic animation

> -interlace type

the type of interlacing scheme

Choices are: None, Line, Plane, or Partition. The default is None.

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...). Partition is like plane except the different planes are saved to individual files (e.g. image.R, image.G, and image.B).

Use Line, or Plane to create an interlaced PNG or GIF or progressive JPEG image.

> -map type

display image using this type.

[animate or display]

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.

> -matte

store matte channel if the image has one

If the image does not have a matte channel, create an opaque one.

> -mattecolor color

specify the matte color

> -monochrome

transform the image to black and white

> -name

name an image

> -pause seconds

pause between animation loops

Pause for the specified number of seconds before repeating the animation.

> -remote

perform a remote operation

The only command recognized at this time is the name of an image file to load.

> -rotate degrees{<}{>}

apply Paeth image rotation to the image

Use > to rotate the image only if its width exceeds the height. < rotates the image only if its width is less than the height. For example, if you specify -90> and the image size is 480x640, the image is not rotated by the specified angle. However, if the image is 640x480, it is rotated by -90 degrees.

Empty triangles left over from rotating the image are filled with the color defined as background (class backgroundColor). See X(1) for details.

> -scene value{-value}

image scene number or range

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

> -shared_memory

use shared memory

This resource specifies whether the utility 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.

> -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 with an offset to skip any header information in the image or tell the number of colors in a MAP image file, (e.g. -size 640x512+256).

For Photo CD images, choose from these sizes:
     192x128
     384x256
     768x512
     1536x1024
     3072x2048

Finally, use this option to choose a particular resolution layer of a JBIG or JPEG image (e.g. -size 1024x768).

> -text_font name

font for writing fixed-width text

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

You can tag a font to specify whether it is a Postscript, Truetype, or OPTION1 font. For example, Courier.ttf is a Truetype font and x:fixed is OPTION1.

> -title "string"

assign a title to the displayed image

Use this option to assign a specific title to the image. This is assigned to the image window and is typically displayed in the window title bar. Optionally you can include the image filename, type, width, height, or other image attribute by embedding special format characters:
     %b file size
     %c comment
     %d directory
     %e filename extention
     %f filename
     %h height
     %i input filename
     %k number of unique colors
     %l label
     %m magick
     %n number of scenes
     %o output filename
     %p page number
     %q quantum depth
     %s scene number
     %t top of filename
     %u unique temporary filename
     %w width
     %x x resolution
     %y y resolution
     \n newline
     \r carriage return

For example,
     -title "%m:%f %wx%h"

produces an image title of MIFF:bird.miff 512x480 for an image titled bird.miff and whose width is 512 and height is 480.

> -treedepth value

tree depth for the color reduction algorithm

Normally, this integer value is zero or one. A zero or one tells display to choose an 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

animate images using this X 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 screen is chosen.

> -window id

make image the background of a window

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.

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> Files and Formats

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

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]). A subimage specification can be disjoint (e.g. image.tiff[2,7,4]). For raw images, specify a subimage with a geometry (e.g. -size 640x512 image.rgb[320x256+50+50]).

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
    • Open
    • Play
    • Step
    • Repeat
    • Auto Reverse
  • Speed
    • Faster
    • Slower
  • 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

Ctl+O
Press to load an image from a file.
space
Press to display the next image in the sequence.
<
Press to speed-up the display of the images. Refer to -delay for more information.
>
Press to slow the display of the images. Refer to -delay for more information.
?
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.
F1
Press to display helpful information about animate(1).
Ctl-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 #ccc.
borderColor (class BorderColor)
Specifies the preferred color to use for the Image window border. The default is #ccc.
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.
</back>
> Environment


> DISPLAY

To get the default host, display number, and screen.
> 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, duPont, for providing a computing environment that made this program possible.
Paul Raveling, USC Information Sciences Institute. The spatial subdivision color reduction algorithm is based on his Img software.

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>Authors
John Cristy, magick-users@imagemagick.org, ImageMagick Studio LLC.
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>Copyright
Copyright (C) 2002 ImageMagick Studio

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files ("ImageMagick"), to deal in ImageMagick without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of ImageMagick, and to permit persons to whom the ImageMagick is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of ImageMagick.

The software is provided "as is", without warranty of any kind, express or implied, including but not limited to the warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose and noninfringement.In no event shall ImageMagick Studio be liable for any claim, damages or other liability, whether in an action of contract, tort or otherwise, arising from, out of or in connection with ImageMagick or the use or other dealings in ImageMagick.

Except as contained in this notice, the name of the ImageMagick Studio LLC shall not be used in advertising or otherwise to promote the sale, use or other dealings in ImageMagick without prior written authorization from the ImageMagick Studio.

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