| cristy | 3ed852e | 2009-09-05 21:47:34 +0000 | [diff] [blame^] | 1 | Introduction to ImageMagick |
| 2 | |
| 3 | ImageMagick® is a software suite to create, edit, and compose bitmap images. |
| 4 | It can read, convert and write images in a variety of formats (over 100) |
| 5 | including DPX, EXR, GIF, JPEG, JPEG-2000, PDF, PhotoCD, PNG, Postscript, SVG, |
| 6 | and TIFF. Use ImageMagick to translate, flip, mirror, rotate, scale, shear and |
| 7 | transform images, adjust image colors, apply various special effects, or draw |
| 8 | text, lines, polygons, ellipses and Bézier curves. |
| 9 | |
| 10 | The functionality of ImageMagick is typically utilized from the command line |
| 11 | or you can use the features from programs written in your favorite programming |
| 12 | language. Choose from these interfaces: G2F (Ada), MagickCore (C), MagickWand |
| 13 | (C), ChMagick (Ch), ImageMagickObject (COM+), Magick++ (C++), JMagick (Java), |
| 14 | L-Magick (Lisp), NMagick (Neko/haXe), MagickNet (.NET), PascalMagick (Pascal), |
| 15 | PerlMagick (Perl), MagickWand for PHP (PHP), IMagick (PHP), PythonMagick |
| 16 | (Python), RMagick (Ruby), or TclMagick (Tcl/TK). With a language interface, |
| 17 | use ImageMagick to modify or create images dynamically and automagically. |
| 18 | |
| 19 | ImageMagick is free software delivered as a ready-to-run binary distribution |
| 20 | or as source code that you may freely use, copy, modify, and distribute. Its |
| 21 | license is compatible with the GPL. It runs on all major operating systems. |
| 22 | Features and Capabilities |
| 23 | |
| 24 | Here are just a few examples of what ImageMagick can do: |
| 25 | |
| 26 | * Format conversion: convert an image from one format to another (e.g. PNG |
| 27 | to JPEG) |
| 28 | * Transform: resize, rotate, crop, flip or trim an image |
| 29 | * Transparency: render portions of an image invisible |
| 30 | * Draw: add shapes or text to an image |
| 31 | * Decorate: add a border or frame to an image |
| 32 | * Special effects: blur, sharpen, threshold, or tint an image |
| 33 | * Animation: create a GIF animation sequence from a group of images |
| 34 | * Text & comments: insert descriptive or artistic text in an image |
| 35 | * Image identification: describe the format and properties of an image |
| 36 | * Composite: overlap one image over another |
| 37 | * Montage: juxtapose image thumbnails on an image canvas |
| 38 | * Motion picture support: read and write the common image formats used in |
| 39 | digital film work |
| 40 | * Image calculator: apply a mathematical expression to an image or image |
| 41 | channels |
| 42 | * High dynamic-range images: accurately represent the wide range of |
| 43 | * intensity levels found in real scenes ranging from the brightest direct |
| 44 | sunlight to the deepest darkest shadows |
| 45 | * Large image support: read, process, or write mega- and giga-pixel image |
| 46 | sizes |
| 47 | * Encipher or decipher an image: convert ordinary images into |
| 48 | unintelligible gibberish and back again |
| 49 | * Threads of execution support: ImageMagick is thread safe and many |
| 50 | internal algorithms are already threaded to take advantage of speed-ups |
| 51 | offered by the dual and quad-core processor technologies |
| 52 | |
| 53 | For more information, see http://www.imagemagick.org. |
| 54 | |
| 55 | Examples of Imagemagick Usage, http://www.imagemagick.org/usage/, |
| 56 | shows how to use ImageMagick from the command-line to accomplish any |
| 57 | of these tasks and much more. Also, see Fred's ImageMagick Scripts, |
| 58 | http://www.fmwconcepts.com/imagemagick/, a plethora of command-line scripts |
| 59 | that perform geometric transforms, blurs, sharpens, edging, noise removal, |
| 60 | and color manipulations. |
| 61 | |