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2
3#Introduction to ImageMagick
4
5 ImageMagick® is a software suite to create, edit, compose, or convert
6 bitmap images. It can read and write images in a variety of formats (over
7 200) including PNG, JPEG, JPEG-2000, GIF, TIFF, DPX, EXR, WebP, Postscript,
8 PDF, and SVG. Use ImageMagick to resize, flip, mirror, rotate, distort,
9 shear and transform images, adjust image colors, apply various special
10 effects, or draw text, lines, polygons, ellipses and Bézier curves.
11
12 The functionality of ImageMagick is typically utilized from the command
13 line or you can use the features from programs written in your favorite
14 programming language. Choose from these interfaces: G2F (Ada), MagickCore
15 (C), MagickWand (C), ChMagick (Ch), ImageMagickObject (COM+), Magick++
16 (C++), JMagick (Java), L-Magick (Lisp), NMagick (Neko/haXe), MagickNet
17 (.NET), PascalMagick (Pascal), PerlMagick (Perl), MagickWand for PHP
18 (PHP), IMagick (PHP), PythonMagick (Python), RMagick (Ruby), or TclMagick
19 (Tcl/TK). With a language interface, use ImageMagick to modify or create
20 images dynamically and automagically.
21
22 ImageMagick utilizes multiple computational threads to increase performance
23 and can read, process, or write mega-, giga-, or tera-pixel image sizes.
24
25 ImageMagick is free software delivered as a ready-to-run binary distribution
26 or as source code that you may freely use, copy, modify, and distribute
27 in both open and proprietary applications. It is distributed under the
28 Apache 2.0 license, approved by the OSI and recommended for use by the OSSCC.
29
30 The ImageMagick development process ensures a stable API and ABI. Before
31 each ImageMagick release, we perform a comprehensive security assessment
32 that includes memory and thread error detection to prevent security
33 vulnerabilities.
34
35 ImageMagick is available from http://www.imagemagick.org/download to
36 download. It runs on Linux, Windows, Mac Os X, iOS, Android OS, and others.
37
38 The authoritative ImageMagick web site is http://www.imagemagick.org.
39
40
41#Features and Capabilities
42
43 Here are just a few examples of what ImageMagick can do:
44
45 * Format conversion: convert an image from one format to another (e.g.
46 PNG to JPEG).
47 * Transform: resize, rotate, crop, flip or trim an image.
48 * Transparency: render portions of an image invisible.
49 * Draw: add shapes or text to an image.
50 * Decorate: add a border or frame to an image.
51 * Special effects: blur, sharpen, threshold, or tint an image.
52 * Animation: create a GIF animation sequence from a group of images.
53 * Text & comments: insert descriptive or artistic text in an image.
54 * Image identification: describe the format and attributes of an image.
55 * Composite: overlap one image over another.
56 * Montage: juxtapose image thumbnails on an image canvas.
57 * Generalized pixel distortion: correct for, or induce image distortions
58 including perspective.
59 * Computer vision: Canny edge detection.
60 * Morphology of shapes: extract features, describe shapes and recognize
61 patterns in images.
62 * Motion picture support: read and write the common image formats used in
63 digital film work.
64 * Image calculator: apply a mathematical expression to an image or image
65 channels.
66 * Connected component labeling: uniquely label connected regions in an
67 image.
68 * Discrete Fourier transform: implements the forward and inverse DFT.
69 * Perceptual hash: maps visually identical images to the same or similar
70 hash-- useful in image retrieval, authentication, indexing, or copy
71 detection as well as digital watermarking.
72 * Color management: accurate color management with color profiles or in
73 lieu of-- built-in gamma compression or expansion as demanded by the
74 colorspace.
75 * High dynamic-range images: accurately represent the wide range of
76 intensity levels found in real scenes ranging from the brightest direct
77 sunlight to the deepest darkest shadows.
78 * Encipher or decipher an image: convert ordinary images into
79 unintelligible gibberish and back again.
80 * Virtual pixel support: convenient access to pixels outside the image
81 region.
82 * Large image support: read, process, or write mega-, giga-, or
83 tera-pixel image sizes.
84 * Threads of execution support: ImageMagick is thread safe and most
85 internal algorithms are OpenMP-enabled to take advantage of speed-ups
86 offered by multicore processor chips.
87 * Distributed pixel cache: offload intermediate pixel storage to one or
88 more remote servers.
89 * Heterogeneous distributed processing: certain algorithms are
90 OpenCL-enabled to take advantage of speed-ups offered by executing in
91 concert across heterogeneous platforms consisting of CPUs, GPUs, and
92 other processors.
93 * ImageMagick on the iPhone: convert, edit, or compose images on your
94 iPhone.
95
96 Examples of ImageMagick Usage, http://www.imagemagick.org/Usage/, shows how
97 to use ImageMagick from the command-line to accomplish any of these tasks and
98 much more. Also, see Fred's ImageMagick Scripts,
99 http://www.fmwconcepts.com/imagemagick/: a plethora of command-line scripts
100 that perform geometric transforms, blurs, sharpens, edging, noise removal,
101 and color manipulations.
102