INTRO(9) INTRO(9)
NAME
intro - introduction to raster image software
DESCRIPTION
Plan 9 provides a suite of commands and library routines to
create and manipulate files containing gray-scale and full-
color images. Section 9 of the manual is divided into
subsections numbered like the main manual sections: 9.1 for
commands, 9.2 for library routines, 9.6 for file formats.
Picture files are two-dimensional arrays of multi-byte
records with a textual header describing the dimensions of
the image, the algorithm used to encode the file, and
whatever other information programs may wish to preserve.
picfile(9.6) describes the file format; picopen(9.2)
describes a library of routines to read and write picture
files.
/bin/fb contains a collection of programs to manipulate pic-
ture files.
Drop displays a picture file in an 8½(1) window or on a raw
Plan 9 terminal. Examine similarly displays an image and
allows interactive examination of its pixel values. Picinfo
displays the header of a picture file on its standard out-
put. Pcp copies picture files, modifying header attributes
as requested and updating the encoded picture array corre-
spondingly. It can clip a subwindow out of a picture, per-
mute, delete and rename channels, change the encoding type
and even convert full-color images to monochrome and vice-
versa. Hed is a more brute-force version of pcp that can
apply an arbitrary sed(1) script to a picfile header. It
copies the image array verbatim and can thus convert pre-
cious images into garbage or vice-versa.
Dumppic, gif2pic, picopic and Face2pic convert files in var-
ious alien formats to picfile(9.6) format. Pic2ps converts
picfiles to encapsulated Postscript. Nohed removes the
header from a picture file. When applied to a TYPE=dump
picture this converts it into the ubiquitous `raw dump' for-
mat. Mugs is an interactive program to convert picfiles
into 48x48 icons of the sort used by seemail (see mail(1)).
Some commands create simple images out of whole cloth. Card
writes an image of constant color. Ramp creates an image
that is one color at one edge and changes linearly to
another color at the opposite edge.
Twb and its subroutine dpic convert troff(1) input into
anti-aliased images.
Page 1 Plan 9 (printed 12/21/24)
INTRO(9) INTRO(9)
Aplot reads a square array of data points and draws an
anti-aliased perspective plot of the surface it defines.
There are numerous commands that read one or more images and
write a modified image on standard output. See remap(9.1),
filters(9.1), floyd(9.1), he(9.1), lam(9.1), lerp(9.1),
logo(9.1), lum(9.1), quantize(9.1), resample(9.1)
transpose(9.1) and xpand(9.1) for descriptions.
Moto is an animator's command language. It converts concise
descriptions of simultaneous processes overlapping in time
into sequential command files suitable for producing frames
of an animation.
SEE ALSO
Sections add(2), balloc(2), cachechars(2), subfalloc(2),
bitblt(2), event(2), frame(2), print(2), bit(3), layer(2),
bitmap(6) and font(6) describe the standard Plan 9 interac-
tive bitmap graphics interface.
Page 2 Plan 9 (printed 12/21/24)