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 this 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.
9v displays a picture file in an 8½(1) window. Examine sim-
ilarly displays an image and allows interactive examination
of its pixel values. Picinfo displays the header of a pic-
ture file on its standard output. Pcp copies picture files,
modifying header attributes as requested and updating the
encoded picture array correspondingly. It can clip a sub-
window out of a picture, permute, delete, and rename chan-
nels, 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 ver-
batim and can thus convert precious images into garbage or
vice-versa.
Dumppic, gif2pic, picopic, and face2pic convert files in
various alien formats to picfile(9.6) format. Pic2ps con-
verts 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)
and face(6)).
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.
Aplot reads a square array of data points and draws an
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INTRO(9) INTRO(9)
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
Tom Duff, ``Raster Graphics in Plan 9''
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.
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