banks@utah-gr.UUCP (Michael J. Banks) (07/19/88)
It's finally here! Version 2.0 of the Utah Raster Toolkit.
THE UTAH RASTER TOOLKIT
The Utah Raster toolkit is a collection of programs and C routines for
dealing with raster images commonly encountered in computer graphics. It
provides the following major functions:
* A device and system independent image format for storing images
and information about them. Called the RLE format, it uses
run length encoding to reduce storage space for most images.
* A library of C routines for reading, writing and manipulating
images stored in the RLE format.
* A collections of programs for manipulating and displaying RLE
images.
The Format:
The device independent RLE file has two parts, the header, which stores
information about the image (size, position, channel information,
color maps, comments, etc), and the actual image data in a run length
encoded format. The RLE format often requires about a third of the
available space for most "image synthesis" style images. If the image
does not compress well, the RLE format stores it as straight pixel data
with little extra overhead. The format has been developed over the past
five years at Utah.
The Library:
C routines are provided for setting up and reading the image header,
and for reading and writing the image a scanline at a time. Images can
be read or written using two different methods. Using the "row" method,
the library performs the RLE encoding and decoding. With the "raw" method,
scanlines are constructed directly with RLE opcodes. Additional routines
are available for generating dither matrices (e.g., for display programs
running on devices with less than 24 bits of color).
The Tools:
applymap - Apply color map values to pixel values.
avg4 - Downfilter an image by 1/4, generating a matte channel if one
didn't previously exist
comp - Digital image compositor. Provides the operations over, atop,
in, out, xor, plus, minus and diff on two images.
crop - Crop an image.
dvi2rle - Convert TeX output into anti-aliased images.
fant - Rotate and/or scale in image by an arbitrary (float) value.
mcut - Quantize an image from 24 to eight bits using the median cut
algorithm.
mergechan - Merge several channels from different files into a single
RLE file.
pyrmask - Blend images using Gaussian pyrimids.
repos - Change the position in the RLE header.
rleClock - Generate an image of a clock.
rleaddcom - Add a comment to the RLE file's header.
rlebg - Generate a solid or variable background.
rlebox - Find the actual non-background area of an image.
rleflip - Rotate an image by 90/180 degree increments.
rlehdr - Dump the contents of the RLE header in human readable form.
rlehisto - Generate the histogram of an RLE file.
rleldmap - Load a color map into an RLE file from a variety of sources.
rlemandl - Generate Mandlebrot sets as RLE files.
rlenoise - Adds random noise to an image.
rlepatch - Overlay several smaller images over a larger one.
rlescale - Generates gray scale and color scale RLE files.
rlesetbg - Set the background color stored in the RLE header.
rlesplit - Split a file containing several images into several files.
rleswap - Swap, copy or delete channels in an RLE file.
rletops - Convert an RLE image to PostScript (graylevel).
rlezoom - Enlarge an image with pixel replication.
smush - Perform a simple Gaussian filter on an image.
to8 - Convert a 24 bit RGB image to an eight bit dithered one.
tobw - Convert 24 bits to 8 bits black and white.
unexp - Convert an "exponential" image to a displayable one.
unslice - Quickly assemble an image from several horizontal strips
Format conversion programs are provided for:
- Simple pixel streams (color & B&W)
- Targa image format
- Cubicomp image format
- PostScript
- MacPaint
- Sun rasterfiles
- Wastatch paint systems
Display programs are provided for:
getap - Apollo workstations
getbob - HP Series 300 ("bobocat") running Windows 9000
getcx3d - Chromatics CX1500 display
getfb - BRL "libfb" displays
getgmr - Grinnell GMR-27 (remember those?)
getX - Workstations running the X window system
getX11 - Workstations running X11
getOrion - Orion displays
getren - HP 98721 "Rennasance" display
getsun - Suns running Suntools
getmac - Macintosh.
getmex - Iris running Mex
getqcr - Photograph images with the Matrix QCR-Z camera.
getiris - Iris in raw 24 bit mode.
- [Note display programs for a particular device are
simple to add]
All the tools are designed to pipe together, so they can be used as
filters on images much like the standard Unix tools filter text.
Plus:
The raster toolkit also includes Unix man pages for the library and
commands, some sample images, and additional documentation.
System Requirements:
We have successfully ported the Raster Toolkit to a number of Unix
systems, including 4.2/4.3bsd (Vax, Sun, etc), Apollo Domain/IX, HP
Series 3000, SGI Iris, Gould UTX. Display programs are included for
several devices. Creating display programs for additional devices is
a straightforward task.
Distribution:
For ARPAnet sites, the toolkit may be obtained via anonymous FTP to the
site cs.utah.edu, in the file pub/toolkit-2.0.tar (or, if you cannot FTP
that large a file at once, in pub/toolkit-2.0.tar.1, pub/toolkit-2.0.tar.2
and pub/toolkit-2.0.tar.3). Sites not on the ARPAnet can obtain the Raster
Toolkit on a 9-track, 1600 bpi tar format tape by sending check or
money order for $200.00, payable to the Department of Computer Science,
to:
Attn: Utah Raster Toolkit, Loretta Looser
Department of Computer Science
University of Utah
Salt Lake City, UT, 84112
Courtesy Mike Muuss at BRL, the Raster Toolkit is also included as
contributed software in the BRL-CAD distribution.
[Note: because of the size of the distribution, we can not distribute
it via mail or UUCP]
Although the Raster Toolkit software is copyrighted, it may be freely
re-distributed on a "GNU-like" basis.
For further technical information on the Raster Toolkit, send mail
to:
toolkit-request@cs.utah.edu (ARPA)
{ihnp4,decvax}!utah-cs!toolkit-request (UUCP)