Introduction to ImageMagick
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ImageMagick® is a software suite to create, edit, compose, or convert
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bitmap images. It can read and write images in a variety of formats (over
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200) including PNG, JPEG, JPEG-2000, GIF, TIFF, DPX, EXR, WebP, Postscript,
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PDF, and SVG. Use ImageMagick to resize, flip, mirror, rotate, distort,
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shear and transform images, adjust image colors, apply various special
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effects, or draw text, lines, polygons, ellipses and Bézier curves.
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The functionality of ImageMagick is typically utilized from the command
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line or you can use the features from programs written in your favorite
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programming language. Choose from these interfaces: G2F (Ada), MagickCore
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(C), MagickWand (C), ChMagick (Ch), ImageMagickObject (COM+), Magick++
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(C++), JMagick (Java), L-Magick (Lisp), NMagick (Neko/haXe), MagickNet
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(.NET), PascalMagick (Pascal), PerlMagick (Perl), MagickWand for PHP
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(PHP), IMagick (PHP), PythonMagick (Python), RMagick (Ruby), or TclMagick
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(Tcl/TK). With a language interface, use ImageMagick to modify or create
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images dynamically and automagically.
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ImageMagick is free software delivered as a ready-to-run binary distribution
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or as source code that you may freely use, copy, modify, and distribute
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in both open and proprietary applications. It is distributed under the
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Apache 2.0 license, approved by the OSI and recommended for use by the OSSCC.
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The ImageMagick development process ensures a stable API and ABI. Before
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each ImageMagick release, we perform a comprehensive security assessment
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that includes memory and thread error detection to prevent security
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vulnerabilities.
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ImageMagick is available from http://www.imagemagick.org/download to
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download. It runs on Linux, Windows, Mac Os X, iOS, Android OS, and others.
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The authoritative ImageMagick web site is http://www.imagemagick.org.
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Features and Capabilities
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Here are just a few examples of what ImageMagick can do:
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* Format conversion: convert an image from one format to another (e.g.
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PNG to JPEG).
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* Transform: resize, rotate, crop, flip or trim an image.
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* Transparency: render portions of an image invisible.
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* Draw: add shapes or text to an image.
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* Decorate: add a border or frame to an image.
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* Special effects: blur, sharpen, threshold, or tint an image.
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* Animation: create a GIF animation sequence from a group of images.
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* Text & comments: insert descriptive or artistic text in an image.
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* Image identification: describe the format and attributes of an image.
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* Composite: overlap one image over another.
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* Montage: juxtapose image thumbnails on an image canvas.
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* Generalized pixel distortion: correct for, or induce image distortions
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including perspective.
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* Computer vision: Canny edge detection.
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* Morphology of shapes: extract features, describe shapes and recognize
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patterns in images.
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* Motion picture support: read and write the common image formats used in
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digital film work.
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* Image calculator: apply a mathematical expression to an image or image
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channels.
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* Connected component labeling: uniquely label connected regions in an
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image.
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* Discrete Fourier transform: implements the forward and inverse DFT.
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* Perceptual hash: maps visually identical images to the same or similar
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hash-- useful in image retrieval, authentication, indexing, or copy
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detection as well as digital watermarking.
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* Color management: accurate color management with color profiles or in
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lieu of-- built-in gamma compression or expansion as demanded by the
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colorspace.
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* High dynamic-range images: accurately represent the wide range of
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intensity levels found in real scenes ranging from the brightest direct
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sunlight to the deepest darkest shadows.
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* Encipher or decipher an image: convert ordinary images into
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unintelligible gibberish and back again.
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* Virtual pixel support: convenient access to pixels outside the image
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region.
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* Large image support: read, process, or write mega-, giga-, or
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tera-pixel image sizes.
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* Threads of execution support: ImageMagick is thread safe and most
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internal algorithms are OpenMP-enabled to take advantage of speed-ups
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offered by multicore processor chips.
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* Distributed pixel cache: offload intermediate pixel storage to one or
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more remote servers.
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* Heterogeneous distributed processing: certain algorithms are
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OpenCL-enabled to take advantage of speed-ups offered by executing in
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concert across heterogeneous platforms consisting of CPUs, GPUs, and
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other processors.
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* ImageMagick on the iPhone: convert, edit, or compose images on your
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iPhone.
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Examples of ImageMagick Usage, http://www.imagemagick.org/Usage/, shows how
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to use ImageMagick from the command-line to accomplish any of these tasks and
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much more. Also, see Fred's ImageMagick Scripts,
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http://www.fmwconcepts.com/imagemagick/: a plethora of command-line scripts
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that perform geometric transforms, blurs, sharpens, edging, noise removal,
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and color manipulations.
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