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@settitle Xmorph documentation
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* Xmorph: a digital image warping and dissolving, or morphing, program.
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@ifinfo
Xmorph: a digital image warping and dissolving, or morphing, program.

Copyright @copyright{} 1994-1999 Michael J. Gourlay
@end ifinfo

@titlepage
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@comment The title is printed in a large font.
@center @titlefont{Xmorph documentation}

@c The following two commands start the copyright page.
@page
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Copyright @copyright{} 1994-1999 Michael J. Gourlay
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@node    Top,       Synopsis,      ,         (dir)
@comment node-name, next,          previous, up

@menu
* Synopsis::         Synopsis of command line usage
* Description::      Description of how to use the program
* Options::          Command line options
* Making movies::    How to use other programs with xmorph to make movies
* See also::         Other sources of information related to morphing
* Notes::            Miscellanous information
* Index::            Index
@end menu



@node    Synopsis,      Description,   Top,      Top
@comment node-name,     next,          previous, up
@chapter Synopsis
@cindex usage

xmorph [-start srcimgfile [-finish destimgfile]]
[-src srcmeshfile [-dst dstmeshfile ]] [-help]

morph [-start srcimgfile [-finish destimgfile]]
[-src srcmeshfile [-dst dstmeshfile ]] [-out outimgfile ]
[-mt morphtween ] [-dt dissolvetween ] [-help]





@node    Description,   Options,       Synopsis, Top
@comment node-name,     next,          previous, up
@chapter Description

xmorph is a digital image warping and dissolving program,
also known as a "morphing" program.  It runs under the X
Window System.  The primary use of xmorph is to generate and
modify meshes which control the shape of an image.  xmorph
also has the capacity to dissolve images together, and to
generate a sequence of warped and dissolved images.  When
this sequence is made into a movie, it is called a "morph".

morph is a morphing program with no graphical user
interface.  morph performs image warping and dissolving but
provides no means to create or modify meshes.  The intent is
to use morph after meshes have already been generated with
xmorph. Since morph has no GUI, it can be run as a
background job and can be distributed over many machines or
processes.  This parallelization of the task can
significanly speed up the image processing.  morph can run
on machines which have no display whatsoever, and is
therefore very portable.

Both xmorph and morph use a library called libmorph which
can be used separately in the creation of other morphing
programs.

If imgfile names are provided on the command line, then
those images are loaded in.  Otherwise, xmorph generates
images to be used in lieu of images provided by the user.
Images may be loaded from menus within xmorph.

xmorph has built-in help pages that answer questions about
the details of its use.  Run xmorph and look at the online
help for more information.




@node    Options,       Making movies, Description, Top
@comment node-name,     next,          previous,    up
@chapter Options

@enumerate
@item
This is the first item.

@item
This is the second item.
@end enumerate




@node    Making movies, See also,      Options,     Top
@comment node-name,     next,          previous,    up
@chapter Making movies

xmorph is NOT a tool for making movies.  xmorph is intended
to be used with OTHER tools for editting movies in the
digital domain.  I do not intend to add movie making
abilities to xmorph.

Here is a brief explanation of how to make a movie from the
images generated by xmorph:

xmorph uses the TrueVision Targa (TGA) image file format.
You can use PBMplus, netpbm, ImageMagick or some other
program to convert Targa to other still image formats.
(This will be necessary if, for example, you use the
Berkeley MPEG encoder or want to make an animated GIF.)
See, e.g., ftp://ikaros.fysik4.kth.se/pub/netpbm/.

Use another program, such as Berkeley's mpeg_encode, or
SGI's dmconvert, or whirlgif to turn the sequence of images
that xmorph created into a single animation.  See, e.g.,
ftp://mm-ftp.cs.berkeley.edu/pub/multimedia/mpeg/encode/.

Use another program, such as mpeg_play, xanim or
movieplayer, to view the animation.  See, e.g.,
ftp://mm-ftp.cs.berkeley.edu/pub/multimedia/mpeg/play/.

There are plenty of other programs available for viewing
movies.




@node    See also,      Notes,         Making movies, Top
@comment node-name,     next,          previous,      up
@chapter See also

X(1), ppmtotga(1) (part of netpbm or PBMplus), tgatoppm(1)
(part of netpbm or PBMplus), whirlgif(1), mpeg_encode(1)
from U.C. Berkeley, mpeg_play(1) from U.C. Berkeley,
ImageMagick, dmconvert(1), (under Silicon Graphics IRIX).
movieplayer(1) (under Silicon Graphics IRIX), xanim(1),

http://colorado-research.com/~gourlay/

http://colorado-research.com/~gourlay/software/

http://colorado-research.com/~gourlay/software/Graphics/

http://colorado-research.com/~gourlay/software/Graphics/Xmorph/




@node    Notes,         Index,         See also,   Top
@comment node-name,     next,          previous,   up
@chapter See also

The only image file type currently supported is Truevision
Targa (TGA) but xmorph will load any type of Targa, such as
8-bit, 15-bit, or 16-bit colormapped or grayscale; 24-bit or
32-bit true color (with or without alpha channel);  run-
length encoded or uncompressed.

Some versions of the program ``xv'' can not read xmorph's TGA
image files.  This is a bug in ``xv'', not in xmorph.

Use image conversion programs (such as those listed in the
SEE ALSO section) to convert to and from TGA image files for
use with xmorph and morph .

Report bugs to michael.gourlay@@colorado-research.com




@node       Index,          ,          Notes,      Top
@comment node-name,     next,          previous,   up
@unnumbered Index

@printindex cp

@contents
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