BITMAP(1) BSD BITMAP(1)
NAME
bitmap, bmtoa, atobm - bitmap editor and converter utilities for X
SYNOPSIS
bitmap [-options ...] filename WIDTHxHEIGHT
bmtoa [-chars ...] [filename]
atobm [-chars cc] [-name variable] [-xhot number] [-yhot number]
[filename]
DESCRIPTION
The bitmap program is a rudimentary tool for creating or editing
rectangular images made up of 1's and 0's. Bitmaps are used in X for
defining clipping regions, cursor shapes, icon shapes, and tile and
stipple patterns.
The bmtoa and atobm filters convert bitmap files (FILE FORMAT) to and
from ASCII strings. They are most commonly used to quickly print out
bitmaps and to generate versions for including in text.
USAGE
Bitmap displays grid in which each square represents a single bit in the
picture being edited. Squares can be set, cleared, or inverted directly
with the buttons on the pointer and a menu of higher level operations
such as draw line and fill circle is provided to the side of the grid.
Actual size versions of the bitmap as it would appear normally and
inverted appear below the menu.
If the bitmap is to be used for defining a cursor, one of the squares in
the images may be designated as the hotspot. This determines where the
cursor is actually pointing. For cursors with sharp tips (such as arrows
or fingers), this is usually at the end of the tip; for symmetric cursors
(such as crosses or bullseyes), this is usually at the center.
Bitmaps are stored as small C code fragments suitable for including in
applications. They provide an array of bits as well as symbolic
constants giving the width, height, and hotspot (if specified) that may
be used in creating cursors, icons, and tiles.
The WIDTHxHEIGHT argument gives the size to use when creating a new
bitmap (the default is 16x16). Existing bitmaps are always edited at
their current size.
If the bitmap window is resized by the window manager, the size of the
squares in the grid will shrink or enlarge to fit.
OPTIONS
Bitmap accepts the following options:
-help
This option will cause a brief description of the allowable options
and parameters to be printed.
-display display
This option specifies the name of the X server to used.
-geometry geometry
This option specifies the placement and size of the bitmap window on
the screen. See X for details.
-nodashed
This option indicates that the grid lines in the work area should not
be drawn using dashed lines. Although dashed lines are prettier than
solid lines, on some servers they are significantly slower.
-name variablename
This option specifies the variable name to be used when writing out
the bitmap file. The default is to use the basename of the filename
command line argument.
-bw number
This option specifies the border width in pixels of the main window.
-fn font
This option specifies the font to be used in the buttons.
-fg color
This option specifies the color to be used for the foreground.
-bg color
This option specifies the color to be used for the background.
-hl color
This option specifies the color to be used for highlighting.
-bd color
This option specifies the color to be used for the window border.
-ms color
This option specifies the color to be used for the pointer (mouse).
Bmtoa accepts the following option:
-chars cc
This option specifies the pair of characters to use in the string
version of the bitmap. The first character is used for 0 bits and
the second character is used for 1 bits. The default is to use
dashes (-) for 0's and sharp signs (#) for 1's.
Atobm accepts the following options:
-chars cc
This option specifies the pair of characters to use when converting
string bitmaps into arrays of numbers. The first character
represents a 0 bit and the second character represents a 1 bit. The
default is to use dashes (-) for 0's and sharp signs (#) for 1's.
-name variable
This option specifies the variable name to be used when writing out
the bitmap file. The default is to use the basename of the filename
command line argument or leave it blank if the standard input is
read.
-xhot number
This option specifies the X coordinate of the hotspot. Only postive
values are allowed. By default, no hotspot information is included.
-yhot number
This option specifies the Y coordinate of the hotspot. Only postive
values are allowed. By default, no hotspot information is included.
CHANGING GRID SQUARES
Grid squares may be set, cleared, or inverted by pointing to them and
clicking one of the buttons indicated below. Multiple squares can be
changed at once by holding the button down and dragging the cursor across
them. Set squares are filled and represent 1's in the bitmap; clear
squares are empty and represent 0's.
Button 1
This button (usually leftmost on the pointer) is used to set one
or more squares. The corresponding bit or bits in the bitmap
are turned on (set to 1) and the square or squares are filled.
Button 2
This button (usually in the middle) is used to invert one or
more squares. The corresponding bit or bits in the bitmap are
flipped (1's become 0's and 0's become 1's).
Button 3
This button (usually on the right) is used to clear one or more
squares. The corresponding bit or bits in the bitmap are turned
off (set to 0) and the square or squares are emptied.
MENU COMMANDS
To make defining shapes easier, bitmap provides 13 commands for drawing
whole sections of the grid at once, 2 commands for manipulating the
hotspot, and 2 commands for updating the bitmap file and exiting. A
command buttons for each of these operations is located to the right of
the grid.
Several of the commands operate on rectangular portions of the grid.
These areas are selected after the command button is pressed by moving
the cursor to the upper left square of the desired area, pressing a
pointer button, dragging the cursor to the lower right hand corner (with
the button still pressed) , and then releasing the button. The command
may be aborted by pressing any other button while dragging or by
releasing outside the grid.
To invoke a command, move the pointer over that command and click any
button.
Clear All
This command is used to clear all of the bits in the bitmap as
if Button 3 had been dragged through every square in the grid.
It cannot be undone.
Set All
This command is used to set all of the bits in the bitmap as if
Button 1 had been dragged through every square in the grid. It
cannot be undone.
Invert All
This command is used to invert all of the bits in the bitmap as
if Button 2 had been dragged through every square in the grid.
Clear Area
This command is used to clear a region of the grid as if Button
3 had been dragged through each of the squares in the region.
When this command is invoked, the cursor will change shape to
indicate that the area to be cleared should be selected as
outlined above.
Set Area
This command is used to set a region of the grid as if Button 1
had been dragged through each of the squares in the region.
When this command is invoked, the cursor will change shape to
indicate that the area to be set should be selected as outlined
above.
Invert Area
This command is used to inverted a region of the grid as if
Button 2 had been dragged through each of the squares in the
region. When this command is invoked, the cursor will change
shape to indicate that the area to be inverted should be
selected as outlined above.
Copy Area
This command is used to copy a region of the grid from one
location to another. When this command is invoked, the cursor
will change shape to indicate that the area to be copied should
be selected as outlined above. The cursor should then be
clicked on the square to which the upper left hand corner of the
region should be copied.
Move Area
This command is used to move a region of the grid from one
location to another. When this command is invoked, the cursor
will change shape to indicate that the area to be moved should
be selected as outlined above. The cursor should then be
clicked on the square to which the upper left hand corner of the
region should be moved. Any squares in the region's old
position that aren't also in the new position are cleared.
Overlay Area
This command is used to copy all of the set squares in a region
of the grid from one location to another. When this command is
invoked, the cursor will change shape to indicate that the area
to be copied should be selected as outlined above. The cursor
should then be clicked on the square to which the upper left
hand corner of the region should be overlaid. Only the squares
that are set in the region will be touched in the new location.
Line
This command will set the squares in a line between two points.
When this command is invoked, the cursor will change shape to
indicate that the pointer should be clicked on the two end
points of the line.
Circle
This command will set the squares on a circle specified by a
center and a point on the curve. When this command is invoked,
the cursor will change shape to indicate that the pointer should
be clicked on the center of the circle and then over a point on
the curve. Small circles may not look very round because of the
size of the grid and the limits of having to work with discrete
pixels.
Filled Circle
This command will set all of the squares in a circle specified
by a center and a point on the curve. When this command is
invoked, the cursor will change shape to indicate that the
pointer should be clicked on the center of the circle and then
over a point on the curve. All squares side and including the
circle are set.
Flood Fill
This command will set all clear squares in an enclosed shape.
When this command is invoked, the cursor will change shape to
indicate that the pointer should be clicked on any empty square
inside the shape to be filled. All empty squares that border
horizontally or vertically with the indicated square are set out
to the enclosing shape. If the shape is not closed, the entire
grid will be filled.
Set Hot Spot
This command designates one square in the grid as the hot spot
if this bitmap to be used for defining a cursor. When the
command is invoked, the cursor will change indicating that the
pointer should be clicked on the square to contain the hot spot.
Clear Hot Spot
This command removes any designated hot spot from the bitmap.
Write Output
This command writes a small fragment of C code representing the
bitmap to the filename specified on the command line. If the
file already exists, the original file will be renamed to
filename~ before the new file is created. If an error occurs in
either the renaming or the writing of the bitmap file, a dialog
box will appear asking whether or not bitmap should use
/tmp/filename instead.
Quit
This command causes bitmap to display a dialog box asking
whether or not it should save the bitmap (if it has changed) and
then exit. Answering yes is the same as invoking Write Output;
no causes bitmap to simply exit; and cancel will abort the Quit
command so that more changes may be made.
FILE FORMAT
The Write Output command stores bitmaps as simple C program fragments
that can be compiled into programs, referred to by X Toolkit pixmap
resources, manipulated by other programs (see xsetroot), or read in using
utility routines in the various programming libraries. The width and
height of the bitmap as well as the hotspot, if specified, are written as
preprocessor symbols at the start of the file. The bitmap image is then
written out as an array of characters:
#define name_width 11
#define name_height 5
#define name_x_hot 5
#define name_y_hot 2
static char name_bits[] = {
0x91, 0x04, 0xca, 0x06, 0x84,
0x04, 0x8a, 0x04, 0x91, 0x04
};
The name prefix to the preprocessor symbols and to the bits array is
constructed from the filename argument given on the command line. Any
directories are stripped off the front of the name and any suffix
beginning with a period is stripped off the end. Any remaining non-
alphabetic characters are replaced with underscores. The name_x_hot and
name_y_hot symbols will only be present if a hotspot has been designated
using the Set Hot Spot command.
Each character in the the array contains 8 bits from one row of the image
(rows are padded out at the end to a multiple of 8 to make this is
possible). Rows are written out from left to right and top to bottom.
The first character of the array holds the leftmost 8 bits of top line,
and the last characters holds the right most 8 bits (including padding)
of the bottom line. Within each character, the leftmost bit in the
bitmap is the least signficant bit in the character.
This process can be demonstrated visually by splitting a row into words
containing 8 bits each, reversing the bits each word (since Arabic
numbers have the significant digit on the right and images have the least
significant bit on the left), and translating each word from binary to
hexidecimal.
In the following example, the array of 1's and 0's on the left represents
a bitmap containing 5 rows and 11 columns that spells X11. To its right
is is the same array split into 8 bit words with each row padded with 0's
so that it is a multiple of 8 in length (16):
10001001001 10001001 00100000
01010011011 01010011 01100000
00100001001 00100001 00100000
01010001001 01010001 00100000
10001001001 10001001 00100000
Reversing the bits in each word of the padded, split version of the
bitmap yields the left hand figure below. Interpretting each word as
hexidecimal number yields the array of numbers on the right:
10010001 00000100 0x91 0x04
11001010 00000110 0xca 0x06
10000100 00000100 0x84 0x04
10001010 00000100 0x8a 0x04
10010001 00000100 0x91 0x04
The character array can then be generated by reading each row from left
to right, top to bottom:
static char name_bits[] = {
0x91, 0x04, 0xca, 0x06, 0x84,
0x04, 0x8a, 0x04, 0x91, 0x04
};
The bmtoa program may be used to convert bitmap files into arrays of
characters for printing or including in text files. The atobm program
can be used to convert strings back to bitmap format.
USING BITMAPS IN PROGRAMS
The format of bitmap files is designed to make bitmaps and cursors easy
to use within X programs. The following code could be used to create a
cursor from bitmaps defined in this.cursor and this_mask.cursor:
#include "this.cursor"
#include "this_mask.cursor"
XColor foreground, background;
/* fill in foreground and background color structures */
Pixmap source = XCreateBitmapFromData (display, drawable,
this_bits, this_width, this_height);
Pixmap mask = XCreateBitmapFromData (display, drawable,
this_mask_bits, this_mask_width, this_mask_height);
Cursor cursor = XCreatePixmapCursor (display, source, mask,
foreground, background, this_x_hot, this_y_hot);
Additional routines are available for reading in bitmap files and
returning the data in the file, in Bitmap (single-plane Pixmap for use
with routines that require stipples), or full depth Pixmaps (often used
for window backgrounds and borders). Applications writers should be
careful to understand the difference between Bitmaps and Pixmaps so that
their programs function correctly on color and monochrome displays.
For backward compatibility, bitmap will also accept X10 format bitmap
files. However, when the file is written out again it will be in X11
format
X DEFAULTS
Bitmap uses the following resources:
Background
The window's background color. Bits which are 0 in the bitmap are
displayed in this color. This option is useful only on color
displays. The default value is white.
BorderColor
The border color. This option is useful only on color displays. The
default value is black.
BorderWidth
The border width. The default value is 2.
BodyFont
The text font. The default value is variable.
Foreground
The foreground color. Bits which are 1 in the bitmap are displayed
in this color. This option is useful only on color displays. The
default value is black.
Highlight
The highlight color. bitmap uses this color to show the hot spot and
to indicate rectangular areas that will be affected by the Move Area,
Copy Area, Set Area, and Invert Area commands. If a highlight color
is not given, then bitmap will highlight by inverting. This option
is useful only on color displays.
Mouse
The pointer (mouse) cursor's color. This option is useful only on
color displays. The default value is black.
Geometry
The size and location of the bitmap window.
Dimensions
The WIDTHxHEIGHT to use when creating a new bitmap.
SEE ALSO
X(1), Xlib - C Language X Interface (particularly the section on
Manipulating Bitmaps), XmuReadBitmapDataFromFile
BUGS
The old command line arguments aren't consistent with other X programs.
If you move the pointer too fast while holding a pointer button down,
some squares may be missed. This is caused by limitations in how
frequently the X server can sample the pointer location.
There is no way to write to a file other than the one specified on the
command line.
There is no way to change the size of the bitmap once the program has
started.
There is no undo command.
COPYRIGHT
Copyright 1988, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
See X(1) for a full statement of rights and permissions.
AUTHOR
bitmap by Ron Newman, MIT Project Athena; documentation, bmtoa, and atobm
by Jim Fulton, MIT X Consortium.