ImageMagick - Convert, Edit, and Compose Images

montage

NAME

montage - create a composite image by combining several separate images

Contents

Synopsis
Description
Examples
Options
X Resources
Environment
Configuration File
Acknowledgement
Authors
Copyright

Synopsis

montage [ options ...] file [ [ options ...] file ...] output_file

Description

montage creates a composite image by combining several separate images. The images are tiled on the composite image with the name of the image optionally appearing just below the individual tile.

The composite image is constructed in the following manner. First, each image specified on the command line, except for the last, is scaled to fit the maximum tile size. The maximum tile size by default is 120x120. It can be modified with the -geometry command line argument or X resource. See Options for more information on command line arguments. See X(1) for more information on X resources. Note that the maximum tile size need not be a square.

Next the composite image is initialized with the color specified by the -background command line argument or X resource. The width and height of the composite image is determined by the title specified, the maximum tile size, the number of tiles per row, the tile border width and height, the image border width, and the label height. The number of tiles per row specifies how many images are to appear in each row of the composite image. The default is to have 6 tiles in each row and 4 tiles in each column of the composite. A specific value is specified with -tile. The tile border width and height, and the image border width defaults to the value of the X resource -borderwidth. It can be changed with the -borderwidth or -geometry command line argument or X resource. The label height is determined by the font you specify with the -font command line argument or X resource. If you do not specify a font, a font is chosen that allows the name of the image to fit the maximum width of a tiled area. The label colors is determined by the -background and -fill command line argument or X resource. Note, that if the background and pen colors are the same, labels will not appear.

Initially, the composite image title is placed at the top if one is specified (refer to -fill). Next, each image is set onto the composite image, surrounded by its border color, with its name centered just below it. The individual images are left-justified within the width of the tiled area. The order of the images is the same as they appear on the command line unless the images have a scene keyword. If a scene number is specified in each image, then the images are tiled onto the composite in the order of their scene number. Finally, the last argument on the command line is the name assigned to the composite image. By default, the image is written in the MIFF format and can be viewed or printed with display(1).

Note, that if the number of tiles exceeds the default number of 20 (6 per row, 4 per column), more than one composite image is created. To ensure a single image is produced, use -tile to increase the number of tiles to meet or exceed the number of input images.

Finally, to create one or more empty spaces in the sequence of tiles, use the "NULL:" image format.

Note, a composite MIFF image displayed to an X server with display behaves differently than other images. You can think of the composite as a visual image directory. Choose a particular tile of the composite and press a button to display it. See display(1) and miff(5)

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Examples

To create a montage of a cockatoo, a parrot, and a hummingbird and write it to a file called birds, use:

    montage cockatoo.miff parrot.miff hummingbird.miff birds.miff

To tile several bird images so that they are at most 256 pixels in width and 192 pixels in height, surrounded by a red border, and separated by 10 pixels of background color, use:

    montage -geometry 256x192+10+10 -bordercolor red birds.* montage.miff

To create an unlabeled parrot image, 640 by 480 pixels, and surrounded by a border of black, use:

    montage -geometry 640x480 -bordercolor black -label "" parrot.miff
bird.miff

To create an image of an eagle with a textured background, use:

    montage -texture bumps.jpg eagle.jpg eagle.png

To join several GIF images together without any extraneous graphics (e.g. no label, no shadowing, no surrounding tile frame), use:

    montage +frame +shadow +label -tile 5x1 -geometry 50x50+0+0 *.png joined.png

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Options

Any option you specify on the command line remains in effect for the group of images following it, until the group is terminated by the appearance of any option or -noop. For example, to make a montage of three images, the first with 32 colors, the second with an unlimited number of colors, and the third with only 16 colors, use:

     montage -colors 32 cockatoo.1 -noop cockatoo.2 -colors 16 cockatoo.3
cockatoos.miff

For a more detailed description of each option, see Options, above. ImageMagick(1).

-adjoin

join images into a single multi-image file

-authenticate <string>

decrypt image with this password

-background <color>

the background color

-blue-primary <x>,<y>

blue chromaticity primary point

-blur <radius>{x<sigma>}

blur the image with a Gaussian operator

-bordercolor <color>

the border color

-borderwidth <geometry>

the border width

-cache <threshold>

(This option has been replaced by the -limit option)

-chop <width>x<height>{+-}<x>{+-} <y>{%}

remove pixels from the interior of an image

-colors <value>

preferred number of colors in the image

-colorspace <value>

the type of colorspace

-comment <string>

annotate an image with a comment

-compose <operator>

the type of image composition

-compress <type>

the type of image compression

-crop <width>x<height>{+-}<x>{+-} <y>{%}

preferred size and location of the cropped image

-debug <events>

enable debug printout

-define <key>{=<value>},...

add coder/decoder specific options

-delete <index>

delete the image from the image sequence

-density <width>x<height>

horizontal and vertical resolution in pixels of the image

-depth <value>

depth of the image

-display <host:display[.screen]>

specifies the X server to contact

-dispose <method>

GIF disposal method

-dither

apply Floyd/Steinberg error diffusion to the image

-draw <string>

annotate an image with one or more graphic primitives

-encoding <type>

specify the text encoding

-endian <type>

specify endianness (MSB or LSB) of the image

-fill <color>

color to use when filling a graphic primitive

-filter <type>

use this type of filter when resizing an image

-font <name>

use this font when annotating the image with text

-frame <width>x<height>+<outer bevel width>+<inner bevel width>

surround the image with an ornamental border

-gamma <value>

level of gamma correction

-geometry <width>x<height>{+-}<x>{+-} <y>{%}{@} {!}{<}{>}

preferred size and location of the Image window.

-gravity <type>

direction primitive gravitates to when annotating the image.

-green-primary <x>,<y>

green chromaticity primary point

-help

print usage instructions

-insert <index>

insert last image into the image sequence

-interlace <type>

the type of interlacing scheme

-label <name>

assign a label to an image

-limit <type> <value>

Area, Disk, File, Map, or Memory resource limit

-log <string>

Specify format for debug log

-matte

store matte channel if the image has one

-mattecolor <color>

specify the color to be used with the -frame option

-mode <value>

mode of operation

-monochrome

transform the image to black and white

-page <width>x<height>{+-}<x>{+-} <y>{%}{!}{<}{>}

size and location of an image canvas

-pen <color>

(This option has been replaced by the -fill option)

-pointsize <value>

pointsize of the PostScript, OPTION1, or TrueType font

-profile <filename>

add ICM, IPTC, or generic profile to image

-quality <value>

JPEG/MIFF/PNG compression level

-radial-blur angle

radial blur the image

-red-primary <x>,<y>

red chromaticity primary point

-render

render vector operations

-resize <width>x<height>{%}{@}{!}{ <}{>}

resize an image

-rotate <degrees>{<}{>}

apply Paeth image rotation to the image

-sampling-factor <horizontal_factor>x<vertical_factor>

sampling factors used by JPEG or MPEG-2 encoder and YUV decoder/encoder.

-scenes <value-value>

range of image scene numbers to read

-shadow <radius>{x<sigma>}

shadow the montage

-sharpen <radius>{x<sigma>}

sharpen the image

-size <width>x<height>{+offset}

width and height of the image

-strip

strip the image of any profiles or comments

-stroke <color>

color to use when stroking a graphic primitive

-strokewidth <value>

set the stroke width

-swap <index,index>

swap two images in the image sequence

-texture <filename>

name of texture to tile onto the image background

-thumbnail <width>x<height>{%}{@}{!}{ <}{>}

create a thumbnail of the image

-tile <geometry>

layout of images [montage]

-title <string>

assign title to displayed image [animate, display, montage]

-transparent <color>

make this color transparent within the image

-treedepth <value>

tree depth for the color reduction algorithm

-trim

trim an image

-type <type>

the image type

-verbose

print detailed information about the image

-version

print ImageMagick version string

-white-point <x>,<y>

chromaticity white point

For a more detailed description of each option, see Options, above. ImageMagick(1).

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X Resources

Montage options can appear on the command line or in your X resource file. Options on the command line supersede values specified in your X resource file. See X(1) for more information on X resources.

All montage options have a corresponding X resource. In addition, montage uses the following X resources:

background (class Background)

background color

Specifies the preferred color to use for the composite image background. The default is #ccc.

borderColor (class BorderColor)

border color

Specifies the preferred color to use for the composite image border. The default is #ccc.

borderWidth (class BorderWidth)

border width

Specifies the width in pixels of the composite image border. The default is 2.

font (class Font)

font to use

Specifies the name of the preferred font to use when displaying text within the composite image. The default is 9x15, fixed, or 5x8 determined by the composite image size.

matteColor (class MatteColor)

color of the frame

Specify the color of an image frame. A 3D effect is achieved by using highlight and shadow colors derived from this color. The default value is #697B8F.

pen (class Pen)

text color

Specifies the preferred color to use for text within the composite image. The default is black.

title (class Title)

composite image title

This resource specifies the title to be placed at the top of the composite image. The default is not to place a title at the top of the composite image.

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Environment

COLUMNS

Output screen width. Used when formatting text for the screen. Many Unix systems keep this shell variable up to date, but it may need to be explicitly exported in order for ImageMagick to see it.

DISPLAY

X11 display ID (host, display number, and screen in the form hostname:display.screen).

HOME

Location of user's home directory. ImageMagick searches for configuration files in $HOME/.magick if the directory exists. See MAGICK_CODER_MODULE_PATH, MAGICK_CONFIGURE_PATH, and MAGICK_FILTER_MODULE_PATH if more flexibility is needed.

MAGICK_CODER_MODULE_PATH

Search path to use when searching for image format coder modules. This path allows the user to arbitrarily extend the image formats supported by ImageMagick by adding loadable modules to an arbitrary location rather than copying them into the ImageMagick installation directory. The formatting of the search path is similar to operating system search paths (i.e. colon delimited for Unix, and semi-colon delimited for Microsoft Windows). This user specified search path is used before trying the default search path.

MAGICK_CONFIGURE_PATH

Search path to use when searching for configuration (.mgk) files. The formatting of the search path is similar to operating system search paths (i.e. colon delimited for Unix, and semi-colon delimited for Microsoft Windows). This user specified search path is used before trying the default search path.

MAGICK_DEBUG

Debug options (see -debug for details)

MAGICK_FILTER_MODULE_PATH

Search path to use when searching for filter process modules (invoked via -process). This path allows the user to arbitrarily extend ImageMagick's image processing functionality by adding loadable modules to an arbitrary location rather than copying them into the ImageMagick installation directory. The formatting of the search path is similar to operating system search paths (i.e. colon delimited for Unix, and semi-colon delimited for Microsoft Windows). This user specified search path is used before trying the default search path.

MAGICK_FONT_PATH

Directory where ImageMagick should look for TrueType and Postscript Type1 font files if the font file is not found in the current directory. It is preferred to define the available fonts via type.mgk rather than use MAGICK_FONT_PATH.

MAGICK_HOME

Path to top of ImageMagick installation directory. Only observed by "uninstalled" builds of ImageMagick which do not have their location hard-coded or set by an installer.

MAGICK_DISK_LIMIT

Maximum amount of disk space allowed for use by the pixel cache.

MAGICK_FILES_LIMIT

Maximum number of open files.

MAGICK_MAP_LIMIT

Maximum size of a memory map.

MAGICK_MEMORY_LIMIT

Maximum amount of memory to allocate from the heap.

MAGICK_TMPDIR

Path to directory where ImageMagick should write temporary files. The default is to use the system default, or the location set by TMPDIR.

TMPDIR

For POSIX-compatible systems (Unix-compatible), the path to the directory where all applications should write temporary files. Overridden by MAGICK_TMPDIR if it is set.

TMP or TEMP

For Microsoft Windows, the path to the directory where applications should write temporary files. Overridden by MAGICK_TMPDIR if it is set.

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Configuration Files

ImageMagick uses a number of XML format configuration files:

colors.mgk

colors configuration file

  <?xml version="1.0"?>
  <colormap>
    <color name="AliceBlue" red="240" green="248" blue="255"
           compliance="SVG, X11, XPM" />
  </colormap>

delegates.mgk

delegates configuration file

log.mgk

logging configuration file

  <?xml version="1.0"?>
  <magicklog>
    <log events="None" />
    <log output="stdout" />
    <log filename="Magick-%d.log" />
    <log generations="3" />
    <log limit="2000" />
    <log format="%t %r %u %p %m/%f/%l/%d:\n  %e"  />
  </magicklog>

magic.mgk

file header magic test configuration file

  <?xml version="1.0"?>
  <magicmap>
    <magic name="AVI" offset="0" target="RIFF" />
  </magicmap>

coder.mgk

loadable modules configuration file

  <?xml version="1.0"?>
  <modulemap>
    <module magick="8BIM" name="META" />
  </modulemap>

type.mgk

master type (fonts) configuration file

  <?xml version="1.0"?>
  <typemap>
    <include file="type-windows.mgk" />
    <type
      name="AvantGarde-Book"
      fullname="AvantGarde Book"
      family="AvantGarde"
      foundry="URW"
      weight="400"
      style="normal"
      stretch="normal"
      format="type1"
      metrics="/usr/local/share/ghostscript/fonts/a010013l.afm"
      glyphs="/usr/local/share/ghostscript/fonts/a010013l.pfb"
    />
  </typemap>

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Acknowledgements

The MIT X Consortium for making network transparent graphics a reality.

Michael Halle, Spatial Imaging Group at MIT, for the initial implementation of Alan Paeth's image rotation algorithm.

David Pensak, E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, for providing a computing environment that made this program possible.

Peder Langlo, Hewlett Packard, Norway, made hundreds of suggestions and bug reports. Without Peder, this software would not be nearly as useful as it is today.

Rod Bogart and John W. Peterson, University of Utah. Image compositing is loosely based on rlecomp of the Utah Raster Toolkit.

Paul Heckbert, Carnegie Mellon University. Image resizing is based on his Zoom program.

Paul Raveling, USC Information Sciences Institute. The spatial subdivision color reduction algorithm is based on his Img software.

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Copyright

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