1 Introduction to ImageMagick
3 ImageMagick® is a software suite to create, edit, and compose bitmap
4 images. It can read, convert and write images in a variety of formats
5 (over 100) including DPX, EXR, GIF, JPEG, JPEG-2000, PDF, PhotoCD, PNG,
6 Postscript, SVG, and TIFF. Use ImageMagick to translate, flip, mirror,
7 rotate, scale, shear and transform images, adjust image colors, apply various
8 special effects, or draw text, lines, polygons, ellipses and Bézier curves.
10 The functionality of ImageMagick is typically utilized from the command
11 line or you can use the features from programs written in your favorite
12 programming language. Choose from these interfaces: G2F (Ada), MagickCore
13 (C), MagickWand (C), ChMagick (Ch), ImageMagickObject (COM+), Magick++
14 (C++), JMagick (Java), L-Magick (Lisp), NMagick (Neko/haXe), MagickNet
15 (.NET), PascalMagick (Pascal), PerlMagick (Perl), MagickWand for PHP
16 (PHP), IMagick (PHP), PythonMagick (Python), RMagick (Ruby), or TclMagick
17 (Tcl/TK). With a language interface, use ImageMagick to modify or create
18 images dynamically and automagically.
20 ImageMagick is free software delivered as a ready-to-run binary distribution
21 or as source code that you may freely use, copy, modify, and distribute in
22 both open and proprietary applications. It is distributed under an Apache
23 2.0-style license, approved by the OSI.
25 The ImageMagick development process ensures a stable API and ABI. Before
26 each ImageMagick release, we perform a comprehensive security assessment
27 that includes memory and thread error detection to help prevent exploits.
29 Features and Capabilities
31 Here are just a few examples of what ImageMagick can do:
33 * Format conversion: convert an image from one format to another (e.g. PNG
35 * Transform: resize, rotate, crop, flip or trim an image.
36 * Transparency: render portions of an image invisible.
37 * Draw: add shapes or text to an image.
38 * Decorate: add a border or frame to an image.
39 * Special effects: blur, sharpen, threshold, or tint an image.
40 * Animation: create a GIF animation sequence from a group of images.
41 * Text & comments: insert descriptive or artistic text in an image.
42 * Image identification: describe the format and attributes of an image.
43 * Composite: overlap one image over another.
44 * Montage: juxtapose image thumbnails on an image canvas.
45 * Generalized pixel distortion: correct for, or induce image distortions
46 including perspective.
47 * Morphology of shapes: extract features, describe shapes and recognize
49 * Motion picture support: read and write the common image formats used in
51 * Image calculator: apply a mathematical expression to an image or image
53 * Discrete Fourier transform: implements the forward and inverse DFT.
54 * High dynamic-range images: accurately represent the wide range of
55 intensity levels found in real scenes ranging from the brightest direct
56 sunlight to the deepest darkest shadows.
57 * Encipher or decipher an image: convert ordinary images into
58 unintelligible gibberish and back again.
59 * Virtual pixel support: convenient access to pixels outside the image
61 * Large image support: read, process, or write mega-, giga-, or tera-pixel
63 * Threads of execution support: ImageMagick is thread safe and most
64 internal algorithms are OpenMP-enabled to take advantage of speed-ups
65 offered by multicore processor chips.
66 * Heterogeneous distributed processing: certain algorithms are
67 OpenCL-enabled to take advantage of speed-ups offered by executing in
68 concert across heterogeneous platforms consisting of CPUs, GPUs, and
70 * ImageMagick on the iPhone: convert, edit, or compose images on your
73 Examples of ImageMagick Usage shows how to use ImageMagick from the
74 command-line to accomplish any of these tasks and much more. Also,
75 see Fred's ImageMagick Scripts: a plethora of command-line scripts that
76 perform geometric transforms, blurs, sharpens, edging, noise removal,
77 and color manipulations.