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Manual Page - xreview(1)


Manual Reference Pages  - XREVIEW (1)

NAME

xreview - display of AIM cartoons for X Window System


CONTENTS

Synopsis
Overview
     Generation Of Bitmap Cartoons
     Display Of Bitmap Cartoons
     KEYBOARD CONTROL (cursor in the Cartoon Window)
Controls Window
Options
See Also
Bugs
Copyright
Author

SYNOPSIS

xreview [options] [filename]

OVERVIEW

xreview is a program for displaying bitmap cartoons produced by the AIM
software. All frames of a cartoon or a subset of frames can be played.
The speed may be slowed and it is possible to step through
a cartoon frame-by-frame. It has been tested under X11R4 and above.

    GENERATION OF BITMAP CARTOONS

Any AIM module that creates a sequence of pictures, or "frames", may be used
to generate a cartoon. The frames are saved as bitmaps; that is, a copy
of the screen memory for the frame. The bitmaps are created using the option "bitmap". For example,


gensai [options] -bitmap [options] waveform

This creates a file called "waveform.ctn", which can be used as input
to xreview.

xreview reads and plays the sequence of bitmaps. The bitmap option
is available for AIM modules genasa, genepn, gensai and genspl.

Because the bitmaps are an exact copy of the screen memory, it is impossible
to change either the size of the cartoon or any AIM display parameters
within xreview. In addition, if the cartoons are generated on a mulitplane
screen (e.g. 8 bits deep) then the bitmaps are very big, even though only
two colours are used by the AIM display software. The hidden option "mono_ctn=on"
may be used to copy only a 1-bit plane from the screen to the bitmaps.
On some machines the incorrect plane may be copied, in which case the
cartoon displayed by xreview looks completely different to the cartoon
as it was generated by the AIM software. If this occurs, then
the option "planemask_ctn" may be used to specify which plane is copied.
This is best done by trial-and-error. The hidden option "colour_ctn=on" forces
all planes to be copied to the bitmaps.

    DISPLAY OF BITMAP CARTOONS

The basic xreview command is

        xreview [options] waveform.ctn

This loads the entire cartoon and displays the first frame.
There are two control modes:

(a) keyboard and mouse-buttons within the Cartoon Window,

or

(b) a separate "Controls Window".

    KEYBOARD CONTROL (cursor in the Cartoon Window)

space/return: animate cartoon once (leaving the last

frame displayed).

n: move to and display next frame

p: move to and display previous frame

q: quit xreview.

left mouse button: animate cartoon once (leaving the

last frame displayed).

right mouse button: quit xreview.

middle mouse button: display Controls Window.

CONTROLS WINDOW

.Buttons’ in the Controls Window set the start frame and end frame of the
animation, the framestep in the animation (e.g., skip every 2nd frame) and
the speed of the animation; the number indicates the delay between
frames in ms. The buttons in the bottom panel move to and display a single
frame:

<< back 10 frames

< previous frame

> next frame

>> forward 10 frames

first first frame

middle middle frame

last last frame

The numbers in the bottom-right corner indicate the current frame and the
total number of frames.

Unlike AIM displays from gen??? instructions, the cartoons may be
moved, iconified, hidden, etc. in the normal way. The gen???
instructions are from an earlier are when few graphical tools were
available.

OPTIONS

There are a number of command-line options; special purpose
abbrievations are indicated in parentheses. (The instructions are in
a slightly different form to the gen??? instructions.)

    Control Window Options

-controls automatically display controls window

(-con)

-controls_x <int> x-position of controls window

in pixels (-cx)

-controls_y <int> y-position of controls window

in pixels (-cy)

-controls_size <string> size of controls window:

(-csize)

"tiny", "small" or "normal"

    Cartoon Options

-image_x <int> x-position of cartoon in pixels (-ix)

-image_y <int> y-position of cartoon in pixels (-iy)

-speed <int> delay between frames in ms; default = 1

(-speed)

-start <int> start frame of animation;

default = first (-start)

-stop <int> stop frame of animation;

default = last (-stop)

-skip <int> framestep in animation;

default = 1 (-skip)

-frame <int> intial frame to display;

default = first (-frame)

-help generate the help page (-h)

-verbose send some running information

to stderr (-v)

    Cartoon Window Options

-display <string> X display server to use -d

-font <font> font used in controls window

(default = Times) -f

-point <int> fontsize (default depends upon

size of controls window)

-title <string> title of cartoon window

(and of its icon)

-mono assume monochrome (single-plane)

cartoons; default

-colour assume colour (multi-plane)

cartoons

The following options should not be necessary if cartoons are generated and
displayed on the same CPU architecture and screen hardware. They are of use,
however, if the CPU or screen differ.

-rv reverse-video the cartoon

window

-planemask <int> value of planemask for displaying

bitmaps; default = 1

-lsb assume bit and byte order of

cartoon is LSBFirst

-msb assume bit and byte order of

cartoon is MSBFirst

-dec alias for ’-lsb -rv’

-sun alias for ’-msb’

SEE ALSO

review

BUGS

None currently.

COPYRIGHT

Copyright (c) Applied Psychology Unit, Medical Research Council, 1993-1995

Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software without fee
is hereby granted for research purposes, provided that this copyright
notice appears in all copies and in all supporting documentation, and that
the software is not redistributed for any fee (except for a nominal
shipping charge). Anyone wanting to incorporate all or part of this
software in a commercial product must obtain a license from the Medical
Research Council.

The MRC makes no representations about the suitability of this
software for any purpose. It is provided "as is" without express or
implied warranty.

THE MRC DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES WITH REGARD TO THIS SOFTWARE, INCLUDING
ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS, IN NO EVENT SHALL
THE A.P.U. BE LIABLE FOR ANY SPECIAL, INDIRECT OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES
OR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS,
WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER TORTIOUS ACTION,
ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS
SOFTWARE.

AUTHOR

M. Akeroyd, MRC Applied Psychology Unit, Cambridge, UK.


SunOS 5.6 XREVIEW (1) 12 May 1995

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