ImageMagick - Grab an Image from any X11 Server

import

NAME

import - capture some or all of an X server screen and save the image to a file.

Contents

Description
Examples
Options
Environment
Configuration Files
Authors
Copyright

Synopsis

import [ options ... ] file

Description

Import reads an image from any visible window on an X server and outputs it as an image file. You can capture a single window, the entire screen, or any rectangular portion of the screen. Use display for redisplay, printing, editing, formatting, archiving, image processing, etc. of the captured image.

The target window can be specified by id, name, or may be selected by clicking the mouse in the desired window. If you press a button and then drag, a rectangle will form which expands and contracts as the mouse moves. To save the portion of the screen defined by the rectangle, just release the button. The keyboard bell is rung once at the beginning of the screen capture and twice when it completes.

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Examples

To select an X window or an area of the screen with the mouse and save it in the MIFF image format to a file entitled window.miff, use:

    import window.miff

To select an X window or an area of the screen with the mouse and save it in the Encapsulated PostScript format to include in another document, use:

    import figure.eps

To capture the entire X server screen in the JPEG image format in a file entitled root.jpeg, without using the mouse, use:

    import -window root root.jpeg

To capture the 512x256 area at the upper right corner of the X server screen in the PNG image format in a well-compressed file entitled corner.png, without using the mouse, use:

    import -window root -crop 512x256-0+0 -quality 90
           corner.png

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Options

Options are processed in command line order. Any option you specify on the command line remains in effect until it is explicitly changed by specifying the option again with a different effect.

Import options can appear on the command line or in your X resources file. See X(1). Options on the command line supersede values specified in your X resources file.

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

-bordercolor <color>

the border color

-cache <threshold>

(This option has been replaced by the -limit option)

-colors <value>

preferred number of colors in the image

-colorspace <value>

the type of colorspace

-comment <string>

annotate an image with a comment

-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

-delay <1/100ths of a second>

display the next image after pausing

-density <width>x<height>

horizontal and vertical resolution in pixels of the image

-depth <value>

depth of the image

-descend

obtain image by descending window hierarchy

-display <host:display[.screen]>

specifies the X server to contact

-dispose <method>

GIF disposal method

-dither

apply Floyd/Steinberg error diffusion to the image

-encoding <type>

specify the text encoding

-endian <type>

specify endianness (MSB or LSB) of the image

-frame

include the X window frame in the imported image

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

preferred size and location of the Image window.

-help

print usage instructions

-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

-monochrome

transform the image to black and white

-negate

replace every pixel with its complementary color

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

size and location of an image canvas

-pause <seconds>

pause between snapshots [import]

-ping

efficiently determine image characteristics

-pointsize <value>

pointsize of the PostScript, OPTION1, or TrueType font

-quality <value>

JPEG/MIFF/PNG compression level

-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.

-scene <value>

set scene number

-screen

specify the screen to capture

-silent

operate silently

-snaps <value>

number of screen snapshots

-strip

strip the image of any profiles or comments

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

create a thumbnail of the image

-transparent <color>

make this color transparent within the image

-trim

trim an image

-verbose

print detailed information about the image

-version

print ImageMagick version string

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

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 (.xml) 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.xml 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.xml

colors configuration file

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

delegates.xml

delegates configuration file

log.xml

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.xml

file header magic test configuration file

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

coder.xml

loadable modules configuration file

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

type.xml

master type (fonts) configuration file

  <?xml version="1.0"?>
  <typemap>
    <include file="type-windows.xml" />
    <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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Copyright

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