Table of Contents

Name

xpaint - Simple Paint program

Synopsis

xpaint [ -size WIDTHxHEIGHT -8 | -12 | -24 | -visual "VISUAL ] [ -rcFile file ] [ -popped ] [ -nowarn ] [ -help ] [ filenames... ]

Description

XPaint is a color image editing tool which features most standard paint program options, as well as advanced features such as image processing algorithms. It allows for the editing of multiple images simultaneously and supports various formats, including PPM, XBM, TIFF, JPEG, etc.

The functionality of XPaint is divided into a toolbox area for selecting the current paint operation and paint windows for modifying/creating images. Each paint window has access to its own color palette and set of patterns, although the paint operation in use is globally selected for all windows.

XPaint runs on a variety of displays. It should be noted that saving images will adapt them to the current display type (i.e. a color image loaded on a greyscale screen will be saved as a grey image).

There is also an extensive on-line help system available.

Options

In addition to being able to specify image files to open, the following options are available on the command line:
-size wxh
Default width and height for new images.
-8
Use an 8 bit PseudoColor visual.
-12
Use a 12 bit PseudoColor visual.
-24
Use a 24 bit TrueColor visual.
-visual VISUAL
Use VISUAL instead of the default visual. See also the section VISUAL FORMAT below for the list of possible visual types.
-rcFile file
Load file instead of the default RC file specified at compile time. See also the section RC FILE FORMAT below.
-popped
Popup an empty canvas on startup.
-nowarn
Do not emit warnings about possible data loss due to different depth of display and image.
-help
Give a summary of the available options.

Toolbox

The toolbox window is displayed when XPaint is started. The toolbox is used to select an operation which can then be applied to any image area presented (painting window, fat bits, pattern editor, etc.). The window has a selection of painting operations (as icons) and several pull down menus.

Painting Window

The painting window holds a canvas area for painting the displayed image, menus for performing operations on this image, and primary and secondary color/pattern palettes along with buttons for adding to these.

Visual Format

The display visual to use may be specified using the -visual option. Choices for the argument are: TrueColor, PseudoColor, DirectColor, StaticColor, StaticGray, GrayScale, or the decimal visual number (from xdpyinfo). Examples:
-visual TrueColor
-visual GrayScale
-visual PseudoColor
-visual 47

Alternatively, -8, -12, and -24 are also acceptable for specifying pseudo8, pseudo12, and truecolor24 respectively.

Rc File Format

The RC file can be used to customize the color/pattern palettes. If a system-wide RC file is specified with the -rcFile option, that file is read first; otherwise, the defaults specified at compile time are loaded. Then, the file .XPaintrc is searched for first in the user's home directory and then in the current directory. Any settings specified here are appended to the one in the system-wide RC file.

Any time a new canvas is created, the .XPaintrc file is read again if it has changed.

The RC file can contain any of the following entries, in any order:

#
or
!
at the start of a line initiates a comment. The rest of the line is ignored.
solid color
where color is a color in standard X11 format (eg. GoldenRod1, #a2b5cd - see also X(1) ) adds a solid color to the palette.
pattern BeginData bitmap EndData
where bitmap is a bitmap specification in XBM or XPM format, adds a fill pattern to the palette.

Note that there must be a newline after BeginData, and that EndData must appear on a line by itself.

pattern filename
where filename is a file containing a bitmap in XBM or XPM format, also adds a pattern to the palette.

The squares in the palette have a default size of 24 by 24 pixels. This can be changed by setting the XPaint.patternsize resource to a number between 4 and 64.

Author

David Koblas, koblas@netcom.com. I am interested in how this program is used, if you find any bugs, I'll fix them. If you notice any rough spots, or think of some way in which it could be better, feel free to drop me a message.

Torsten Martinsen, torsten@danbbs.dk, is to blame for any (mis)features added in XPaint release 2.2 and following releases.

Many people, too numerous to mention, have contributed to the development of XPaint. See the file Doc/CHANGES in the source distribution for details.

Table of Contents