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bitmap, bmtoa, atobm - bitmap editor and converter utilities for the X Window System
Contents
Bitmap Widget
Bitmap widget is a stand-alone widget for editing raster images. It is not designed to edit large
images, although it may be used in that purpose as well. It can be freely incorporated with other
applications and used as a standard editing tool. The following are the resources provided by the bitmap
widget.
BitmapWidget
Header file Bitmap.h
Class bitmapWidgetClass
Class Name Bitmap
Superclass Bitmap
All the Simple Widget resources plus ...
NameClassTypeDefaultValue
foreground Foreground Pixel XtDefaultForeground
highlight Highlight Pixel XtDefaultForeground
framing Framing Pixel XtDefaultForeground
gridTolerance GridTolerance Dimension 8
size Size String 32x32
dashed Dashed Boolean True
grid Grid Boolean True
stippled Stippled Boolean True
proportional Proportional Boolean True
axes Axes Boolean False
squareWidth SquareWidth Dimension 16
squareHeight SquareHeight Dimension 16
margin Margin Dimension 16
xHot XHot Position NotSet (-1)
yHot YHot Position NotSet (-1)
button1Function Button1Function DrawingFunction Set
button2Function Button2Function DrawingFunction Invert
button3Function Button3Function DrawingFunction Clear
button4Function Button4Function DrawingFunction Invert
button5Function Button5Function DrawingFunction Invert
filename Filename String None ("")
basename Basename String None ("")
Colors
If you would like bitmap to be viewable in color, include the following in the #ifdef COLOR section of
the file you read with xrdb:
*customization: -color
This will cause bitmap to pick up the colors in the app-defaults color customization file:
/etc/X11/app-defaults/Bitmap-color
Command Line Options
Bitmap supports the standard X Toolkit command line arguments (see X(7)). The following additional
arguments are supported as well.
-sizeWIDTHxHEIGHT
Specifies size of the grid in squares.
-swdimension
Specifies the width of squares in pixels.
-shdimension
Specifies the height of squares in pixels.
-gtdimension
Grid tolerance. If the square dimensions fall below the specified value, grid will be automatically
turned off.
-grid,+grid
Turns on or off the grid lines.
-axes,+axes
Turns on or off the major axes.
-dashed,+dashed
Turns on or off dashing for the frame and grid lines.
-stippled,+stippled
Turns on or off stippling of highlighted squares.
-proportional,+proportional
Turns proportional mode on or off. If proportional mode is on, square width is equal to square
height. If proportional mode is off, bitmap will use the smaller square dimension, if they were
initially different.
-dashesfilename
Specifies the bitmap to be used as a stipple for dashing.
-stipplefilename
Specifies the bitmap to be used as a stipple for highlighting.
-hlcolor
Specifies the color used for highlighting.
-frcolor
Specifies the color used for the frame and grid lines.
filename
Specifies the bitmap to be initially loaded into the program. If the file does not exist, bitmap
will assume it is a new file.
basename
Specifies the basename to be used in the C code output file. If it is different than the basename in
the working file, bitmap will change it when saving the file.
Bmtoa accepts the following option:
-charscc
This option specifies the pair of characters to use in the string version of the bitmap. The first
character is used for 0 bits and the second character is used for 1 bits. The default is to use
dashes (-) for 0's and sharp signs (#) for 1's.
Atobm accepts the following options:
-charscc
This option specifies the pair of characters to use when converting string bitmaps into arrays of
numbers. The first character represents a 0 bit and the second character represents a 1 bit. The
default is to use dashes (-) for 0's and sharp signs (#) for 1's.
-namevariable
This option specifies the variable name to be used when writing out the bitmap file. The default is
to use the basename of the filename command line argument or leave it blank if the standard input is
read.
-xhotnumber
This option specifies the X coordinate of the hotspot. Only positive values are allowed. By
default, no hotspot information is included.
-yhotnumber
This option specifies the Y coordinate of the hotspot. Only positive values are allowed. By
default, no hotspot information is included.
Cut And Paste
Bitmap supports two cut and paste mechanisms; the internal cut and paste and the global X selection cut
and paste. The internal cut and paste is used when executing copy and move drawing commands and also cut
and copy commands from the edit menu. The global X selection cut and paste is used whenever there is a
highlighted area of a bitmap image displayed anywhere on the screen. To copy a part of image from
another bitmap editor simply highlight the desired area by using the Mark command or pressing the shift
key and dragging the area with the left mouse button. When the selected area becomes highlighted, any
other applications (such as xterm, etc.) that use primary selection will discard their selection values
and unhighlight the appropriate information. Now, use the Paste command for the Edit menu or control
mouse button to copy the selected part of image into another (or the same) bitmap application. If you
attempt to do this without a visible highlighted image area, the bitmap will fall back to the internal
cut and paste buffer and paste whatever was there stored at the moment.
Description
The bitmap program is a rudimentary tool for creating or editing rectangular images made up of 1's and
0's. Bitmaps are used in X for defining clipping regions, cursor shapes, icon shapes, and tile and
stipple patterns.
The bmtoa and atobm filters convert bitmap files (FILE FORMAT) to and from ASCII strings. They are most
commonly used to quickly print out bitmaps and to generate versions for including in text.
Drawing Commands
Here is the list of drawing commands accessible through the buttons at the left side of the application's
window. Some commands can be aborted by pressing A inside the bitmap window, allowing the user to select
different guiding points where applicable.
Clear
This command clears all bits in the bitmap image. The grid squares will be set to the background
color. Pressing C inside the bitmap window has the same effect.
Set This command sets all bits in the bitmap image. The grid squares will be set to the foreground
color. Pressing S inside the bitmap window has the same effect.
Invert
This command inverts all bits in the bitmap image. The grid squares will be inverted appropriately.
Pressing I inside the bitmap window has the same effect.
Mark
This command is used to mark an area of the grid by dragging out a rectangular shape in the
highlighting color. Once the area is marked, it can be operated on by a number of commands (see Up,Down,Left,Right,Rotate,Flip,Cut, etc.) Only one marked area can be present at any time. If you
attempt to mark another area, the old mark will vanish. The same effect can be achieved by pressing
Shift-MouseButton1 and dragging out a rectangle in the grid window. Pressing Shift-MouseButton2 will
mark the entire grid area.
Unmark
This command will cause the marked area to vanish. The same effect can be achieved by pressing
Shift-MouseButton3.
Copy
This command is used to copy an area of the grid from one location to another. If there is no marked
grid area displayed, Copy behaves just like Mark described above. Once there is a marked grid area
displayed in the highlighting color, this command has two alternative behaviors. If you click a
mouse button inside the marked area, you will be able to drag the rectangle that represents the
marked area to the desired location. After you release the mouse button, the area will be copied.
If you click outside the marked area, Copy will assume that you wish to mark a different region of
the bitmap image, thus it will behave like Mark again.
Move
This command is used to move an area of the grid from one location to another. Its behavior
resembles the behavior of Copy command, except that the marked area will be moved instead of copied.
FlipHorizontally
This command will flip the bitmap image with respect to the horizontal axes. If a marked area of the
grid is highlighted, it will operate only inside the marked area. Pressing H inside the bitmap
window has the same effect.
Up This command moves the bitmap image one pixel up. If a marked area of the grid is highlighted, it
will operate only inside the marked area. Pressing UpArrow inside the bitmap window has the same
effect.
FlipVertically
This command will flip the bitmap image with respect to the vertical axes. If a marked area of the
grid is highlighted, it will operate only inside the marked area. Pressing V inside the bitmap
window has the same effect.
Left
This command moves the bitmap image one pixel to the left. If a marked area of the grid is
highlighted, it will operate only inside the marked area. Pressing LeftArrow inside the bitmap
window has the same effect.
Fold
This command will fold the bitmap image so that the opposite corners become adjacent. This is useful
when creating bitmap images for tiling. Pressing F inside the bitmap window has the same effect.
Right
This command moves the bitmap image one pixel to the right. If a marked area of the grid is
highlighted, it will operate only inside the marked area. Pressing RightArrow inside the bitmap
window has the same effect.
RotateLeft
This command rotates the bitmap image 90 degrees to the left (counter clockwise.) If a marked area
of the grid is highlighted, it will operate only inside the marked area. Pressing L inside the
bitmap window has the same effect.
Down
This command moves the bitmap image one pixel down. If a marked area of the grid is highlighted, it
will operate only inside the marked area. Pressing DownArrow inside the bitmap window has the same
effect.
RotateRight
This command rotates the bitmap image 90 degrees to the right (clockwise.) If a marked area of the
grid is highlighted, it will operate only inside the marked area. Pressing R inside the bitmap
window has the same effect.
Point
This command will change the grid squares underneath the mouse pointer if a mouse button is being
pressed down. If you drag the mouse button continuously, the line may not be continuous, depending
on the speed of your system and frequency of mouse motion events.
Curve
This command will change the grid squares underneath the mouse pointer if a mouse button is being
pressed down. If you drag the mouse button continuously, it will make sure that the line is
continuous. If your system is slow or bitmap receives very few mouse motion events, it might behave
quite strangely.
Line
This command will change the grid squares in a line between two squares. Once you press a mouse
button in the grid window, bitmap will highlight the line from the square where the mouse button was
initially pressed to the square where the mouse pointer is located. By releasing the mouse button
you will cause the change to take effect, and the highlighted line will disappear.
Rectangle
This command will change the grid squares in a rectangle between two squares. Once you press a mouse
button in the grid window, bitmap will highlight the rectangle from the square where the mouse button
was initially pressed to the square where the mouse pointer is located. By releasing the mouse
button you will cause the change to take effect, and the highlighted rectangle will disappear.
FilledRectangle
This command is identical to Rectangle, except at the end the rectangle will be filled rather than
outlined.
Circle
This command will change the grid squares in a circle between two squares. Once you press a mouse
button in the grid window, bitmap will highlight the circle from the square where the mouse button
was initially pressed to the square where the mouse pointer is located. By releasing the mouse
button you will cause the change to take effect, and the highlighted circle will disappear.
FilledCircle
This command is identical to Circle, except at the end the circle will be filled rather than
outlined.
FloodFill
This command will flood fill the connected area underneath the mouse pointer when you click on the
desired square. Diagonally adjacent squares are not considered to be connected.
SetHotSpot
This command designates one square in the grid as the hot spot if this bitmap image is to be used for
defining a cursor. Pressing a mouse button in the desired square will cause a diamond shape to be
displayed.
ClearHotSpot
This command removes any designated hot spot from the bitmap image.
Undo
This command will undo the last executed command. It has depth one, that is, pressing Undo after
Undo will undo itself.
Editing
To edit a bitmap image simply click on one of the buttons with drawing commands (Point,Curve,Line,Rectangle, etc.) and move the pointer into the bitmap grid window. Press one of the buttons on your
mouse and the appropriate action will take place. You can either set, clear or invert the grid squares.
Setting a grid square corresponds to setting a bit in the bitmap image to 1. Clearing a grid square
corresponds to setting a bit in the bitmap image to 0. Inverting a grid square corresponds to changing a
bit in the bitmap image from 0 to 1 or 1 to 0, depending what its previous state was. The default
behavior of mouse buttons is as specified below.
MouseButton1 Set
MouseButton2 Invert
MouseButton3 Clear
MouseButton4 Clear
MouseButton5 Clear
This default behavior can be changed by setting the button function resources. An example is provided
below.
bitmap*button1Function: Set
bitmap*button2Function: Clear
bitmap*button3Function: Invert
etc.
The button function applies to all drawing commands, including copying, moving and pasting, flood filling
and setting the hot spot.
Name
bitmap, bmtoa, atobm - bitmap editor and converter utilities for the X Window System
Synopsis
bitmap [ -options ... ] [ filename ] [ basename ]
bmtoa [ -chars ... ] [ filename ]
atobm [ -charscc ] [ -namevariable ] [ -xhotnumber ] [ -yhotnumber ] [ filename ]
Usage
Bitmap displays grid in which each square represents a single bit in the picture being edited. Actual
size of the bitmap image, as it would appear normally and inverted, can be obtained by pressing Meta-I
key. You are free to move the image popup out of the way to continue editing. Pressing the left mouse
button in the popup window or Meta-I again will remove the real size bitmap image.
If the bitmap is to be used for defining a cursor, one of the squares in the images may be designated as
the hot spot. This determines where the cursor is actually pointing. For cursors with sharp tips (such
as arrows or fingers), this is usually at the end of the tip; for symmetric cursors (such as crosses or
bullseyes), this is usually at the center.
Bitmaps are stored as small C code fragments suitable for including in applications. They provide an
array of bits as well as symbolic constants giving the width, height, and hot spot (if specified) that
may be used in creating cursors, icons, and tiles.
Widgets
Below is the widget structure of the bitmap application. Indentation indicates hierarchical structure.
The widget class name is given first, followed by the widget instance name. All widgets except the
bitmap widget are from the standard Athena widget set.
Bitmap bitmap
TransientShell image
Box box
Label normalImage
Label invertedImage
TransientShell input
Dialog dialog
Command okay
Command cancel
TransientShell error
Dialog dialog
Command abort
Command retry
TransientShell qsave
Dialog dialog
Command yes
Command no
Command cancel
Paned parent
Form formy
MenuButton fileButton
SimpleMenu fileMenu
SmeBSB new
SmeBSB load
SmeBSB insert
SmeBSB save
SmeBSB saveAs
SmeBSB resize
SmeBSB rescale
SmeBSB filename
SmeBSB basename
SmeLine line
SmeBSB quit
MenuButton editButton
SimpleMenu editMenu
SmeBSB image
SmeBSB grid
SmeBSB dashed
SmeBSB axes
SmeBSB stippled
SmeBSB proportional
SmeBSB zoom
SmeLine line
SmeBSB cut
SmeBSB copy
SmeBSB paste
Label status
Pane pane
Bitmap bitmap
Form form
Command clear
Command set
Command invert
Toggle mark
Command unmark
Toggle copy
Toggle move
Command flipHoriz
Command up
Command flipVert
Command left
Command fold
Command right
Command rotateLeft
Command down
Command rotateRight
Toggle point
Toggle curve
Toggle line
Toggle rectangle
Toggle filledRectangle
Toggle circle
Toggle filledCircle
Toggle floodFill
Toggle setHotSpot
Command clearHotSpot
Command undo
PNG Icons
Emojis