NAME

       xmorph - image warping and dissolving (morphing) for X window system

       morph - command line interface image morphing program

SYNOPSIS

       xmorph  [-start  srcimgfile  [-finish destimgfile]] [-src srcmeshfile [-dst dstmeshfile ]]
       [-help]

       morph [-start srcimgfile [-finish destimgfile]] [-src  srcmeshfile  [-dst  dstmeshfile  ]]
       [-out outimgfile ] [-mt morphtween ] [-dt dissolvetween ] [-help]

DESCRIPTION

       xmorph  is  a  digital  image  warping  and dissolving program, also known as a "morphing"
       program.  It runs under the X Window System.  The primary use of xmorph is to generate and
       modify  meshes  which  control  the  shape  of  an image.  xmorph also has the capacity to
       dissolve images together, and to generate a sequence of warped and dissolved images.  When
       this sequence is made into a movie, it is called a "morph".

       morph  is  a  morphing  program  with  no  graphical user interface.  morph performs image
       warping and dissolving but provides no means to create or modify meshes.  The intent is to
       use  morph  after meshes have already been generated with xmorph.  Since morph has no GUI,
       it can be run as a background job and can be distributed over many machines or  processes.
       This  parallelization  of  the task can significanly speed up the image processing.  morph
       can run on machines which have no display whatsoever, and is therefore very portable.

       Both xmorph and morph use a library called libmorph which can be used  separately  in  the
       creation of other morphing programs.

       If  imgfile  names  are  provided  on  the  command line, then those images are loaded in.
       Otherwise, xmorph generates images to be used in lieu of  images  provided  by  the  user.
       Images may be loaded from menus within xmorph.

       xmorph  has  built-in  help pages that answer questions about the details of its use.  Run
       xmorph and look at the online help for more information.

OPTIONS

       -start srcimgfile
              Read the srcimgfile as the "source" image.

       -finish destimgfile
              Read the destimgfile as the "destination" image.

       -src srcmeshfile
              Read the srcmeshfile as the "source" mesh.

       -dst destmeshfile
              Read the destimgfile as the "destination" mesh.

       -help  Display command line options.

MORPH OPTIONS

       -out outimgfile
              Write the the output image to outimgfile .

       -mt morphtween
              Use morphtween as the warping tween parameter.  Values are from 0 to  1.   0  means
              that  the  shape  of  the output is according to the source mesh.  1 means that the
              shape is according to the destination mesh.  Default value is 0.

       -dt dissolvetween
              Use dissolvetween as the dissolve tween parameter.  Values are  from  0  to  1.   0
              means  that the image of the output is according to the source image.  1 means that
              the image is according to the destination image.  Negative values indicate  that  a
              sigmoid  sharpening  function  is  to  be  applied  to  make  the  dissolving  more
              concentrated to values near 0.5.  The idea is that the dissolvetween  value  should
              be the negative of the morphtween value in order to have the dissolve be more rapid
              during middle values of the warp tween parameter, and less rapid  otherwise.   This
              makes the morph more visually acceptable.  Default value is 0.

MAKING MOVIES

       xmorph  is  NOT  a tool for making movies.  xmorph is intended to be used with OTHER tools
       for editting movies in the digital domain.  I do not intend to add movie making  abilities
       to xmorph.

       Here is a brief explanation of how to make a movie from the images generated by xmorph:

       xmorph  uses  the  TrueVision Targa (TGA) image file format.  You can use PBMplus, netpbm,
       ImageMagick or some other program to convert Targa to other still  image  formats.   (This
       will  be  necessary  if, for example, you use the Berkeley MPEG encoder or want to make an
       animated GIF.)  See, e.g., ftp://ikaros.fysik4.kth.se/pub/netpbm/.

       Use another program, such as Berkeley's mpeg_encode, or SGI's dmconvert,  or  whirlgif  to
       turn  the  sequence  of  images  that  xmorph created into a single animation.  See, e.g.,
       ftp://mm-ftp.cs.berkeley.edu/pub/multimedia/mpeg/encode/.

       Use another program, such as mpeg_play, xanim or movieplayer, to view the animation.  See,
       e.g., ftp://mm-ftp.cs.berkeley.edu/pub/multimedia/mpeg/play/.

       There are plenty of other programs available for viewing movies.

AUTHOR

       Written and Copyright (C) 1994-2000 by Michael J. Gourlay.

       Help came from many places, including Andy Thaller, Warwick Allison, and Mike Hoefelein.

       The  original  morphing  algorithm is presented in ``A Two-Pass Mesh Warping Algorithm for
       Object Transformation and  Image  Interpolation'',  ILM  Technical  Memo  #1030,  Computer
       Graphics Department, Lucasfilm Ltd., 1990.

       Mesh-based digital image warping is discussed in detail in Digital Image Warping by George
       Wolberg.

       Xmorph is a GNU program.

SEE ALSO

       X(1), ppmtotga(1) (part of netpbm or PBMplus), tgatoppm(1) (part of  netpbm  or  PBMplus),
       whirlgif(1),   mpeg_encode(1)   from  U.C.  Berkeley,  mpeg_play(1)  from  U.C.  Berkeley,
       ImageMagick, dmconvert(1), (under Silicon Graphics IRIX).  movieplayer(1)  (under  Silicon
       Graphics IRIX), xanim(1), GIMP(1).

NOTES

       The  only  image  file  type currently supported is Truevision Targa (TGA) but xmorph will
       load any type of Targa, such as 8-bit, 15-bit, or 16-bit colormapped or grayscale;  24-bit
       or 32-bit true color (with or without alpha channel);  run-length encoded or uncompressed.

       Some versions of the program "xv" can not read xmorph's TGA image files.  This is a bug in
       "xv", not in xmorph.

       Use image conversion programs (such as those listed in the SEE ALSO section) to convert to
       and from TGA image files for use with xmorph and morph .

       Report bugs to gourlay@colorado-research.com or mennucc1@debian.org

WEB SITE

       http://sourceforge.net/projects/xmorph

       http://colorado-research.com/~gourlay/

       http://colorado-research.com/~gourlay/software/

       http://colorado-research.com/~gourlay/software/Graphics/

       http://colorado-research.com/~gourlay/software/Graphics/Xmorph/

                                                                                        XMORPH(1)