ImageMagick GUI
(c) 2003 sungnyemun.org
This project was started as a test, and, as usual, I ended up with a few thousand lines of code, so I thought that I'd just as well release it!
This is very early beta software, which implies that:
a) You use it at your own risk;
b) You don't have to pay for it (not that I am planning to charge anything);
c) Your feedback is appreciated.
This programme is freeware. Private use is granted. Commercial distribution is forbidden. I remain the sole owner of the programme and its source code, for whatever it's worth.
1. Implemented features
See the Release notes. To make a short story shorter, only a small subset of IM is supported so far. The good news is that you can extend it through a half-assed plugin structure (see below). The bad news is, well, that the plugin structure IS half-assed. But I'll work on that.
2. Plugins
There are a couple of plugins hard-coded into the programme, which are installed at first run (blur, charcoal, raise and resize, at last head count). You can get rid of them forever if you don't like them, provided that you don't remove the Plugins folder itself. The basic structure is:
<name>whatever</name>
<source>
--> the source code of the plugin, written in RealBasic, ending with something like: Print("mogrify -blur@0 ^1")
</source>
and possibly:
<input>name of property;X</input>
where X is either I (capital i) or B. I means Input, B boolean. You can have as many input's as you wish.
The B function is not really boolean. The name of the property should consist of one character, which will be passed or not as a param. If the property name is longer than 1 byte, it will be displayed, but the first character only will be passed. As I said, half-assed.
The syntax with parameters is passed back in the Print("") command. @0, @1 etc... are the parameters. ^1 is the file name. Forget to pass it, and the action wont affect the graphic you're working on...
I don't really want to have too many plugins, and will implement as many functions as possible in the programme, but it does give the user to keep up with new developments until a new version of IM GUI is released.
I am interested in any plugin you develop. Due credit will be given...
3. Yes, sure, but what if I don't have ImageMagick installed?
Having a GUI for IM means that some Unix unsavvy users might still want to play with it. To make the installation process as painless as possible, I have added a coupla routines that download the latest version and install it for you. I did this thinking of one of my friends, the most innocently destructive beta tester I have ever seen. He managed to get a kernel panic on his iBook without opening a Terminal window (he doesn't know what Terminal is). Of course, he hasn't even installed the Developper tools. :-)
You need curl to be able to use this feature. I am not sure whether this is available to machines where the Developper tools haven't been installed. Make sure you have curl installed.
I have tested intensively the installation process, deleting my own copy of IM several times to make sure it works. But if you get a kernel panic because of that, see a) above...
Didier
Update -- 2003/10/07
I haven't worked on imGUI for a while, but I am starting again. Expect a new version in a few days. I will most probably a bug-fix update, more than a new-features-added one.
Update -- 2004/07/30
I have fixed some bugs, which forced me to remove download and install of IM when the user doesn't have it yet. I don't think I will rebuild that function into imGUI, since you can install it via Fink, and I am also writing a front-end to Fink. Anyway, I don't have the time yet to fix more bugs, but at least there is now a binary available. I have to rewrite the doc, so the link only gives you the binary. More later.
Update -- 2004/08/02
A new release. Arent you all happy? Started implementing a zoom function, in conjunction with scrollbars for the display area. Works, mostly. At least, you can now see pictures bigger than your computer's screen...