NAME
pbmmask - create a mask bitmap from a regular bitmap
SYNOPSIS
pbmmask [-expand] [pbmfile]
DESCRIPTION
Reads a portable bitmap as input. Creates a corresponding mask bitmap
and writes it out.
The color to be interpreted as "background" is determined
automatically. Regardless of which color is background, the mask will
be white where the background is and black where the figure is.
This lets you do a masked paste like this, for objects with a black
background:
pbmmask obj > objmask
pnmpaste < dest -and objmask <x> <y> | pnmpaste -or obj <x> <y>
For objects with a white background, you can either invert them or add
a step:
pbmmask obj > objmask
pnminvert objmask | pnmpaste -and obj 0 0 > blackback
pnmpaste < dest -and objmask <x> <y> | pnmpaste -or blackback <x> <y>
Note that this three-step version works for objects with black
backgrounds too, if you don’t care about the wasted time.
You can also use masks with graymaps and pixmaps, using the pnmarith
tool. For instance:
ppmtopgm obj.ppm | pgmtopbm -threshold | pbmmask > objmask.pbm
pnmarith -multiply dest.ppm objmask.pbm > t1.ppm
pnminvert objmask.pbm | pnmarith -multiply obj.ppm - > t2.ppm
pnmarith -add t1.ppm t2.ppm
An interesting variation on this is to pipe the mask through the
pnmsmooth script before using it. This makes the boundary between the
two images less sharp.
OPTIONS
-expand
Expands the mask by one pixel out from the image. This is
useful if you want a little white border around your image. (A
better solution might be to turn the pbmlife tool into a general
cellular automaton tool...)
SEE ALSO
ppmcolormask(1), pnmpaste(1), pnminvert(1), pbm(5), pnmarith(1),
pnmsmooth(1)
AUTHOR
Copyright (C) 1988 by Jef Poskanzer.
08 August 1989 pbmmask(1)