Using CyPix

Documentation / CyPix

• Overview of CyPix
  • What It Does
  • What It Is Not
• Using CyPix
  • Wallpaper From CyWall And The Filer
  • Screenshots Without Extra Tools
  • Thumbnails In The File Manager
  • Schemes And Palettes From A Picture
• Command Line
  • Look At The Pixels
  • Compare Against A Reference
  • Scheme From A Wallpaper
  • Make A Palette
  • Set The Root Wallpaper
  • Take A Screenshot
  • Thumbnails For The File Manager
  • Line Art To IconSmith FTI
• Copyright

Using CyPix

CyPix does not open a window of its own. Other programs call it, or you call it from a shell when you need a colour fact, a grab, or a scheme.

Wallpaper From CyWall And The Filer

CyWall's Apply, and the file manager backdrop, both paint the root by running:

cypix --wallpaper FILE

That path smooth-scales the image and publishes the root pixmap the usual Esetroot way (_XROOTPMAP_ID / ESETROOT_PMAP_ID). Placement modes (--place fill|stretch|scale|center|tile) and an optional --size / --bg are in Command Line.

You do not need ImageMagick on that path. libcyicon already decodes the formats the desktop ships.

Screenshots Without Extra Tools

cypix --grab -o desk.png
cypix --grab window
cypix --grab --delay 2 -o menu.png

Use --delay when you need a menu open before the shutter. Pipe a PPM grab into another cypix mode when you want to measure what you just saw:

cypix --grab -o - | cypix - --scheme --name 'From Desk'

Thumbnails In The File Manager

CyFiler forks cypix --thumb so icon previews land in .cycache next to the files. Leave that alone unless a preview is stuck; then --force on the one path is enough. Video thumbnail scripts may call --flat-check to drop blank frames.

Schemes And Palettes From A Picture

When a wallpaper should drive the desk colours:

convert wall.png ppm:- | cypix - --scheme --name 'My Wall' --out ~/.cyanotype/schemes/mywall.cyscheme

--checkscheme afterwards tells you whether contrast stayed readable. --palette builds a short hex list for icon or UI work; --checkpalette flags pairs that sit too close.

Pixel Work And Bevel Calibration

--at, --row, --col, --rect, and --find are the inspection tools. --vs with a base colour is the bevel-calibration trick used when matching SGI-style edges. --diff and compare are for "did this render change" checks in tests and icon work.

Input Formats

Modes that take a PPM path want PPM (or '-' on stdin). Modes that go through libcyicon (--wallpaper, --grab output paths, --thumb, --trace-fti) accept the usual desktop formats. When in doubt, convert to PPM once and reuse the pipe.

See Also

• Overview of CyPix
• Command Line