NAME

mcut - Quantize colors in an image using the median cut algorithm

SYNOPSIS

mcut [ -n colors ] [ -d ] [ -o outfile ] infile

DESCRIPTION

Mcut reads an RLE file and tries to choose the "best" subset of colors to represent the colors present in the original image. A common use for this is to display a 24 bit image on a frame buffer with only eight bits per pixel using a 24 bit color map. Mcut first quantizes intensity values from eight bits to five bits, and then chooses the colors from this space.

Mcut runs in two passes; the first pass scans the image to find the color distributions, and the second pass maps the original colors into color map indices. The output file has a color map containing the colors mcut has chosen. Mcut also sets the picture comment "color_map_length" equal to the number of colors it has chosen. The getx11 program (among others) will use this color map instead of dithering.

OPTIONS

-n ncolors: Limit the number of colors chosen to ncolors. The default is 200.
-d: Uses Floyd/Steinberg dither to hide contouring. Greatly improves images that have a small number of colors.
infile: The input will be read from this file. If it is a multi-image file, each image will be quantized to its own colormap. Piped input is not allowed.
-o outfile: If specified, output will be written to this file, otherwise it will go to stdout.

AUTHOR

Robert Mecklenburg, John W. Peterson, University of Utah.

BUGS