A note on project status

If looking at commits makes you think that this project is abandoned, it's not. Skeptick is being used in our production ever since its inception, and it's working great. The reason there is no new activity is as follows.

It's really working great for us
Nobody is submitting issues

So don't let the lack of git activity fool you. I have plans to blog about some interesting use cases for Skeptick and link to them from this README, stay tuned.

Skeptick: Better ImageMagick for Ruby

Skeptick is an all-purpose DSL for building and running ImageMagick commands. It helps you build any transformations, from trivial resizes to complex mask algorithms and free drawing. In a nutshell, Skeptick is nothing more than a string manipulator and a process spawner. That's all it's meant to be. However, with Skeptick you get quite a few advantages over using plain shell-out or other libraries.

What you get

Clean Ruby syntax to build ImageMagick commands
Composable Image objects
ImageMagick's STDERR output revealed in a Ruby exception
Ability to save intermediate images for debugging
Minimal memory consumption on shell-outs thanks to posix-spawn
Emphasis on performing the whole transformation in a single command

Installation

Add this line to your application's Gemfile:

gem 'skeptick'

And then execute:

$ bundle

Or install it yourself as:

$ gem install skeptick

Usage

To use Skeptick, you simply require it and include the module into your class.

require 'skeptick'

class MyClass
  include Skeptick

  def convert_some_image
    cmd = convert(to: 'result.png') do
      # ...
    end

    cmd.build
  end
end

The cmd object seen in above example can be inspected to see the exact command that Skeptick will run. Simply use cmd.inspect or cmd.to_s. Skeptick never runs anything until you call build (except for one very special case), so you can inspect commands all you want before executing them.

If you don't want to require all of Skeptick, you can just require the core, and and select any specific sugar you want.

require 'skeptick/core'
require 'skeptick/sugar/resizing'
require 'skeptick/sugar/composition'

See the lib/skeptick/sugar dir for all the goodies.

In Rails Skeptick will automatically use Rails.logger and Rails.root as cd_path. You can also configure your own.

Skeptick.logger  = MyLogger.new
Skeptick.cd_path = '/some/dir'

You can enable debug_mode to display every executed command in the log.

Skeptick.debug_mode = true

Security Note

Never insert any user input into any of Skeptick's commands. This should be obvious. Skeptick executes strings in your shell.

DSL

This picture is produced with the following script

include Skeptick

image_size = '400x120'
left, top  = 8, 80

# Build a picture with built-in tile:granite: texture and using the
# skeptick-provided sugar method `rounded_corners_image`
paper = rounded_corners_image(size: image_size, radius: 25) do
  set   :size, image_size
  image 'tile:granite:'
  apply '-brightness-contrast', '38x-33'
  apply :blur, '0x0.5'
end

# Build a text image that says "Skeptick" using specified font, add gradient
text = image do
  canvas :none, size: '395x110'
  font   'Handwriting - Dakota Regular'
  set    :pointsize, 90
  set    :fill, 'gradient:#37e-#007'
  write  'Skeptick', left: left, top: top
  apply  :blur, '0x0.7'
end

bezier = \
  "#{left + 17 }, #{top + 17}   #{left + 457}, #{top - 13} " +
  "#{left + 377}, #{top + 27}   #{left + 267}, #{top + 27}"

# Draw a curve that will appear underneath the text using bezier coordinates
curve = image do
  canvas :none, size: '395x110'
  set    :strokewidth, 2
  set    :stroke, 'gradient:#37e-#007'
  draw   "fill none bezier #{bezier}"
end

# Combine text and curve using `:over` blending, multiply it with paper using
# `:multiply` blending, and add a torn effect using Skeptick-provided sugar
# method `torn_paper_image`
torn = torn_paper_image(
  paper * (text + curve),
  spread: 50,
  blur:   '3x10'
)

# Create a convert command with all of the above and run it
logo = convert(torn, to: "#{File.dirname(__FILE__)}/logo.png")
logo.build

# This is what the resulting command looks like
# You can see it by running `logo.to_s`
#
# convert (
#   (
#     (
#       -size 400x120 tile:granite:
#       -brightness-contrast 38x-33 -blur 0x0.5
#       (
#         +clone -alpha transparent -background none
#         -draw roundrectangle 1,1 400,120 25,25
#       )
#       -alpha set -compose dstin -composite
#     )
#
#     (
#       -size 395x110 canvas:none
#       -font Handwriting---Dakota-Regular -pointsize 90
#       -fill gradient:#37e-#007 -draw text 8,80 'Skeptick'
#       -blur 0x0.7 -size 395x110 canvas:none -strokewidth 2
#       -stroke gradient:#37e-#007
#       -draw fill none
#         bezier 25, 97   465, 67 385, 107   275, 107
#       -compose over -composite
#     )
#
#     -compose multiply -composite
#   )
#
#   (
#     +clone -alpha extract -virtual-pixel black -spread 50
#     -blur 0x3 -threshold 50% -spread 1 -blur 0x.7
#   )
#
#   -alpha off -compose copy_opacity -composite
# ) logo.png

All those little commands

A lot of things happened in the above script, no worries, it's just a showcase. I bet the first thing you noticed is a shitstorm of little method names like apply, canvas, font, write, draw, etc. Well, they are all sugar. We will cover sugar later in teh given parchment.

There are actually only three real commands in all of Skeptick: convert, set, and image.

Convert

convert can be used both outside and inside a transformation block. You could say for example this.

command = convert('image1.png', to: 'image2.png') do
  set '-resize', '200x200'
end

# OUTPUT:
# convert image1.png -resize 200x200 image2.png

Or you could put it inside, and it will become a parenthesized subcommand.

command = convert('image1.png', to: 'image2.png') do
  convert do
    set '+clone'          # pull in image1 into parentheses
    set '-resize 100x100' # resize image1's clone in memory
  end

  set '-compose over'
  set '-composite'
end

# OUTPUT:
# convert image1.png ( +clone -resize 100x100 )
#   -compose over -composite image2.png

If you love parentheses a lot, you could nest convert infinitely. However, ImageMagick's clone, delete, and swap are your friends, learn them to cure parenthethitis.

Oh, speaking of nesting — we can reuse that whole command inside another command by passing it to convert in place of an image filepath.

new_command = convert(command, to: 'whatever.png') do
  set '-resize 300x300'
end

# OUTPUT:
# convert
#   ( image1.png ( +clone -resize 100x100 ) -compose over -composite )
#   -resize 300x300 whatever.png

See what I did there? It's composability. If you have a convert object in a variable, you can use it inside another convert object down the line.

Set

set appends a string to your command. You can give it any arguments, it doesn't care, it will just to_s and concatenate them.

# All same thing
set '-resize 100x100'
set '-resize', '100x100'
set :resize, '100x100'

Yeah that last one is special convenience. If an argument to set is a symbol, it will convert it to "-#{symbol}". If you need +resize type of thing you'd just have to use a string, or sugar, but later on that.

Image

image is very similar to convert. However, convert is a command object that may contain many images, settings, operators, nested converts, etc. Image is also a command object that can contain many settings and operators, but it can only contain one image reference inside of it. The reference can be a path, a nested convert, or a special string representing a built-in imagemagick image, but it can be only one.

command = convert(to: '/path/to/result.png') do
  image '/path/to/image.png'
  set :resize, '200x200'
end

# OUTPUT:
# convert /path/to/image.png -resize 200x200 /path/to/result.png

In this case we declared an image inside a convert which references a path. Instead we could create an image that references a built-in image.

command = convert(to: '/path/to/result.png') do
  image 'rose:'
end

# OUTPUT:
# convert rose: /path/to/result.png

You can save image objects in variables, and pass them around, but unlike convert, you cannot run them standalone.

rose_image = image('rose:')
command = convert(rose_image, to: '/path/to/result.png')

# OUTPUT:
# convert rose: /path/to/result.png

See, we had to wrap it in a convert in order to use it. You could also append this image at any point inside the convert block.

rose_image = image('rose:')
command = convert(to: '/path/to/result.png') do
  image rose_image
end

# OUTPUT:
# convert rose: /path/to/result.png

As mentioned above, an image can come with its own settings and operators.

rose_image = image do
  set :background, 'transparent'
  image 'rose:'
  apply :resize, '200x200'
end

command = convert(to: '/path/to/result.png') do
  image rose_image
end

You could do all of this inline, the output will be the same.

command = convert(to: '/path/to/result.png') do
  image do
    set :background, 'transparent'
    image 'rose:'
    apply :resize, '200x200'
  end
end

# OUTPUT:
# convert -background transparent rose: -resize 200x200 /path/to/result.png

If you have a convert object you can pass it as an image too.

saved_convert = convert(to: 'foo.png') do
  image 'rose:'
  set :resize, '200x200'
end

another_convert = convert(to: 'bar.png') do
  image saved_convert
  apply :blur, '0x0.5'
end

# OUTPUT
# convert ( rose: -resize 200x200 ) -blur 0x0.5 bar.png

Nesting possibilities are endless.

Sugar

Skeptick comes with a bunch of sugar. When you require Skeptick, you can simply require everything. This includes all the sugar.

require 'skeptick'

However, you can require just the core stuff described above, and select any sugar you want.

require 'skeptick/core'
require 'skeptick/sugar/composition'

Composition Sugar

Composition is sugar that adds compose shortcut to Skeptick's DSL.

command = compose(:multiply, 'a.png', 'b.png', to: 'out.png') do
  set :resize, '200x200'
end

# OUTPUT:
# convert a.png b.png -compose multiply -resize 200x200 -composite out.png

It takes the blending type as the first argument, and injects some extra stuff into the resulting command, but really it's just a wrapper around convert as you could easily see in its implementation.

def compose(blending, *args, &blk)
  convert(*args, &blk).tap do |c|
    c.append :compose, blending.to_s
    c.append :composite
  end
end

As usual, you don't have to list your images as method arguments like that. Instead you could declare them inside the block using the image method. The following command does the same thing.

command = compose(:multiply, to: 'out.png') do
  image 'a.png'
  image 'b.png'
  set :resize, '200x200'
end

Since most of Skeptick's power comes from the ability to infinitely nest things, here's a an example involving a nested compose.

command = convert('image1.png', to: 'result.png') do
  compose(:multiply) do
    image 'image3.png[200x200]'

    convert 'image4.png' do
      set :unsharp, '0x5'
    end

  end
end

# OUTPUT:
# convert
#   image1.png ( image3.png[200x200] ( image4.png -unsharp 0x5 ) -compose
#   multiply -composite ) result.png"

Notice how we nest compose inside of convert, and then convert inside of compose. The output of each acts like any declared image. In other words, wherever you would write image "foo.png" you could also write a nested command.

Composition Operators

This is more of a gimmick than a real feature, but you can use math operators like +, -, *, /, &, | to compose images. These are all based on compose method. Here's a multiply example.

image1 = image('foo.png')
image2 = image('bar.png')
result = convert(image1 * image2, to: 'baz.png')

# OUTPUT:
# convert ( foo.png bar.png -compose multiply -composite ) baz.png

As you can see, this is equivalent of simply using compose.

# Same thing
result = compose(:multiply, 'foo.png', 'bar.png', to: 'baz.png')

Check out lib/skeptick/sugar/composition.rb for what these operators do.

Sequence Manipulation Sugar

Skeptick provides methods clone, delete, and swap to manipulate declared images in a sequence, just like in ImageMagick CLI.

command = compose(:over, 'image1.png', to: 'result.png') do
  # You could think of image sequence as a ruby array. Here's what it would
  # look like right now.
  # [ 'image1.png' ]

  compose(:multiply) do
    image 'mask.png' # loading another image for this operation
    clone(0)         # cloning image1.png from outside "into parentheses"
  end

  # Sequence at this point:
  # [ 'image1.png', 'result of compose(:multiply)' ]

  delete(0) # deleting image1.png from the sequence and from memory

  # Sequence at this point:
  # [ 'result of compose(:multiply)' ]

  # At this point the only image loaded in memory is the one produced by the
  # compose(:multiply) command above. Let's load another one.

  image 'image2.png'

  # Sequence at this point:
  # [ 'result of compose(:multiply)', 'image2.png' ]

  # Now we have two images in the sequence. We can swap them in case we need
  # to change their order.

  swap

  # Sequence at this point:
  # [ 'image2.png', 'result of compose(:multiply)' ]

  # Now image2.png is first in the sequence, and the output of
  # compose(:multiply) is second. Since our outermost command is compose(:over),
  # at this point these 2 images will be composed over each other, and the
  # result written to result.png.
end

# OUTPUT
# convert
#  image1.png ( mask.png -clone 0 -compose multiply -composite )
#  -delete 0 image2.png +swap -compose over -composite result.png

You can use clone and delete to refer to multiple images at once by passing mutliple indexes as arguments, like clone(0,1,2) or delete(0,1). Ranges are also accepted. Without any arguments clone and delete are translated to ImageMagick's +clone and +delete. They then refer to the last image in the sequence. Same with swap - you can provide two indexes in arguments like swap(1,3) to swap any 2 images in the sequence, or without arguments it'll act as +swap - which swaps last two images.

Debugging Sugar

Sometimes you might want to take a look at an intermediate image that's being generated inside parentheses, nested somewhere in your command. You can do so with the help of save('/path/to/img.png'), which is defined in skeptick/sugar/debugging.rb.

command = convert(to: 'result.png') do
  compose(:multiply, 'a.png', 'b.png') do
    save('~/Desktop/debug.png')
  end

  set '-resize', '200x200'
end

In this case the result of inner compose command will be saved to desktop without affecting anything else. Again, this is a feature that already exists in ImageMagick, as becomes apparent from the resulting command.

convert
  ( a.png b.png -compose multiply -composite -write ~/Desktop/debug.png )
  -resize 200x200 result.png

Chain

This is rarely (if ever) needed, but with Skeptick you could easily create piped commands.

command = chain(to: 'result.png') do
  compose(:hardlight, 'a.png', 'b.png') do
    set '-brightness-contrast', '2x4'
  end

  compose(:atop, 'c.png', :pipe)
end

# OUTPUT:
# convert
#   a.png b.png -compose hardlight -brightness-contrast 2x4 -composite miff:- |
# convert
#   c.png miff:- -compose atop -composite result.png

Two things to note here. First of all, commands that are declared in the chain block will become piped together. Second, we use a special :pipe symbol in the last compose command. This symbol indicates where the piped-in image should appear in the image sequence. You can see this in the output string. The miff:- appears after c.png, as expected.

Documentation is to be continued...

Contributing

Fork it
Create your feature branch (git checkout -b my-new-feature)
Commit your changes (git commit -am 'Add some feature')
Push to the branch (git push origin my-new-feature)
Create new Pull Request

Provide feedback

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README.md

README.md

A note on project status

Skeptick: Better ImageMagick for Ruby

What you get

Installation

Usage

Security Note

DSL

All those little commands

Convert

Set

Image

Sugar

Composition Sugar

Composition Operators

Sequence Manipulation Sugar

Debugging Sugar

Chain

Contributing

Files

README.md

Latest commit

History

README.md

File metadata and controls

A note on project status

Skeptick: Better ImageMagick for Ruby

What you get

Installation

Usage

Security Note

DSL

All those little commands

Convert

Set

Image

Sugar

Composition Sugar

Composition Operators

Sequence Manipulation Sugar

Debugging Sugar

Chain

Contributing