ICV(1)

NAME

icv - convert, compare, and report information for image formats

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SYNOPSIS
DESCRIPTION
- Supported Formats
- Subcommands
OPTIONS
- Conversion Options
- Diff Subcommand Options
EXAMPLES
SEE ALSO
AUTHOR
COPYRIGHT
BUG REPORTS

SYNOPSIS

icv [-w width] [-n height] [--input-format fmt] [--output-format fmt] [-i input] [-o output] [input] [output]
icv info file [file ...]
icv diff [options] img1 img2
icv anim <action> <anim_file> ...

Without a subcommand, icv acts as an image format converter, reading the input image and writing it to the output file. Image formats are auto-detected from file extensions unless overridden with --input-format / --output-format. To stream through standard input or output (a path of which carries no extension) the corresponding format must be given explicitly. This tool is intended to eventually replace the family of single-purpose pix-png(1), png-pix(1), bw-pix(1) and similar converters.

Supported Formats

Format	Extension
Black and White (Grayscale)	bw
Double Precision Pixel (R/G/B/A double)	dpix
Pixel Sequence (R/G/B unsigned char)	pix
Portable Network Graphics	png
Portable Pixmap	ppm

Format

Extension

Black and White (Grayscale)

Double Precision Pixel (R/G/B/A double)

dpix

Pixel Sequence (R/G/B unsigned char)

pix

Portable Network Graphics

png

Portable Pixmap

ppm

Subcommands

info: Report the width, height, format, number of channels, color space, and any embedded render information (like the database and objects used to render it) for the specified image file(s).
diff: Compare two images and report per-channel match statistics on standard error. When the images differ and no output file is given, a raw PIX difference image is written to standard output (only if stdout is not a terminal), matching the behaviour of pixdiff(1). Use -o to write the diff image to a named file instead.
anim: Manage animation files (APNG, MJPG). Supports actions for adding, extracting, replacing, inserting, and removing frames, as well as setting animation playback speed and per-frame delays.

OPTIONS

Conversion Options

-i file, --input file: Specify the input file name. If not specified, the first positional argument is used.
-o file, --output file: Specify the output file name. If not specified, the second positional argument is used.
-w width, --width width: Specify the width of the input image. Required for raw formats (like PIX and BW) that do not encode dimensional information, unless the size can be automatically deduced from the file size.
-n height, --height height: Specify the height of the input image. Required for raw formats (like PIX and BW) that do not encode dimensional information.
--input-format fmt: Explicitly set the input image format (e.g., png, pix, bw).
--output-format fmt: Explicitly set the output image format.
-h, --help
-?: Print conversion help and exit.

Diff Subcommand Options

-o file, --output file: Specify a file path to save the diff image output.
--output-format format: Explicitly set the format of the output diff image.
--format-img1 format: Explicitly set the format of the first input image.
--format-img2 format: Explicitly set the format of the second input image.
--width-img1 #: Specify the width of the first input image (raw formats only).
--height-img1 #: Specify the height of the first input image (raw formats only).
--width-img2 #: Specify the width of the second input image (raw formats only).
--height-img2 #: Specify the height of the second input image (raw formats only).
-h, --help
-?: Print diff subcommand help and exit.

EXAMPLES

Example 1. Convert a raw PIX render to PNG

icv -w 1024 -n 512 render.pix render.png

Reads a headerless 1024x512 PIX file and writes a PNG. The dimensions are required because PIX (and BW) carry no size information in the file; when omitted, icv attempts to deduce them from the file size.

Example 2. Inspect images before further processing

icv info *.png

Reports the width, height, format, channel count, color space, and any embedded render information (originating database and objects) for every PNG in the directory, useful for confirming a batch of renders is consistent before compositing.

Example 3. Regression-test a render against a known-good reference

icv diff -o delta.png reference.png current.png

Compares two renders, prints per-channel match statistics to standard error, and writes a highlighted difference image to delta.png. Omitting -o streams a raw PIX diff to standard output for piping, exactly as pixdiff(1) does.