Perl Graphics Programming

This insightful volume focuses on scripting programs that enable programmers to manipulate graphics for the Web. The book also helps demystify the manipulation of graphics formats for web newcomers with a practical, resource-like approach. While most of the examples use Perl as a scripting language, the concepts are applicable to any programming language. The book documents ways to use several powerful Perl modules for generating graphics, including GD, PerlMagick, and GIMP. Perl Graphics Programming will change how you think about creating and manipulating graphics for publishing on the Web.

has been applying computers to graphics problems for the past fifteen years. A programmer and artist, Shawn is managing director of the AS220 (www.as220.org) artist community in Providence, RI, a cofounder of the SMT Computing Society, and a member of the Rhode Island chapter of the Perl Mongers. He is also involved in the Bolero open source music notation system (www.as220.org/shawn/bolero) and the Institute for Folk Computing, a program to inform and inspire the use of open software by the general public in Providence. Shawn studied computer engineering at the University of Rhode Island and participated in the construction of an early (mid-80s) hypermedia delivery system at HyperView Systems in Middletown, RI.

Preface

ix

Part I. Raster Images and Web Graphics

Creating Graphics with Perl

3

(22)

Introduction to File Formats

3

(2)

Color

5

(5)

Raster File Formats

10

(7)

Vector Graphic File Formats

17

(4)

Document File Formats

21

(3)

References

24

(1)

On-the-Fly Graphics with GD

25

(37)

GD Basics

26

(1)

Sample GD Applications

27

(8)

Reading and Writing Methods

35

(5)

Getting and Setting General Information

40

(1)

Color Table Manipulation Methods

41

(3)

Brushes, Styles, and Tiles

44

(4)

Copying and Transforming Images

48

(2)

Image Drawing and Manipulation Methods

50

(3)

Strings and Fonts

53

(2)

Polygon Methods

55

(7)

Graphics Scripting with Image::Magick

62

(55)

What Is ImageMagick?

62

(3)

Using Image::Magick

65

(5)

Sample Image::Magick Applications

70

(9)

Reading and Writing Images

79

(3)

Retrieving and Setting File Information

82

(4)

Sizing and Transforming Images

86

(5)

Copying and Composing Images

91

(4)

Color and Transparency

95

(5)

Annotation and Drawing

100

(6)

Filters and Effects

106

(11)

Charts and Graphs with GD::Graph

117

(28)

Let's Make Some Graphs!

117

(8)

A Sample GD::Graph Application

125

(5)

GD::Graph Methods

130

(4)

Attributes of GD::Graph Objects

134

(8)

Colors and Fonts in GD::Graph

142

(3)

Scripting the Gimp with Perl

145

(30)

Getting and Installing the Gimp

145

(3)

Writing Gimp Plug-ins in Perl

148

(2)

Your First Gimp Script

150

(5)

Object-Oriented Versus Procedural Scripting

155

(3)

Adding New Features to the Gimp

158

(13)

Standalone Scripts

171

(4)

Part II. Vector Images and Animations

SVG: The Scalable Vector Graphics Format

175

(20)

SVG Document Structure

176

(4)

The Basic SVG Tags

180

(15)

Creating SVG with Perl

195

(20)

A Slide-Show Presentation

195

(6)

SVG Animation

201

(1)

Creating a Bouncing Ball

202

(2)

SVG Scripting with JavaScript

204

(4)

Using Unicode Text in SVG Images

208

(2)

Transformation with XSLT and Perl

210

(5)

SWF: The Flash File Format

215

(23)

The History of Flash and SWF

215

(1)

The Format and Function of SWF Files

216

(7)

Anatomy of a Tag

223

(10)

Parsing an SWF File with Perl

233

(5)

Using Ming

238

(53)

Installation

238

(1)

Overview of the Perl Interface

239

(1)

The Astral Trespassers Game

240

(6)

The SWF Module

246

(1)

The SWF::Movie Module

247

(2)

The SWF::Sprite (or SWF::MovieClip) Module

249

(1)

The SWF::DisplayItem Module

250

(4)

The SWF::Shape Module

254

(5)

The SWF::Button Module

259

(3)

The SWF::Bitmap Module

262

(1)

The SWF::Text Module

263

(2)

The SWF::TextField Module

265

(2)

The SWF::Font Module

267

(1)

The SWF::Fill Module

268

(1)

The SWF::Gradient Module

269

(1)

The SWF::Morph Module

269

(3)

The SWF::Sound Module

272

(1)

The SWF::Action Module

272

(1)

SWF Recipes

273

(18)

Part III. Documents and Printing

Printing with Postscript and PDF

291

(24)

PostScript in a Nutshell

291

(8)

Portable Document Format (PDF)

299

(15)

References

314

(1)

Using the PostScript Modules

315

(18)

Creating PostScript from a Web Interface

316

(4)

The PostScript::TextBlock Module

320

(6)

The PostScript::Document Module

326

(2)

The PostScript::Elements Module

328

(4)

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Perl Graphics Programming

Summary

Author Biography

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials