ale/doc/user/overview/index.xml

<?xml version="1.0"?>

<!DOCTYPE book PUBLIC "-//Norman Walsh//DTD DocBk XML V3.1.4//EN"
	"file:///usr/share/xml/docbook/schema/dtd/4.4/docbookx.dtd">

<chapter><title>Overview</title>

<section><title>Purpose</title>

<para>This manual describes program operation and command-line usage for ALE
version <ver/>.</para>

<!-- <para>For more information on ALE, see the <a
href="http://auricle.dyndns.org/ALE/">ALE Home Page</a>.</para> -->

</section>
<section><title>Parameter Meta-syntax</title>

<p>When describing parameter syntax, the following conventions are used in this manual:</p>

<table>
<caption>Parameter Meta-syntax</caption>
<tr>
<td><l>&lt;foo></l></td>
<td>A required parameter called <meta>foo</meta>.</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><l>[&lt;foo>]</l></td>
<td>An optional parameter called <meta>foo</meta>.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><l>[&lt;foo>]*</l></td>
<td>Zero or more parameters <meta>foo</meta>.</td>
</tr>
</table>

</section>
<section><title>Command-line syntax for Image Processing</title>

<para>The following command-line invocation can be used to process a series of
frames into an output file:</para>

<ll>ale [&lt;option>]* &lt;original-frame> [&lt;supplemental-frame>]* &lt;output-file></ll>

<p>For experimental argument scope syntax, see <xref linkend="user-scope"/>.</p>

<s><t>Option Arguments</t>

<s><t>Default Settings</t>

<para>Certain basic modes of operation, emphasizing image quality, speed, or
other rendering characteristics, are established in the form of default
settings.  For more information, see:</para>

<ul><li><xref linkend="user-defaults"/>
</li></ul>

</s>

<s><t>Other options</t>
<para>For information about other options, see:</para>

<ul><li><xref linkend="user-file"/>
</li><li><xref linkend="user-rendering"/>
</li><li><xref linkend="user-alignment"/>
</li><li><xref linkend="user-exclusion"/>
</li><li><xref linkend="user-device"/>
</li><li><xref linkend="user-ui"/>
</li><li><xref linkend="user-chains"/>
</li><li><xref linkend="user-psf"/>
</li><li><xref linkend="user-cp"/>
</li><li><xref linkend="user-3d"/>
</li></ul>

</s>
</s>

<s><t>Image Files</t>

<para>ALE can be configured at compile time to use one of two different file
handlers.  Execute 'ale --version' to determine which file handler is being
used.  The table below outlines the supported formats for each file handler.</para>

<table>
<caption>Supported image file formats</caption>
<tr><th>Version Message</th><th>File Types Supported</th></tr>
<tr><td valign="top">
<ll>File handler:     ImageMagick</ll>
</td>

<td>
Input and output files can be any of the <ulink url="http://imagemagick.sourceforge.net/www/formats.html">formats</ulink> supported by
ImageMagick.
</td>
<td/>
</tr>

<tr><td valign="top">
<ll>File handler:     PPM</ll>
</td><td>
Input files must be PPM, and output files are written as PPM.
</td></tr>
</table>

<para>Note that many external programs, including ImageMagick's <ulink url="http://www.imagemagick.org/">command line utilities</ulink>, can be used to
convert between PPM and other formats.</para>

<para>See the README included in the source distribution for more information about
compile-time configuration of file handlers.</para>

<p>Usage of extended PPM syntax for specifying image metadata is outlined in <xref linkend="user-eppm"/>.</p>

</s>

</section>
<section>
<title>Command-line syntax for Version Information</title>

<para>The following command-line invocation can be used to print version
information and build options:</para>

<ll>ale --version</ll>

<para>The following is sample output from this invocation:</para>

<ll>ALE Version:      <ver/>
File handler:     ImageMagick
Color data:       SINGLE
Coordinate data:  SINGLE
DFT:              FFTW3
Threads:          POSIX
Assertions:       Enabled
Optimizations:    Enabled</ll>

<para>The first line of output indicates the program version; the remaining
lines reflect the build options selected at compile time.</para>

<para>For more information about build options, see the README file included in
the source distribution.</para>

</section>
<section>
<title>Command-line syntax for Help Output</title>

<para>When invoked with no arguments, or an insufficient number of file arguments,
ALE outputs a help message specifying command-line usage and available help
topics.  The following is a sample invocation:</para>

<ll>ale</ll>

<s><t>Help Topics</t>

<para>More information about specific help topics can be obtained with an invocation
of the following form:</para>

<ll>ale &lt;help option&gt;</ll>

<para>Available help options, and their corresponding help topics, are outlined
below:</para>

<ll>--hu              Usage (this message).
--hq              Default settings.
--hf              Image files.
--he              Exclusion regions.
--ha              Alignment (not exposure-related).
--hr              Rendering (not exposure-related).
--hx              Exposure.
--ht              Transformation data files.
--hc              Control points.
--hl              Filtering (PSFs, rendering chains).
--hd              Devices.
--hi              User Interfaces.
--hp              Process details.
--hs              Argument scope (Experimental).
--hv              Video stream processing (Experimental).
--h3              3D Modeling (Experimental).
--hz              Undocumented options.
--hA              Concatenate all help pages.</ll>

</s>

</section>

</chapter>