ALIAS-PIX(1)

📦
version 7.44.0 · 2 versions
, in nixpkgs unstable

💅 ALIAS-PIX(1) — the BRL-CAD glow-up edition ✨

okay bestie, so this is alias-pix, a whole little legend from the BRL-CAD fam 🎀

🌸 NAME 🌸

alias-pix — it converts an Alias(tm) pix image into a BRL-CAD PIX(5) image, which is lowkey the entire personality. 💖

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

alias-pix [-v] < ALIASpixfile > BRLpixfile

like, input on the left, output on the right, standard streams doing standard stream things 🫶

💫 DESCRIPTION 💫

So here's the vibe: alias-pix reads a run-length encoded 24-bit Alias(tm) pix format image from standard input 📥 and writes the corresponding uncompressed pix(5) image to standard output 📤. It's giving pipeline main character energy.

The Alias header gets decoded in an architecture-independent manner (iconic, no cap 🧚), the run-length packed scanlines get expanded to RGB triples, and then the scanline order is flipped to match the bottom-to-top origin convention that BRL-CAD uses. The way it just flips the whole thing so it matches 💅.

⚠️ Heads up, bestie: only 24 bits-per-pixel input is supported — any other pixel depth is rejected. Periodt, no exceptions.
🚫 Also: input may not be read from a terminal. Fr fr, don't even try it. 🙈

🎀 OPTIONS 🎀

  • -v — prints a summary of the Alias pix file header to standard error: the image dimensions, the X and Y offsets, and the bits per pixel. it's giving "let me peek at the metadata" 🔍✨

🦋 EXAMPLES 🦋

Example 1. Convert an Alias pix file and display the result 🌈

alias-pix < image.alias > image.pix
pix-fb -w 1024 -n 1024 image.pix

Converts the Alias image image.alias to a BRL-CAD pix(5) file, and then displays it on a framebuffer with pix-fb(1) — a one-step preview of the converted image. literally the fastest glow-up reveal ever 😭🔥

Example 2. Inspect the image dimensions during conversion ⭐

alias-pix -v < image.alias > image.pix

Converts the image while printing its width, height, and pixel offsets to standard error — which is super useful for discovering the dimensions you'll need in later tools like pix-fb(1) or pixscale(1). iykyk 💜

👑 SEE ALSO 👑

brlcad(1), pix-fb(1), pixscale(1), pix(5)

🍓 AUTHOR 🍓

BRL-CAD Team 🫶

This software is Copyright (c) 1989-2026 by the United States Government as represented by U.S. Army Research Laboratory.

💀 BUG REPORTS 💀

Reports of bugs or problems should be submitted via electronic mail to devs@brlcad.org 📧

k that's the whole page, bestie — go convert some pixels 💅✨

BRL-CAD, ALIAS-PIX(1) — mwah, xoxo 🎀

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