BW-PIX(1)

📦
version 7.44.0 · 2 versions
, in nixpkgs unstable

💅 BW-PIX(1) — the BRL-CAD glow-up zone ✨

okay so bestie, welcome to bw-pix, one of the BRL-CAD girlies 🎀 this whole page is about her, so grab a strawberry drink 🍓 and let's go

✨ NAME ✨

bw-pix — the icon who converts a black and white image, or three color channels, into a color pix image 🌈 like she literally takes monochrome and gives it main character energy, no cap

🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

bw-pix [-h] [-o _out.pix_] [_file.bw_ [_out.pix_]]
bw-pix [-h] [-o _out.pix_] _red.bw_ _green.bw_ _blue.bw_ [_out.pix_]

two whole forms, she's versatile like that 💅

💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

so bw-pix converts one or more black and white bw(5) files into a color pix(5) file. she's got two modes, and which one you get depends on how many input files you hand her. it's giving choose-your-own-adventure 🧚

Mode one: single input 🎀 — with a single input file (or when she's reading from standard input), each input value gets replicated three times, so all three RGB planes hold the same value. result? a grayscale image, but stored in pix format. same vibes, new container, periodt.

Mode two: three inputs 🦋 — with three input files, they are read concurrently and treated as the red, green, and blue channels (in that order, iykyk) and their bytes are interleaved into a single color pix image. and here's the detail that matters: channels of unequal length are zero-padded to the length of the longest. so nobody gets left out 😭🫶

output goes to the file named by -o, or to a final positional filename, or to standard output if neither is given. and the lowkey wild part: when an output file is named and standard output is also redirected, the result is written to both. two destinations, one queen 👑

with no input file at all? input is read from standard input. she's flexible fr fr.

🌸 OPTIONS 🌸

  • -o out.pix — write the color pix output to out.pix. you can also just hand it over as the final positional argument instead, whatever feels right 💫 and if standard output is simultaneously redirected or piped, the same data is written to both destinations — yes bestie, both. don't say I didn't warn you 🫶
  • -h, —help — print a usage message and exit. the classic "help me help you" moment, iconic, we love her ⭐

🔥 EXAMPLES 🔥

Example 1. Convert a grayscale image to pix

bw-pix moon.bw moon.pix

converts the grayscale image moon.bw into moon.pix, with the grayscale value copied into each of the red, green, and blue planes. one value, three homes, slay 🌙✨

Example 2. Recombine separated color channels into a viewable image

bw-pix red.bw green.bw blue.bw | pix-fb

merges the three single-channel bw(5) files red.bw, green.bw, and blue.bw into a color pix(5) image and displays it on a framebuffer with pix-fb(1). this is genuinely useful when you're filtering individual color channels (for example with bwmod(1)) before recombining them 🔥 like splitting the group chat and then putting it back together, no cap

👑 SEE ALSO 👑

brlcad(1), pix-bw(1), bwmod(1), pix-fb(1), pix(5), bw(5)

the whole friend group 💜 go say hi

🎀 AUTHOR 🎀

BRL-CAD Team — legends, honestly 🫶

This software is Copyright (c) 1989-2026 by the United States Government as represented by U.S. Army Research Laboratory. fr fr, that's the real text, keep it safe 💖

🐛 BUG REPORTS 🐛

Reports of bugs or problems should be submitted via electronic mail to devs@brlcad.org 📧 if something's broken, tell the girlies, don't suffer in silence 😭

okay that's the whole page bestie, you're literally an expert now 💅✨

remember: two modes, three channels max, and the output can go to two places at once — that's the vibe check ✅

signing off from the BRL-CAD corner of the universe 🦋 this was BW-PIX(1) from BRL-CAD — version-and-date energy included, mwah 💋🎀

📦 where this page comes from