PIXHIST3D-PLOT3(1)

📦
version 7.44.0 · 2 versions
, in nixpkgs unstable

💅 pixhist3d-plot3 — the BRL-CAD manual page, but make it cute

okay so bestie, welcome to pixhist3d-plot3, a little tool from the BRL-CAD fam that takes your image's colors and yeets them into 3D space so you can actually look at them. it's giving "color space utilization" but make it a vibe. ✨

🎀 NAME 🎀

pixhist3d-plot3 — outputs RGB color space utilization in 3D unix-plot form, periodt.

🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

pixhist3d-plot3 [file.pix] > file.plot3

🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

so here's the tea, bestie: pixhist3d-plot3 reads a color pix(5) format image — either from the named file.pix or from standard input — and writes to standard output a point for each unique RGB color that occurs in the image. literally one point per unique color, no cap. 💖

the points are emitted as a BRL extended three-dimensional UNIX plot (peep libbv(3) and plot3(5) for the lore). red, green, and blue lines are drawn along the edges of the color cube to mark the coordinate axes — iconic little coordinate besties. 🎀

the color space is sampled at a resolution of 128x128x128, i.e. the least significant bit of each color plane is ignored. (yes, that's a real detail, don't come for me. 🙈)

these plots are best viewed in an interactive 3D plot display program so the color cube can be rotated and examined from all angles. because like, what's the point of a cube you can't spin, right? 🔥 anomalies in an image's colors are often readily apparent, e.g. oversaturation resulting in intensity clipping. so it's lowkey a diagnostic queen. 👑

the command takes no options. zero. none. she's minimal like that. 💅

✨ EXAMPLES ✨

🌈 Example 1. Visualize the color space of an image

pix-fb -i image.pix &
pixhist3d-plot3 image.pix | plot3-fb

plot the set of colors used by image.pix as a 3D point cloud inside the RGB cube and display it on a framebuffer with plot3-fb(1). running an interactive viewer that rotates the plot reveals clustering, gaps, and clipping in the image's color usage. fr fr, spinning that cube is so satisfying. 🫶

⭐ Example 2. Save the color cube plot for later viewing

pixhist3d-plot3 < render.pix > render.plot3

read render.pix from standard input and store the resulting 3D plot in render.plot3, which can subsequently be displayed or converted with other plot3(5) tools. save it for later, bestie, she'll be there when you need her. 💜

👀 SEE ALSO 👀

brlcad(1), pixhist3d(1), pixhist(1), plot3-fb(1), pix-fb(1), pix(5), plot3(5)

💖 AUTHOR 💖

BRL-CAD Team — the icons themselves. 🎀

this software is Copyright (c) 1989-2026 by the United States Government as represented by U.S. Army Research Laboratory. yes the whole range, she's been thriving since '89. ✨

📬 BUG REPORTS 📬

reports of bugs or problems should be submitted via electronic mail to devs@brlcad.org — don't be shy, they want the receipts. 🫶

and that's the whole manual page, bestie! 💅 this icon of a page lives in the BRL-CAD manual collection (BRL-CAD), and this particular version was last touched on PIXHIST3D-PLOT3(1) duty — so go forth, plot your colors in 3D, and slay your color space analysis. mwah! 💖✨🎀🦋

📦 where this page comes from