Simple Image Viewer for Linux/X11: Xiv

I did this simple X11 image viewer for Linux because I was tired of the all too complexe image viewers with lots of useless UI and no proper ways of analysing biger and biger images from recent cameras. The main drivers are: lightweight, fast and efficient viewer with no UI, no dependancies to huge libraries, only X11 and controled solely by key shortcuts and mouse. It is well suited for lightweight configurations and small screens such as NetBooks or TabletPC. Having no UI, you can use the whole screen to view the image. I use it to view images from my camera (10Mpxls) on my EEE-PC 4G NetBook (800×480 screen…).

Description

xiv is a lightweight simple image viewer for Linux (or unix) systems requiring only X11. It takes the best of your screen by avoiding menus, toolbars, panels and so.

xiv opens natively 8 bits and 16 bits binary PPM/TIF/JPG images and uses ImageMagick to convert other formats. You can pan, zoom, rotate, enhance contrast/luminosity/gamma with keys and mouse interaction. It provides a very efficient way of analysing a big image

In addition, it can be controled from a FIFO pipe.

xiv is now on sourceforce.

See xiv in action with this video and this subtitle file. Unfortunately, the video does not show how smooth the moves are but at least you can see what it does.

Usage xiv [options] file1 ... filen
Options:
   -geometry widthxheight+ox+oy
   -fifo filename for incoming commands.
       Commands are:
         o l filename: load a new image
         o q: quit
xiv is a very simple image viewer without UI and only controled by keys and mouse.
As opposed to most of the image viewers, it does not rely on scrollbar for image panning.
It is a powerful tool to analyse huge images.
The Window is a view of the image in which you can zoom, pan, rotate...
xiv reads natively 8 bits binary PPM/TIF/JPG images and uses ImageMagick to convert other formats.
Commands are:
   - Key based:
      o q/Q Quit
      o ' ' Center view on pointer
      o z/+ Zoom
      o u/- Unzoom
      o c/C Contrast
      o l/L Luminosity
      o v   Reset Luminosity/Contrast
      o i   Invert colors
      o r/=/0 Reset view
      o 1-9 Set zoom level to 1/1..9
      o [Alt+]1-9 Set zoom level to 1..9
      o Left/Right/Up/Down pan
      o Shift+Left/Right/Up/Down fine pan
      o / or * rotate around center of window by 90° increments
      o Alt+Left/Right rotate around center of window
      o Shift+Alt+Left/Right fine rotate around center of window
   - Mouse based:
      o Left button+Drag Pan
      o Wheel Zoom/Unzoom keeping pointer position
      o Shift+Wheel Fine Zoom/Unzoom keeping pointer position
      o Alt+Wheel Rotate around pointer
      o Shift+Alt+Wheel Fine rotate around pointer

Screenshots

Rotate and zoom with mouse or keys:

Contrast/Luminosity/Gamma:

Reverse color:

Histogram:

Overview shows you the overall image, what you presently see and, in addition, if the zoom factor is less, equal or greater than 1:

Points input with Fn. Points coordinates are written to stdout for further use:

Grid:

Integration to desktop, a file selection box (need zenity, kdialog or Xdialog) allows you to choose an image. The desktop can be configured to use SIV as the default image viewer:

Mandriva RPM

• xiv-0.7-1mdv2010.1.i586.rpm
• xiv-0.7-1mdv2010.0.i586.rpm
• xiv-0.7-1mdv2009.1.i586.rpm
• xiv-0.7-1mdv2009.1.x86_64.rpm
• xiv-0.8-1mdv2010.2.i586.rpm
• xiv-0.8-1.mga1.i586.rpm
• xiv-0.8-1.mga1.x86_64.rpm

Change Log

0.2

Correct bug in read_tiff
Add commands
Handle strip tiff

0.3

Add image cache
Add preload of 2 next images
Add display of an overview (key o).
Histogram is now toggled on/off manually (key h).

0.4

Add clean ups before leaving.
Check mallocs and new.
Histogram is computed only if displayed.
Handles close event from WM.
Size of histogram & overview is adapted to window size.
Add (un)zoom on zone with Shift+Drag.
Add N/P for next/previous x10/
Add ability to setup points and writes them before leaving or
changing image.

0.5

Add display of reference grid
Deactivate bilinear interpolation during move.
Add -browse parameter to expand list of files to files in the
directory.
Add OpenDesktop files.
Improve speed.

0.6

Add Fullscreen mode.
Add -cache parameter.
Revert deplacement for Left/Right/Up/Down keys.
Add -shuffle to shuffle file list.
Add manpage.

0.7

Rename to xiv

0.8

Improve automake configuration files and portability.
Automatically set browse on if a directory is passed.
Add Delete and mark delete functions.
Add command line option for bilinear interpolation.

0.9

Add ability to set background color.