XACTE(l) NCAR XACTE(l)
NCAR/ATD/RDP Local Command NCAR/ATD/RDP Local Command
November 1993
NAME
xacte - the X Answer to Color Table Editors
SYNOPSIS
xacte [ number_of_colors ]
DESCRIPTION
Xacte is a general purpose color table editor with numerous editing
functions and an X11 graphical user interface. The xacte window
consists of a primary color slider area on the left, a color cell area
on the right, and a function button area on the top.
ADJUSTING COLORS
The currently selected color cell's color can be set by adjusting the
values of the three additive primary colors (red, green, and blue)
using a mouse and X sliders. Clicking the left mouse button on one of
the primary color sliders causes the amount of the primary in the
selected color cell to increment. Clicking the right mouse button
causes the primary to decrement. Clicking and dragging the middle
mouse button causes the primary to move with the mouse. There is a
hexadecimal numeric display over each primary color slider that
indicates the current value.
SELECTING COLOR CELLS
To select a particular color cell simply click on the empty black
"selector" box above the desired cell with the left mouse button. A *
character will appear in the selector box. The primary sliders now
control the color in that cell. To select another cell, either click
on another selector or use the green arrow buttons "<<", "<", ">", and
">>" which will select the far left cell, the next cell to the left,
the next cell to the right, or the far right cell. Many of the
functions cover a sequential group of cells and require a second cell
selection. These functions have yellow buttons. To mark the
secondary selection, place the mouse over the desired cell and press
the right mouse button. A ^ character will appear in the selector
box.
[<>] The <> button causes the two marks, * and ^ to exchange places.
This function is useful for setting new endpoint colors while using
the two-marker functions.
FUNCTIONS
Most of the buttons on the top two rows control the various functions
that xacte can perform. All functions are selected by moving the
mouse pointer over the button and pressing the left mouse button.
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XACTE(l) NCAR XACTE(l)
NCAR/ATD/RDP Local Command NCAR/ATD/RDP Local Command
November 1993
[Quit] The Quit button causes xacte to exit to the operating system,
no questions asked.
[Clear] The Clear button causes xacte to clear all of the color cells
to the initial state and reset the pointers.
[Insert] The Insert button causes all of the color cells from the *
selected cell to the right to move right one space. A gray cell is
inserted at the *. This function is useful for adding new colors to a
table. Note that the right most color will fall off the end.
[Remove] The Remove button causes the color at the * selected cell to
disappear and all of the cells to the right of the * move to the left
one space. A gray cell is inserted at the right side of the table.
This function is used for removing colors from a table.
[Preset] The Preset button causes the color at the * selected cell to
change to one of several preset colors. This function is useful for
starting work on a new table.
[Span] The Span button causes the color at the * mark to be spread
between the cells marked with the * and ^ characters. This function
is useful for creating tables with large blocks of the same color.
[Swap] The Swap button causes the colors at the * and ^ marked cells
to exchange places. This function is useful for changing the order of
the colors in a table.
[Flip] The Flip button causes all of the colors between the * and ^
marks to reverse positions. The Flip function is useful for inverting
the order of a section of a color table.
[Move<] The Move< button causes all of the colors between the * and ^
marks to move to the left one position. The two marks move with the
colors. The color cell on the left of the moved section moves to the
right of the section.
[Move>] The Move> button causes all of the colors between the * and ^
marks to move to the right one position. The two marks move with the
colors. The color cell on the left right of the moved section moves
to the left of the section. The move functions are useful for
changing the placement of a group of colors within the color table.
[Roll<] The Roll< button causes all of the colors between the * and ^
marks to shift to the left one position with the left most color
moving to the right most position.
[Roll>] The Roll> button causes all of the colors between the * and ^
marks to shift to the right one position with the right most color
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XACTE(l) NCAR XACTE(l)
NCAR/ATD/RDP Local Command NCAR/ATD/RDP Local Command
November 1993
moving to the left most position. The Roll functions are useful for
reordering color tables.
[Flip] The Flip button causes all of the colors between the * and ^
marks to reverse positions. The Flip function is useful for inverting
the order of a section of a color table.
[Smooth] The Smooth button creates a smooth color transition between
the cells marked with the * and ^ characters. The colors at the end
points do not change and all colors in between will be replaced. This
function is useful for creating smoothly changing color tables.
[Smear] The Smear button performs a low-pass filter operation on the
cells between the * and ^ characters. The colors at the end points do
not change and the colors in between will be modified to be closer to
the colors of their neighboring colors. This function is used to even
out the transitions in a table with many different color values. The
Smear button may be pressed multiple times for more effect.
UNDO
[Undo] The Undo button reverses the effect of the previous color
change. Undo does not change either of the color selector positions.
FILE I/O
[Read] The Read button causes xacte to pop up the file selector
widget. To read in a file, move the mouse into the white text area on
the filename widget, type in the name of the file that you would like
to read, and press the OK button or a carriage return. If you change
your mind and don't want to read a file, press the Cancel button. If
the file is not in the current directory, specify the full path of the
file. Note that the current file type must match the file you are
reading. See the next function for details.
[Type] The Type button causes xacte to cycle through all of the color
table file types that it supports. All file read and write functions
will use the current type. The default type is ASCII. Currently, the
following types are supported: ASCII (Human readable), PS
(PostScript), CFM (RDSS Radar Editor and Perusal) and Zeb. Note that
the CFM type has a fixed length of 128 colors.
[Write] The Write button causes xacte to pop up the file selector
widget. See the Read function above for details. The file will be
written in the format of the currently selected Type.
FILES
Note: this refers to an NCAR directory that is not in the
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XACTE(l) NCAR XACTE(l)
NCAR/ATD/RDP Local Command NCAR/ATD/RDP Local Command
November 1993
distribution. There are some useful color tables stored in the
/rdss/xact/colortable directory and its subdirectories. A good table
to read in for experimentation with the editor is
/rdss/xact/colortable/ascii/rainbow16.asc.
BUGS
The * and ^ marks are partially obscured when editing large
colortables.
AUTHOR
G. Forrest Cook, NCAR/ATD/RDP
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