---
name: "vidwhacker"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "xscreensaver"
version: "3.34-3"
release: "Debian 3.0 (Woody)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/vidwhacker"
---

# vidwhacker(1)

grab images and apply random filters to them

## NAME

vidwhacker - grab images and apply random filters to them

## SYNOPSIS

**vidwhacker** \[-display *host:display.screen*\] \[-root\] \[-verbose\] \[-stdin\] \[-stdout\] \[-delay seconds\] \[-directory *directory*\]

## DESCRIPTION

The *vidwhacker* program grabs an image from disk, or  from the system's video input, then applies random image filters to it, and displays the result.  The *vidwhacker* program does not terminate until killed.

It depends heavily on the various PBM tools (e.g., [**ppmrelief**(1)](/ppmrelief/1.md).)

Selection of random image files is done by running the [**xscreensaver-getimage-file**(1)](/xscreensaver-getimage-file/1.md) program.  Capture of video frames (if requested) is done by running the [**xscreensaver-getimage-video**(1)](/xscreensaver-getimage-video/1.md) program.  The options of whether to do video, and which directory to  search for images, are specified in the *~/.xscreensaver* file.

## OPTIONS

*vidwhacker* accepts the following options:

- **-root**

  Draw on the root window.  This is the default.

- **-verbose**

  Print diagnostics.

- **-stdin**

  Instead of grabbing an image from disk or video, read an image to maniupulate from stdin.  This image must be in [**ppm**(5)](/ppm/5.md) format.  The program will still perform repeated random image  transformations, but it will always use this one image as its starting point.

- **-delay *seconds***

  How long to sleep between images.  Default 5 seconds (the actual elapsed time is significantly longer, due to processing time.)

- **-stdout**

  Instead of displaying the image on a window or on the root, write the new image on stdout, and exit.

- **-directory *directory***

  Use this directory instead of the **imageDirectory** specified in  the *~/.xscreensaver* file.

## ENVIRONMENT

- **DISPLAY**

  to get the default host and display number.

- **XENVIRONMENT**

  to get the name of a resource file that overrides the global resources stored in the RESOURCE\_MANAGER property.

## BUGS

It's slow.

## TO DO

It might be interesting to rewrite this to use [**gimp**(1)](/gimp/1.md) plugins instead of the pbm tools.  It probably wouldn't be any faster, but there would be a wider variety of effects available.

## SEE ALSO

**X**(1), [**xscreensaver**(1)](/xscreensaver/1.md), [**xscreensaver-getimage-file**(1)](/xscreensaver-getimage-file/1.md), [**xscreensaver-getimage-video**(1)](/xscreensaver-getimage-video/1.md), **xv**(1), [**ppmtogif**(1)](/ppmtogif/1.md), [**cjpeg**(1)](/cjpeg/1.md)

## COPYRIGHT

Copyright © 1998-2001 by Jamie Zawinski.  Permission to use, copy, modify,  distribute, and sell this software and its documentation for any purpose is  hereby granted without fee, provided that the above copyright notice appear  in all copies and that both that copyright notice and this permission notice appear in supporting documentation.  No representations are made about the  suitability of this software for any purpose.  It is provided "as is" without express or implied warranty.

## AUTHOR

Jamie Zawinski \<jwz@jwz.org\>, 18-Jan-98.