XTACY(1)

1.

NAME
xtacy - an X11 trippy color-cycling toy

SYNOPSIS
xtacy [ -option ... ]

DESCRIPTION
xtacy generates trippy patterns in an X window and cycles the color palette. Without any arguments, xtacy will open a window and display a random effect.

OPTIONS

-annoy
    Turn on the Zoomy Close Window thing.

-bw width
    Border Width. Specifies the width of the border around your window, in pixels.

-delay msec
    Delay msec microseconds between loops.

-display displayname
    Opens the xtacy window on the displayname display.

-geometry geom
    Opens the xtacy window with geom geometry.

-h  Print out a help message.

-lock
    Lock the window. When given the -lock flag, xtacy prompts you for a key, then locks the window until the key is entered again. There is no true security guaranteed by this option.

-mirror
    Mirrors the pattern on the window

-norect
    Used in conjunction with -kaleid to turn off everything but the lines.

-number num
    Used in conjunction with different effect options to specify special qualities of the effect. See the effect options below.

-opt num
    Also used like -number to feed a secondary option into xtacy

-part num
    Used in conjunction with -gravity to specify the number of roaming particles.

-r
-root
    Run xtacy in the root window.

-rillybig
    Run xtacy in a really big window (1024x860).

-trell
    Used in conjunction with -plasma to put it in Trellace mode.

-windows n
    Tell xtacy to open n windows for itself.

COLOR OPTIONS

-bd color
    Set the border color of the xtacy window to color.

-bg color
    Set the background color of the xtacy window to color.

-mono
    Run with a greyscale palette.

-multi
    Rotates the color map on most effect modes.

-few
    Use only 18 colors.

-several
    Use 72 colors.

-colors num
    Try to use num colors.

-rand
-randomcolor
    Scramble the colormap.

-perfect
    Use a private colormap. This will let xtacy have perfect colors when the cursor is in that window, but will do funky things to the rest of the screen.

-pal num|filename
    Uses predefined palette num:

    0: Default RYGCBM, rotating straight.
    1: Three bands (red, green, and blue), each of which can rotate independantly.
    2: Like palette 1 but in greyscale.
    3: Chooses 2 random colors and interpolates between them.
    4: Starts with a greyscale palette, drops in a random color and smoothes around it.
    5: Chooses 3 random colors and interpolates between them. you can also specify a Palette File, which is just a text file with R-G-B triples ranging from 0 to 255. A few demonstration palette files are included in the Xtacy distribution, in the palette directory.

EFFECT OPTIONS

-bez
    Bouncing Bezier curves. The -number option specifies how many curves to display.

-boxes
    Bouncing boxes. The -number option specifies how many boxes to display.

-bozo
    Bouncing quadrilaterals (bozogons). The -number option specifies how many bozos to display.

-circ
    Bouncing circles. The -number option specifies how many circles to display.

-qix
    Qix. The -number option specifies how many qix lines to display.

-qix4
    Four qix lines, mirrored on each other. The -number option specifies how many qix lines to display.

-blur
    starts with randomly placed boxes, and then blurs the edges between them.

-cells
    Tile floor, cells of rotating color. The -number option specifies how many cells on a row.

-clover
    Lines rotating around a center point.

-cube
    A spinning wire-frame cube. You may want to push up the delay to slow this down on a fast system.

-dcurve
    plots the colors based on the distance to the curve(s)

-dline
    plots colors based on the distance to the line(s)

-dog
    DogPlasma mode. The -number option sets the graininess.

-field
    Displays e-fields between random points of random intensity. The -number option specifies how many points to display.

-flush
    starts with randomly drawn boxes, and moves them towards the center of the window

-fracrect
    ever decreasing squares-within-squares

-funky
    Shapes spiraling down to the center point. The -number option sets the shape:

    0: A straight line.
    1: A square.
    2: A triangle.

-gravity
    Gravity well simulator. The -part option sets the number of roaming particles and the -number option sets the number of wells.

-julia
    Julia set fractal. The -number option sets the number of iterations.

-kaleid
    Kaleidascope. The -norect option turns off everything but the lines.

-life
    Conway's game of life. The -number option sets the starting density.

-lunch
    A reminder to go eat in the middle of the day

-mandel
    Mandelbrot set fractal. The -number option sets the number of iterations.

-max
    Max Headroom's background (Max not included)

-newton
    Newton root fractal. The -number option sets the number of iterations.

-mixer
    Display swirls of colors. The -number option sets the width of the bands.

-off
    Off the Air color test pattern.

-plasma
    Plasma cloud. The -number option sets the graininess of the cloud (higher is smoother) and the -trell option puts it in Trellace mode, which started as a bug but looked neat enough to stay.

-rose
    Phased sine waves

-spiral
    Draw a spiral.

-star
    Starfield simulation. The -number option determines the number of stars on the screen at a time.

-static
    Draw static. Use -mono to get black and white static.

-swarm
    Draw a swarm of bees following a queen.

-taffy
    A modified mixer mode. The -number option sets the width of the bands.

-tag
    sort of the reverse of -swarm everyone avoids the leader, and the leader tries to tag the closest bee

-test
    Display the colormap.

-tunnel
    Display a tunnel.

-wander
    Display a squiggly line, wandering around the screen.

MOUSE BUTTONS

Button Action | Description
Button 1 click | Rotates the colormap one pixel, except on: where it places a new particle, where it moves the pixel, and where it moves the queen.
Button 2 click | Resets the window and redraws the effect
Button 3 click | Closes the window. If it's the last window, exits the program. If the option is on, this brings up the keyhole window.

AUTHOR
Jer Johnson <jer@gweep.net>

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This program is dedicated to The Fairest One.

Special Thanks to:

Daniel Cabeza Gras <bardo@clip.dia.fi.upm.es> for tweaking my spiral code, and for adding the cells and mixer modes.

Steve Richardson <prefect@gweep.net> for letting me use his computer as an FTP site, and for being a guinea pig. Oh, and for writing the taffy mode.

Andrew Petrarca <android@gweep.net> for tweaking my gravity and e-fields code.

Matt Cross <profesor@gweep.net> for the starback and tunnel code.

Raun Nohavitza <raunn@tamu.edu> for writing the manpage.

COPYRIGHT
xtacy is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2, or (at your option) any later version.

xtacy is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with xtacy; see the file COPYING. If not, write to the Free Software Foundation, 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.

AVAILABILITY
The most recent released version of xtacy is always available for anonymous ftp from sidehack.gweep.net in the directory pub/gweep_progs.