= Chunky PNG

This library can read and write PNG files. It is written in pure Ruby for
maximum portability. Let me rephrase: it does NOT require RMagick or any other
memory leaking image library.

Source code:: http://github.com/wvanbergen/chunky_png/tree
RDoc:: http://rdoc.info/gems/chunky_png/frames
Wiki:: http://github.com/wvanbergen/chunky_png/wiki
Issue tracker:: http://github.com/wvanbergen/chunky_png/issues

== Features

* Decodes any image that the PNG standard allows. This includes all standard
  color modes, all bit depths and all transparency, interlacing and filtering options.
* Encodes images supports all color modes (true color, grayscale and indexed)
  and transparency for all these color modes. The best color mode will be
  chosen automatically, based on the amount of used colors.
* R/W access to the image's pixels.
* R/W access to all image metadata that is stored in chunks.
* Memory efficient (uses a Fixnum, i.e. 4 or 8 bytes of memory per pixel, depending
  on the hardware)
* Reasonably fast for Ruby standards, by only using integer math and a highly
  optimized saving routine.
* Interoperability with RMagick if you really have to.

Also, have a look at OilyPNG at http://github.com/wvanbergen/oily_png. OilyPNG is a 
mixin module that implements some of the ChunkyPNG algorithms in C, which 
provides a massive speed boost to encoding and decoding.

== Usage

  require 'chunky_png'

  # Creating an image from scratch, save as an interlaced PNG
  png = ChunkyPNG::Image.new(16, 16, ChunkyPNG::Color::TRANSPARENT)
  png[1,1] = ChunkyPNG::Color.rgba(10, 20, 30, 128)
  png[2,1] = ChunkyPNG::Color('black @ 0.5')
  png.save('filename.png', :interlace => true)

  # Compose images using alpha blending.
  avatar = ChunkyPNG::Image.from_file('avatar.png')
  badge  = ChunkyPNG::Image.from_file('no_ie_badge.png')
  avatar.compose!(badge, 10, 10)
  avatar.save('composited.png', :fast_rgba) # Force the fast saving routine.
  
  # Accessing metadata
  image = ChunkyPNG::Image.from_file('with_metadata.png')
  puts image.metadata['Title']
  image.metadata['Author'] = 'Willem van Bergen'
  image.save('with_metadata.png') # Overwrite file
  
  # Low level access to PNG chunks
  png_stream = ChunkyPNG::Datastream.from_file('filename.png')
  png_stream.each_chunk { |chunk| p chunk.type }

For more information, see the project wiki on http://github.com/wvanbergen/chunky_png/wiki
or the RDOC documentation on http://rdoc.info/gems/chunky_png/frames

== About

The library is written by Willem van Bergen for Floorplanner.com, and released
under the MIT license (see LICENSE). Please contact me for questions or
remarks. Patches are greatly appreciated!

Please check out the changelog on https://github.com/wvanbergen/chunky_png/wiki/Changelog
to see what changed in all versions.

P.S.: The name of this library is intentionally similar to Chunky Bacon and 
Chunky GIF. Use Google if you want to know _why. :-)