
This is Magick++, the object-oriented C++ API to the ImageMagick
image-processing library. Please report any problems to Bob Friesenhahn
<bfriesen@simple.dallas.tx.us>.

Magick++ supports an object model which is inspired by PerlMagick. Magick++
should be a bit faster than PerlMagick since it is written in a compiled
language which is not parsed at run-time. This makes it suitable for Web CGI
programs. Images support implicit reference counting so that copy
constructors and assignment incur almost no cost. The cost of actually
copying an image (if necessary) is done just before modification and this
copy is managed automatically by Magick++. De-referenced copies are
automatically deleted. The image objects support value (rather than
pointer)  semantics so it is trivial to support multiple generations of an
image in memory at one time.

Magick++ provides integrated support for STL. This support allows Magick++
to be used with the Standard Template Library (STL) so that the powerful
containers available (e.g. vector and list)  can be used to write programs
similar to those possible with PERL & PerlMagick. STL-compatable template
versions of ImageMagick's list-style operations are provided so that
operations may be performed on multiple images stored in STL containers.

Please be aware that until Magick++ reaches version 1.0, some minor changes
may be expected to implemented APIs based on operational experience.


                                Installation

Please read instructions in the file INSTALL to buidl and install Magick++.

                                Documentation


Magick++ documentation is available by opening the file doc/Documentation.html
in a Web browser.
