The main focus of CamanJS is manipulating images using the HTML5 canvas and Javascript. It's a combination of a simple-to-use interface with advanced and efficient image/canvas editing techniques. It is also completely library independent and can be safely used next to jQuery, YUI, Scriptaculous, MooTools, etc.
CamanJS is very easy to extend with new filters and plugins, and it comes with a wide array of image editing functionality, which is only growing as the community makes more plugins.
For more information, I highly recommend taking a look at the official website where there is more comprehensive documentation and interactive demos. You can also read the wiki for some basic information about the project and how to use it.
CamanJS is written in Coffeescript as of version 3.0. It works both in-browser and in NodeJS.
Include one of the versions in the dist/
folder, then you can run:
Caman("#image-id", function () {
this.brightness(10);
this.contrast(20);
this.render(function () {
alert("Done!");
});
});
Caman also supports modifying images via the data-caman
HTML attribute. Simply separate each instruction with a space. Images with the data-caman
attribute will automatically be modified at page load.
<img data-caman="saturation(-10) brightness(20) vignette('10%')" src="path/to/image.jpg">
For the end-user, there are no changes to CamanJS that will affect your code. Everything works exactly the same as before.
For developers, there are some major changes regarding how filters and plugins are added to CamanJS. Previously, you would explicitly extend the Caman.manip interface. This object no longer exists. Now, the way you add filters is:
Caman.Filter.register "filterName", ->
# Variables that exist here will be available in the process function
# because of JS closure.
amt = 20
@process "filterName", (rgba) ->
# Alter rgba pixel object here
return rgba
Plugins are similarly added:
Caman.Plugin.register "pluginName", ->
return @
Building CamanJS
If you are a developer who is contributing directly to the project, there are some tools to help you out.
The requirements for building CamanJS are:
- node
- coffeescript
- jsmin (for node)
If you're running OSX and have Growl installed, it's also recommended you have:
- coffeescript-growl
To build, simply run:
cake build
The resulting files will be placed in the dist/ folder. Plugins will be automatically discovered and added to caman.full.js after the core library.
If you add any files to the core library, you will need to add them to the coffeeFiles
array in the Cakefile. The point of this is so that order is preserved when generating the file JS file. Plugins do not need to be added to the Cakefile.
You will probably want to generate documentation if you make any changes or add a plugin. In addition to the normal requirements, you will also need:
- docco
- Pygments (Python library)
To generate the documentation, run:
cake docs
CamanJS is hosted on CDN JS if you're looking for a CDN hosting solution. It is the full and minified version of the library, which means all plugins are included. Simply load CamanJS directly from this URL for usage on your site.
CamanJS is fully compatible with NodeJS. The easiest way to install and use it is:
npm install caman
If you wish to do things a bit manually, the required libraries are:
- cairo >= 1.10.0
- libjpeg
- libpng
- node-canvas
- Can also use: npm install canvas
Saving from NodeJS
To save your modified image in NodeJS, simply call the save() function after rendering is finished by passing a callback function to render()
. Trying to save before rendering is finished will cause issues.
Caman "./path/to/file.jpg", ->
@brightness 40
@render -> @save "./output.jpg"
The test suite for CamanJS is currently being rewritten since the old one was next to useless. It uses Mocha, and can be run by executing:
npm test
- Ryan LeFevre - Project Creator, Maintainer, and Lead Developer
- Rick Waldron - Plugin Architect and Developer
- Cezar Sá Espinola - Developer
- Jarques Pretorius - Logo Designer