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Nextgenraster64.exe - Sample Application

Along with the library, we include a sample app or executable that uses the library to produce bitmap files. This app, Nextgenraster64.exe can be helpful to the OEM programmer who is developing his own app to use the library.

A special feature of this sample app is that it can output the API calls to the library that it uses. This is very helpful to an OEM programmer who wishes to better understand how to best use the API.


block diagram

Command Line Driven

The sample app is command line driven. The command line syntax and options are shown below:


NextGenRaster.exe <Mandatory Arguments> [<Non-Cumulative Arguments>] [<Cumulative Arguments>]

Mandatory Arguments (must be present, in this order)

+input:${INPUT_FILE}      Specify the input GDSII/OASIS or DBLOAD cache 
                          (memory map) file to be loaded 


+out:${OUTPUT_BASE_PATH}   Specify the base path (directory + file name - file extension) 
                           where the output files will be created

Non-Cumulative Arguments

(Order of appearance does not matter, Multiple occurrence overrides the previous one)

-roi:${LLX},${LLY},${URX},${URY}  Specify region of interest (for generating tiles) with 
                                  the lower left and upper right points in file units
								  
                                  Tiling (-tiles) if specified, will be applied on this area 
                                  of the home view.

                                  If absent, the tiling will be applied to the entire home view.

                                  This argument does not affect the behavior of -window arguments  

-layers:${LAYERLIST}              a comma-separated list of layer[:datatype] to be loaded

                                  If no datatype is specified, all datatypes of that layer 
                                  will be loaded

                                  Any layers or datatypes not covered by this list will be 
                                  dropped as if they don't exist in the file e.g 1,2:1,2:2,3:5 
                                  Load all datatypes for layer 1, only 2:1, 2:2 for layer 2 
                                  and 3:5 for layer 3. Drop any other layer:datatype.

                                  If this argument is absent, all layers in the file are loaded.

                                  

-cell:${VIEWCELL}                 Specify the cell/structure to process.

                                  The extents of this cell will become the home view

                                  If not specified, the default viewcell is the one
                                  with the deepest tree below it.

-pixelsize:${PIXELSIZE}           Specify the size (diameter) of a single pixel
                                  The pixel size is in file units. e.g A pixel size of 1 micron is 
                                  equivalent to a DPI of 25400.

                                  If this argument is absent, pixel size defaults to 1 micron

-fill:${FILL}                     controls the pixel "filling" of boundaries and paths. If not
                                  listed defaults to -fill:solid.

                                  solid - fills paths/boundaries using the specified dither density
                                  for edge and interior.

                                  outline - rasterizes only the edges of paths and boundaries
                                 
                                  pathline - rasterizes paths as 1 pixel wide lines connecting
                                  the vertices. Boundaries are treated as fill:solid were in effect

                                  pathpoint - rasterizes each path vertex as a single pixel;
                                  boundaries are treated as fill:solid were in effect.

-dither:$X                        if -dither is in effect the rasterization will use a Bayesian
                                  dithering and the density of the fill will be X (where X can
                                  range from 0.0 to 1.0)

-flat                             Directs the library to not use pattern recognition to speed up 
                                  the rasterization. Every single polygon will be rasterized 
                                  separately even if it repeats many times.

                                  If this argument is not present, the default behavior is to use
                                  cell hierarchy to detect repeating patterns within a single 
                                  window to speed up the rasterization.

-thrnum:${NUM_THREADS}            Specify the number of concurrent threads to be used for 
                                  rasterization and formatting. If not present, the default 
                                  behavior is for the library to use the number of threads 
                                  equal to the number of CPUs.

                                  If -thrnum is 1 and -max-buffer-cnt is 0, polygon buffering 
                                  will be disabled and every polygon in a window will be 
                                  rasterized on the fly. (Very memory efficient but slow)

-max-buffer-cnt:${MAX_BUFFER_VERT}   For better memory management, specify an approximate polygon 
                                     buffer size (as number of vertices) If specified (value > 0), 
                                     the rasterization will be executed in batches of polygons such 
                                     that the total number of vertices in each batch is approximately 
                                     equal to the specified value.

                                     If absent, a default size of 1,000,000 vertices will be used.

                                     If the value specified is 0 and -thrnum > 1, the entire window 
                                     will be buffered and rasterized at once (not memory efficient)

                                     If the value specified is 0 and -thrnum is 1, polygon buffering 
                                     will be disabled and each polygon will be rasterized on the fly 
                                     (very memory efficient but slow)


-verbose                          Print additional information to stdout and the log file 
                                  (if specified)

-invert                          Invert the image polarity
                                 If absent, defaults to "black" on "white" background

-format:NONE | -format:TIFF | -format:BMP | -format:RAW
                               
                                 Specify output bitmap format:

                                 TIFF - produce a TIFF file with packbits compression

                                 BMP = a monochrome BMP file (uncompressed)

                                 RAW represents an uncompressed raw monochrome image
                                 This format has a small header that starts with LGRAW00
                                 followed by the image width in pixels (4 bytes), image
                                 height in pixels (4 bytes), total number of pixels (8 bytes)
                                 and finally the actual image data straight from the raster buffer      

-log:${LOGFILE}                  Enable logging to a file at the specified path (directory +               
|                                file name + extension)
-log+:${LOGFILE}                 If -log+ is used, append to the log file if it already exists. 
                                 Otherwise, create a new file at the specified path.

                                 If absent, no log file is generated.

-silent                          Do not print messages on the console (stdout/stderr)
                                 If absent, emitcode, progress and information messages are 
                                 printed to stdout, errors and warnings are printed to stderr

-emitcode                        Emit C++ code snippet to stdout/log file every time the 
                                 NextgenRaster Library API is used.

                                 Each code snippet accompanied by comments and parameter values
                                 This allows the user to understand the usage and flow of the 
                                 QckRaster Library API.

                                 Each line of the code emitted is preceded by [c++] to separate 
                                 it from messages from progress and information updates

                                 This option should be used for reference and diagnostic purposes 
                                 only since it may affect performance

                                 Interacts with -silent and -log


Cumulative Arguments

(Order of appearance does not matter, Multiple occurrence has a cumulative effect)


-window:LLUR,${LLX},${LLY},${URX},${URY}     Specify a raster window using the lower left and 
                                             upper right points (in file units)

                                             -window is independent of the -roi command

                                             The actual raster window extents may be slightly 
                                             adjusted to account for byte alignment

                                             Multiple -tiles and -window commands can be used 
                                             cumulatively to generate a set of raster windows. 
                                             The order of occurrence of these commands determines 
                                             the order in which they are rasterized.

-window:LLWH,${LLX},${LLY},${WIDTH},${HEIGHT}     Specify a raster window using the lower left 
                                                  corner, width and height (in file units)

                                             -window is independent of the -roi command

                                             The actual raster window extents may be slightly 
                                             adjusted to account for byte alignment

                                             Multiple -tiles and -window commands can be used 
                                             cumulatively to generate a set of raster windows. 
                                             The order of occurrence of these commands determines 
                                             the order in which they are rasterized.

-window:CWH,${CENTERX},${CENTERY},${WIDTH},${HEIGHT}     

 
                                             Specify raster window using the center point and 
                                             width and height (in file units

                                             -window is independent of the -roi command

                                             The actual raster window extents may be slightly 
                                             adjusted to account for byte alignment

                                             Multiple -tiles and -window commands can be used 
                                             cumulatively to generate a set of raster windows. 
                                             The order of occurrence of these commands determines 
                                             the order in which they are rasterized.

-windows@${FILEPATH}                        Specify a text file containing a set of -window and/or 
                                            -tiles command (one per line) as an alternate way to 
                                            specify raster windows.

                                            The order of occurrence of these commands determines the 
                                            order in which they are rasterized.

-tiles:NXY,${N_X},${N_Y}                     Break a region of interest into a fixed number of 
                                             raster windows in X and Y

                                             The region of interest can be specified using the -roi 
                                             command. If not specified, the home view is the region 
                                             of interest.

                                             Multiple -tiles and -window commands can be used 
                                             cumulatively to generate a set of raster windows. The 
                                             order of occurrence of these commands determines the 
                                             order in which they are rasterized.

-tiles:WH,${WIDTH},${HEIGHT}                 Break a region of interest into a fixed number of raster
                                             windows by width and height.
                                             
                                             The region of interest can be specified using the -roi 
                                             command. If not specified, the home view is the region 
                                             of interest.

                                             Multiple -tiles and -window commands can be used 
                                             cumulatively to generate a set of raster windows. The 
                                             order of occurrence of these commands determines the 
                                             order in which they are rasterized.