maim
maim (Make Image) is a utility that takes screenshots of your desktop using imlib2. It's meant to overcome shortcomings of scrot and performs better in several ways.
features
- Allows you to take a screenshot of your desktop and save it in any format.
- Allows you to take a screenshot of a predetermined region or window of your desktop.
- If slop (https://github.com/naelstrof/slop) is installed, it can be used for selecting a region to screenshot.
- Allows you to blend the system cursor to screenshots. (Why don't any other commandline screenshooters do this?)
- Allows you to mask off-screen pixels to be black and transparent in screenshots. (Great for people who use an uneven multi-monitor setup!)
why use maim over import or scrot?
- Compared to scrot
- maim has no --exec or naming features. This is because maim follows the unix philosophy of "do one thing and do it well". These features are things that should be handled by the shell.
- scrot has no way to screenshot a predefined region. maim comes equipped with --geometry features that allow for specified region capture.
- With slop installed, maim's --select option is far superior to scrot's -s option in many ways. See slop for more details.
- maim will never error with
giblib error: couldn't grab keyboard:Resource temporarily unavailableas it never grabs the keyboard. (slop does, but it has proper error handling that keeps it from crashing.)
- Compared to ImageMagick's import
- import doesn't play nicely with compositors; making effects like transparent windows not render properly in the screenshot. maim, like scrot, uses imlib2 which isn't inflicted with this problem.
- Compared to either
- maim can actually take screenshots with your cursor included in them! It does this using the XFixes extension. To my knowlege, no other commandline screenshot utility does this.
- For those of you with multiple monitors, maim is aware of which pixels are visible or not and will make off-screen pixels that are in screenshots black and transparent. Import and scrot both mindlessly include off-screen pixel data in their screenshots which is very often just garbage.
examples
I'm including this section because some people don't see how powerful and flexible their shell can be with simple tools like maim. Remember you can always bind keys to shell commands! The following can be executed in any bash-like shells:
- Set the screenshot's name to the current time and date:
$ maim "~/Pictures/$(date +%F-%T).png"- Take a screenshot of the active window: (Requires xdotool.)
$ maim -id $(xdotool getactivewindow)- Custom transparent red selection with 10 pixel padding: (Requires slop.)
$ maim -s -c 1,0,0,0.6 -p 10
- Automatically upload selected region to Imgur: (Requires Bart's Bash Script Imgur Uploader, xclip is optional.)
$ maim -s /tmp/screenshot.png; imgurbash.sh /tmp/screenshot.png
$ # If xclip is installed, your clipboard should have the online screenshot's URL in it!In review, maim does one thing and does it well: it takes a screenshot of what you want. :) What you want is up to you, your programming skills, and your imagination.
how to install
You really should use your package manager when possible, you never know what kind of garbage applications will dump everywhere. For example you can install maim on Arch Linux by installing it from the AUR: maim-git.
However maim just installs a single binary to /usr/bin. If that's ok with you-- you can install it with:
make && sudo make installMake sure to check out and install slop too if you want selection capabilities!
help
maim v2.2.11
Copyright (C) 2014 Dalton Nell, GPLv3
Takes screenshots.
Usage: maim [options] [file]
maim (Make Image) is a utility that takes screenshots of your desktop using
imlib2. It's meant to overcome shortcomings of scrot and performs better than
scrot in several ways.
--help Print help and exit
-V, --version Print version and exit
Options
--xdisplay=hostname:number.screen_number
Sets the x display. (default=`:0')
-s, --select Enables user region selection. Requires slop to
be installed. (default=off)
-x, --x=INT Sets the x coordinate for taking an image
-y, --y=INT Sets the y coordinate for taking an image
-w, --w=INT Sets the width for taking an image
-h, --h=INT Sets the height for taking an image
-g, --geometry=WxH+X+Y Set the region to capture
-d, --delay=FLOAT Set the amount of time to wait before taking an
image. (default=`0.0')
-i, --windowid=INT Set the window to capture. Defaults to the root
window id.
--hidecursor Prevents the system cursor from showing up in
screenshots. (default=off)
-m, --mask=STRING Masks off-screen pixels so they don't show up
in screenshots. (possible values="auto",
"off", "on" default=`auto')
Slop Options
--nokeyboard Disables the ability to cancel selections with
the keyboard. (default=off)
-b, --bordersize=INT Set the selection rectangle's thickness. Does
nothing when --highlight is enabled.
(default=`5')
-p, --padding=INT Set the padding size of the selection. Can be
negative. (default=`0')
-t, --tolerance=INT How far in pixels the mouse can move after
clicking and still be detected as a normal
click instead of a click and drag. Setting
this to 0 will disable window selections.
(default=`2')
--gracetime=FLOAT Set the amount of time before slop will check
for keyboard cancellations in seconds.
(default=`0.4')
-c, --color=FLOAT,FLOAT,FLOAT,FLOAT
Set the selection rectangle's color. Supports
RGB or RGBA values.
(default=`0.5,0.5,0.5,1')
-n, --nodecorations Attempt to select child windows in order to
avoid window decorations. (default=off)
--min=INT Set the minimum output of width or height
values. This is useful to avoid outputting 0.
Setting min and max to the same value
disables drag selections. (default=`0')
--max=INT Set the maximum output of width or height
values. Setting min and max to the same value
disables drag selections. (default=`0')
-l, --highlight Instead of outlining selections, slop
highlights it. This is only useful when
--color is set to a transparent color.
(default=off)
Examples
$ # Screenshot the active window
$ maim -id $(xdotool getactivewindow)
$ # Prompt a transparent red selection to screenshot.
$ maim -s -c 1,0,0,0.6
$ # Save a dated screenshot.
$ maim "~/$(date +%F-%T).png"
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