## Pyramids Pyramids — How to use libvips to make image pyramids |

libvips includes `vips_dzsave()`, an operation that can build image pyramids compatible with DeepZoom, Zoomify and Google Maps image viewers. It’s fast and can generate pyramids for large images using only a small amount of memory.

The TIFF writer, `vips_tiffsave()` can also build tiled pyramidal TIFF images, but that’s very simple to use. This page concentrates on the DeepZoom builder.

Run dzsave with no arguments to see a summary:

    $ vips dzsave
    save image to deepzoom file
    usage:
       dzsave in filename
    where:
       in           - Image to save, input VipsImage
       filename     - Filename to save to, input gchararray
    optional arguments:
       basename     - Base name to save to, input gchararray
       layout       - Directory layout, input VipsForeignDzLayout
                default: dz
                allowed: dz, zoomify, google, iiif, iiif3
       suffix       - Filename suffix for tiles, input gchararray
       overlap      - Tile overlap in pixels, input gint
                default: 1
                min: 0, max: 8192
       tile-size    - Tile size in pixels, input gint
                default: 254
                min: 1, max: 8192
       centre       - Center image in tile, input gboolean
                default: false
       depth        - Pyramid depth, input VipsForeignDzDepth
                default: onepixel
                allowed: onepixel, onetile, one
       angle        - Rotate image during save, input VipsAngle
                default: d0
                allowed: d0, d90, d180, d270
       container    - Pyramid container type, input VipsForeignDzContainer
                default: fs
                allowed: fs, zip
       properties   - Write a properties file to the output directory, input
    gboolean
                default: false
       compression  - ZIP deflate compression level, input gint
                default: 0
                min: -1, max: 9
       strip        - Strip all metadata from image, input gboolean
                default: false
       background   - Background value, input VipsArrayDouble
    operation flags: sequential nocache

You can also call `vips_dzsave()` from any language with a libvips binding, or by using `.dz` or `.szi` as an output file suffix.

#### Writing DeepZoom pyramids

The `--layout` option sets the basic mode of operation. With no `--layout`, dzsave writes DeepZoom pyramids. For example:

    $ vips dzsave huge.tif mydz

This will create a directory called `mydz_files` containing the image tiles, and write a file called `mydz.dzi` containing the image metadata.

You can use the `--suffix` option to control how tiles are written. For example:

    $ vips dzsave huge.tif mydz --suffix .jpg[Q=90]

will write JPEG tiles with the quality factor set to 90. You can set any format write options you like, see the API docs for `vips_jpegsave()` for details.

#### Writing Zoomify pyramids

Use `--layout zoomify` to put dzsave into zoomify mode. For example:

    $ vips dzsave huge.tif myzoom --layout zoomify

This will create a directory called `myzoom` containing a file called `ImageProperties.xml` with the image metadata in, and a series of directories called `TileGroupn`, each containing 256 image tiles.

As with DeepZoom, you can use `--suffix` to set jpeg quality.

#### Writing Google Maps pyramids

Use `--layout google` to write Google maps-style pyramids. These are compatible with Leaflet. For example:

    $ vips dzsave wtc.tif gmapdir --layout google

Will create a directory called `gmapdir` containing `blank.png`, the file to display for blank tiles, and a set of numbered directories, one for each zoom level. The pyramid can be sparse (blank tiles are not written).

As with DeepZoom, you can use `--suffix` to set jpeg quality.

Use `--background` to set the background colour. This is the colour displayed for bits of the pyramid not in the image (image edges, for example). By default, the image background is white.

Use `--centre` to add a border to the image large enough to centre the image within the lowest resolution tile. By default, images are not centred.

For example:

    $ vips dzsave wtc.tif gmapdir --layout google --background 0 --centre

#### Other options

You can use `--tile-size` and `--overlap` to control how large the tiles are and how they overlap (obviously). They default to the correct values for the selected layout.

You can use `--depth` to control how deep the pyramid should be. Possible values are `onepixel`, `onetile` and `one`. `onepixel` means the image is shrunk until it fits within a single pixel. `onetile` means shrink until it fits with a tile. `one` means only write one pyramid layer (the highest resolution one). It defaults to the correct value for the selected layout. `--depth one` is handy for slicing up a large image into tiles (rather than a pyramid).

You can use `--angle` to do a 90, 180 or 270 degree rotate of an image during pyramid write.

You can use `--container` to set the container type. Normally dzsave will write a tree of directories, but with `--container zip` you’ll get a zip file instead. Use .zip as the directory suffix to turn on zip format automatically:

    $ vips dzsave wtc.tif mypyr.zip

to write a zipfile containing the tiles. You can use `.szi` as a suffix to enable zip output as well.

#### Preprocessing images

You can use `.dz` as a filename suffix, meaning send the image to `vips_dzsave()`. This means you can write the output of any vips operation to a pyramid. For example:

    $ vips extract_area huge.svs mypy.dz[layout=google] 100 100 10000 10000

The arguments to `extract_area` are image-in, image-out, left, top, width, height. So this command will cut out a 10,000 by 10,000 pixel area from near the top-left-hand corner of an Aperio slide image, then build a pyramid in Google layout using just those pixels.

If you are working from OpenSlide images, you can use the shrink-on-load feature of many of those formats. For example:

    $ vips dzsave CMU-1.mrxs[level=1] x

Will pull out level 1 (the half-resolution level of an MRXS slide) and make a pyramid from that.

#### Troubleshooting

If you are building vips from source you do need to check the summary at the end of configure carefully. You must have the `libarchive-dev` package for `vips_dzsave()` to work.