Fantastic—I’ve written a QuickDraw PICT converter, but I focused narrowly on just extracting pixel data. The format is basically a way to encode QuickDraw drawing commands, and getting the original image back (in the general case) means reimplementing QuickDraw.
The old Mac game Avara used this format for levels. It was funky… you could place blocks in a 3D world, and control elevation and height by changing the corner radius of rectangles. You needed a QuickDraw image editor to make levels, like ClarisDraw.
I really wish I'd had this tool six months ago when I was designing a GUI program for macOS 9. I wanted to import pictures from my modern laptop to a PowerBook Duo and vice versa. Converting all the assets was a pain, and I think this tool would've been incredibly convenient, even just for previewing the images.
Offtopic but which tools and resources would you recommend to get started with MacOS 9 GUI development?
I’ve experience with WinAPI/MFC but the classic Macintosh API is quite different and I’d often run into hangs when trying to run simple hello world-ish C++ programs compiled with CodeWarrior.
Looking for an Export… item but did not see that. I suppose one reason to open an old PICT file is to save it as a PNG or something that will be easier to open in the future.
Given that PICT is a vector format at heart, what'd be ideal would be a conversion to SVG. At one point I had part of a tool written to do that, but it didn't handle text very well.
Is it a vector format? It could capture pixels as well, and patterns.
It is, in one variant anyway, a re-playing (capture) of the QuickDraw drawing commands. It is one reason it is a hard format to decode without having the original Mac Toolbox QuickDraw code handy.
It was a vector format which could contain embedded bitmaps - which also neatly describes SVG. The format was fairly well documented in "Inside Macintosh: Imaging With QuickDraw", particularly appendix A ("Picture Opcodes").
Fantastic—I’ve written a QuickDraw PICT converter, but I focused narrowly on just extracting pixel data. The format is basically a way to encode QuickDraw drawing commands, and getting the original image back (in the general case) means reimplementing QuickDraw.
The old Mac game Avara used this format for levels. It was funky… you could place blocks in a 3D world, and control elevation and height by changing the corner radius of rectangles. You needed a QuickDraw image editor to make levels, like ClarisDraw.
I really wish I'd had this tool six months ago when I was designing a GUI program for macOS 9. I wanted to import pictures from my modern laptop to a PowerBook Duo and vice versa. Converting all the assets was a pain, and I think this tool would've been incredibly convenient, even just for previewing the images.
Offtopic but which tools and resources would you recommend to get started with MacOS 9 GUI development?
I’ve experience with WinAPI/MFC but the classic Macintosh API is quite different and I’d often run into hangs when trying to run simple hello world-ish C++ programs compiled with CodeWarrior.
Opened a few PICT files I threw at it.
Looking for an Export… item but did not see that. I suppose one reason to open an old PICT file is to save it as a PNG or something that will be easier to open in the future.
Given that PICT is a vector format at heart, what'd be ideal would be a conversion to SVG. At one point I had part of a tool written to do that, but it didn't handle text very well.
Is it a vector format? It could capture pixels as well, and patterns.
It is, in one variant anyway, a re-playing (capture) of the QuickDraw drawing commands. It is one reason it is a hard format to decode without having the original Mac Toolbox QuickDraw code handy.
It was a vector format which could contain embedded bitmaps - which also neatly describes SVG. The format was fairly well documented in "Inside Macintosh: Imaging With QuickDraw", particularly appendix A ("Picture Opcodes").
https://developer.apple.com/library/archive/documentation/ma...
Then I am now surprised that SVG can embed bitmaps. Thanks.
PICT supported vector commands like FrameRect and FillOval, bitmap commands like BitsRect, and even embedded PostScript via PicComments.
Version 1 PICTs: https://show.docjava.com/posterous/file/2012/07/9614411-DOC0...
I have the Version 2 documentation around here somewhere. I don't think I've looked at it in 20 years, though.
The readme mentions a PDF conversion tool, but I just cut and pasted into Preview, and that seemed to work.
Great work! If I open your program in ResEdit, will I uncover a hidden Dogcow?
What is the point of a graphics api that rasterizes into semi-permanent storage? Surely you just end up with pixel-poking a granulated mess
I just opened a PICT file in Preview on Mac and it also offers PDF export. What's the advantage of using this app?
> What's the advantage of using this app?
From the README:
> Preview can only open a small subset of the files I have.
Ah, I missed that part.
Love this