Pixe v0.4
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Ok, this is now available for testing / use.
http://www.retroidea.com/Pixe/Pixe_v0_4.zipI'm going to add some detailed comments about the various tools (as a kind of read me manual) so you have more of an idea about what's usable:
Pixe will automatically save the image on exit as a project.pxe format. This is a format which supports layers (although not implemented) as well as the 4 level data for each layer. All tool options, positons are also automatically saved on exit (apart from user selected brushes). On start up Pixe will load the project.pxe file if found to continue working.
Pressing L will load a 8-bit BMP file from untitled.bmp (with minimal error-checking, so the wrong image or size will crash). Pressing S will save your current image as a normal BMP to untitled.bmp. Please note that this doesn't change subsequent saves on exit to use this file format or name, project.pxe will still be saved and loaded on the next startup. No file selector yet sadly (hence the L and S), but there will be one in the future.
Canvas: Left mouse button = draw with pen 1, Right mouse button = draw with pen 2, Middle mouse button held down & movement = scroll image, Arrow keys = scroll image, Mouse wheel = zoom in/out. Left control held and subsequent click = colour select to pen 1 or pen 2 depending on the mouse button pressed.
(The direction of scrolling can be reversed by selecting the scroll icon in the system (computer monitor icon) tool options, if you prefer the google maps style method of scrolling).
Palette: Left mouse button = select colour for pen 1, Right Mouse button = select colour for pen 2. Hold for one second with left mouse button = drag colour to another palette entry to Copy. Hold for one second with right mouse button = drag colour to another palette entry to Move (may change to swap in the future..)
Brushes: One user-definable brush (with preview) and 7 preset default brush sizes. More will be supported in the future.
Draw tools: All drawing tools work except for filled freehand.
Line tools: Only normal line works at the moment.
Box tools: All work.
Ellipse tools: All work.
Fill tool: Only one fill tool at the moment (more will be added), but this works.
Brush tools: Flip X, Flip Y and Rotate 90 DON'T work, but all others do. Normal brush mode, select area with left mouse button to copy into user-brush. Right mouse button when selecting area also erases the background (as per DPaint / PPaint / ProMotion). Tile brush mode allows you to copy a brush from the image using the grid size settings (even if not on), you can draw using the selected tile for creating mock-ups. Right click will go back to selecting a new tile. Click on a main draw tool (i.e. draw, line, etc..) to cancel the mode. You can toggle on/off brush transparancy (which treats the colour in pen 2 (right mouse button) as transparent. This is in fact dynamic, every time you select a new pen 2 colour in the palette the brush transparancy will be updated (if on) automatically.
Effect options: Three types of right mouse button drawing (will be selectable via keys in the future as well). Normal paint, eyedropper (GraphicsGale), and eraser. Eraser will erase pixels of the same colour as pen 1 (left mouse button) on the image, revealing OLD pixel data underneath. Works anywhere on the image at any time, and upto 3 layers can be erased. Below are multiple drawing modes, all of which work apart from shrink outline and brightness. Effect modes can be used with both preset brushes and user-selected brushes, as well as in all drawing operations. Please note that some effects might not always be visible (i.e. colour replace) if not over applicable colours. Icons and order in the panel are quickly done, and unfinalised. Right clicking on an effect icon applies the effect to the WHOLE image, rather than selecting the effect to draw with.
Undo / Redo: 64 level undo (left mouse button) and redo (right mouse button) working.
Palette options: RGB & HSV sliders all working, click on the slider bar to move to that point, or drag as normal. If you have the cursor slightly above the bar then the mouse cursor will change to a left arrow if left of the position indicator, or to a right arrow if to the right. Clicking in this state will decrease or increase the value for fine control. More global palette options, cut / copy / swap / insert / delete / ramp will be added in the future.
Grid options: Left clicking on the tool icon on the main panel turns snap to grid on/off. Right clicking switches between no-grid and checked grid. Fit to grid will fit two part drawing operations like boxs, ellipses, brush cutting within the grid size. Grids are shown as a grey colour by treating colour 0 in the image as transparant. This is not saved in final images and is purely visual. Size and offset can also be changed as well as the type of grid : none, line or check.
System options: Will have system related tools, settings. Currently only reverse scrolling on/off.
I'm most proud of the erasable layers, effect modes, more dynamic approach to brush transparancy, and smooth zooming in/out so far.
Erasable layers need testng some more please, but also let me know what you think, etc.. etc..
