From the README:
> Preview can only open a small subset of the files I have.
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’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.
One thing I'm thinking about making a tool that uses old codecs to make compact images for 68K machines. Basically, use today's CPU power to make efficient road-pizza images.
JKCalhoun•3mo ago
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.
duskwuff•3mo ago
JKCalhoun•3mo ago
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.
relium•3mo ago
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.
duskwuff•3mo ago
https://developer.apple.com/library/archive/documentation/ma...
JKCalhoun•3mo ago
wiesmann•3mo ago
I would welcome anyone wanting to implement an SVG renderer, but I'm not interested in doing so myself. My goal is to have a tool that allows the average Mac OS user to open QuickDraw files and copy-paste them wherever they need them (yes, the UX could be improved). Why did I not choose SVG?
First, PDF is widely supported on Mac OS X (and other platforms), SVG can be rendered in web-browsers and Inkscape. If you want functional copy/paste or printing, you need to use Core Graphics.
Second, Core Graphics is an API, SVG is a data format. My code tries to delegate as much as possible to the backend. So, for instance, if a QuickTime payload uses the TIFF codec, the TIFF file is just sent to the back-end, you can't embed a TIFF file in SVG, any RGB or YUV data needs to be serialized back to PNG.
Yes, this could be solved by linking in K libraries and frameworks, but my goal was to hack-around with a small (for 2025), self-sustained application.
classichasclass•3mo ago
wiesmann•3mo ago