┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ │
│ PIX A Computer Art Package │
│ ────────────────────────── │
│ │
│ for IBM PCs or Compatibles (Dos 2.0 or above) │
│ using CGA display format │
│ (Microsoft Compatible Mouse Also Required) │
│ NOTE! Amstrad PC1512 and PC1640 mice probably won't work. │
│ Coded By Andrew T Gisby (Perfect Pixel Software 1989) │
│ │
│ PLEASE ENSURE YOUR MOUSE IS PLUGGED IN & YOUR MOUSE DRIVER INSTALLED! │
│ │
│ │
│ To run this program form outside the PC menu system type: │
│ │
│ CD\PIX │
│ PIX │
│ │
│ A command line can also be entered. This command line is the name of the │
│ picture you wish to immediately edit. For example: │
│ │
│ CD\PIX │
│ PIX PIX.PIX │
│ │
│ From time to time you may find that the program traps an error (and stops!). │
│ These errors should not be fatal, and are usually due to memory or drawing │
│ parameter restrictions. If an error does occur, all is not lost! Once the │
│ standard error message has been displayed, the program should be able to │
│ resume from your last edit.) │
│ │
│ │
│ CONTROLS:- │
│ │
│ PIX is almost entirely mouse controlled. The only other control keys you │
│ need worry about are... │
│ │
│ [Esc] - Quit the PIX program. │
│ [C] or [c] - Clear the Work Screen. │
│ [U] or [U] - Undo function just used. │
│ │
│ To move the cross haired sight, simply move the mouse! │
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│ The [Left] mouse button always activates the selected drawing function. │
│ │
│ The [Right] mouse button will activate the function menu when in work screen │
│ mode, or exit any function that operates outside the workscreen (ie Pixel │
│ Edit). │
│ │
│ The functions available on the menu are.. │
│ │
│ 1. Box │
│ 2. Filled Box │
│ 3. Line │
│ 4. Horizontal Line │
│ 5. Airbrush │
│ 6. Free-Hand Draw │
│ 7. CUT Blit (BLK) │
│ 8. COPY Blit (OR) │
│ 9. Circle │
│ 10. Filled Circle │
│ 11. Vertical Line │
│ 12. Text │
│ 13. Adjust Size & Flow parameter │
│ 14. Colour Fill │
│ 15. Tile Fill │
│ 16. Edit Tile │
│ 17. Hair-Line Draw │
│ 18. Pixel Edit │
│ 19. Load │
│ 20. Save │
│ │
│ Selecting a Function from the menu... │
│ │
│ Press the [Right] mouse button & keep it de-pressed. The menu should now pop │
│ up on the right hand side of the screen. To select an option, Keep the │
│ [Right] button pressed & move the mouse Up & Down - A box cursor should also │
│ move relative to the mouse. Also displayed at the top of the menu are two │
│ colour palette boxes (one for black the other for white!). To select the │
│ colour your require, move the mouse Left & Right. │
│ │
│ 1. Box │
│ │
│ This is a workscreen option. To draw a box, move the cursor to the required │
│ part of the screen & press the [Left] mouse button - Keeping the Left mouse │
│ button pressed, move the mouse and draw your box! When the [Left] mouse │
│ button is released, the box is placed onto your picture. │
│ │
│ 2. Filled Box │
│ │
│ See above - This function operates the identically to function 1. Box │
│ │
│ 3. Line │
│ │
│ See above - This function operates in the same way as Function 1. Box except │
│ a straight line is drawn. │
│ │
│ 4. Horizontal Line │
│ │
│ See above - This function is used in the same way as function 1. Box except │
│ the line drawn will remain horizontal to the place where the [Left] mouse │
│ button was first pressed! │
│ │
│ 5. Airbrush (See Also 13. Adjust Size & Flow) │
│ │
│ When the [Left] mouse button is pressed random dots are "sprayed" under the │
│ cross-haired cursor. The range (size) & flow of the airbrush is governed by │
│ function 13. │
│ │
│ 6. Free Hand Draw (See Also 13. Adjust Size) │
│ │
│ When the [Left] mouse button is pressed, a solid block is drawn under the │
│ cross-haired cursor. The Size of this block is governed by the Size option │
│ of function 13. │
│ │
│ 7. CUT Blit (BLK) │
│ │
│ Keeping the [Left] mouse button pressed, draw a box around the area of the │
│ screen you wish to Cut away. When the mouse button is released, the section │
│ of screen specified, is instantly cut away. Once cut, you can move this │
│ block to any other part of the work screen & press the [Left] mouse button │
│ to place or "paste" the block. Pressing the [Right] mouse button will exit │
│ the block paste section. │
│ │
│ 8. COPY Blit (OR) │
│ │
│ See above - This function operates exactly the same way as function 7 except │
│ that the area of screen is copied rather than being cut away! │
│ │
│ ** WARNING ** - Due to memory restrictions of PC's, pasting up large Blit │
│ blocks (eg. a whole screen) will cause an error. Don't worry if this occurs. │
│ The program will resume back to picture without trashing all your hard work! │
│ │
│ 9. Circle │
│ │
│ With the [Left] mouse button pressed, move the mouse left or right to │
│ decrease & increase the radius of the circle respectively. When sizing your │
│ picture, a window is drawn with the circle to aid sizing! releasing the │
│ [Left] mouse button will place the circle onto the screen. │
│ │
│ 10. Filled Circle │
│ │
│ As above (See Function 9. for operation) │
│ │
│ 11. Vertical Line │
│ │
│ As above (See Function 11. for operation) │
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│ 12. Text (See also Function 13. Adjust Size) │
│ │
│ Using this option, the user can place text at variable size any where on the │
│ work screen. Please note, that the size of the text is specified using │
│ function 13. To place text onto the screen, move the cursor to where you │
│ wish the text to appear. Press the [Left] mouse Button once! You will now be │
│ asked (See top of screen) for the text you wish to use. After pressing the │
│ [Return] key, you will be prompted Italics [Y] or [N]. After pressing the │
│ 'Y' or 'N' keys, the text will be painted onto the work area at the │
│ position where you click the left mouse button! │
│ │
│ 13. Adjust Size & Flow │
│ │
│ After pressing the [Left] mouse button & keeping the button pressed, two bar │
│ scales are displayed. One labelled size, the other labelled Flow. To adjust │
│ the size bar, keep the left mouse button pressed & move the mouse Up or Down │
│ (Big or Small). To adjust the flow, keep the left mouse button pressed & │
│ move the mouse Left or Right (Low and High). These parameters are used by │
│ other options. │
│ │
│ 14. Colour Fill │
│ │
│ This will flood and area of the screen with the current colour setting. To │
│ use, simply press the [Left] mouse button. │
│ │
│ 15. Tile File │
│ │
│ This allows a user definable Tile to be used as the fill medium. See also │
│ Function 15. Pressing the [Left] mouse button will initiate the fill! │
│ │
│ 16. Edit Tile │
│ │
│ After pressing the [Left] mouse button, the screen is cleared, & an 8x8 │
│ matrix grid is displayed. Using the cursor, move over the square of the grid │
│ you wish to change & press the {left] mouse button. The square will change │
│ black if previously white, or white if previously black! Pressing the │
│ [Right] mouse button exits the tile edit & re-displays your current picture. │
│ │
│ 17. Hair-Line Draw │
│ │
│ This Option should be used in exactly the same way as option 6. The only │
│ difference here is the fact that a hairline is only 1 pixel thick & the line │
│ is continuous. │
│ │
│ 18. Pixel Edit. │
│ │
│ Keeping the [Left] mouse button pressed, draw a box around the area of the │
│ screen you wish to edit. When the mouse button is released, the section of │
│ screen specified, is scaled and redisplayed as large as possible! (This can │
│ take a few seconds.. please be patient). You can now edit pixel for pixel │
│ the are of the screen by moving the mouse & pressing the [Left] mouse │
│ button. When pressed, if the square below the cursor was black, the paint │
│ used will be white! - and vice-versa! Pressing the [Right] mouse button will │
│ exit the function. (** nb. The maximum width a pixel edit section can be is │
│ 320 pixels **) │
│ │
│ 19. Load │
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│ After pressing the [left] mouse button, enter the path & filename of the │
│ picture you wish to load! │
│ │
│ 20. Save │
│ │
│ After Pressing the [Left] mouse button, enter the name you wish to save your │
│ current picture as. Also, please note that as a useful edition, the PIX │
│ program can be instructed to create the source code for a basic program that │
│ will load the picture into your own basic programs. If this option is │
│ selected, you will be prompted for a basic source file name. The routine │
│ created, can be used with GW-Basic, Microsoft Basic Compiler, Microsoft │
│ QuickBasic etc..etc... (** This routine can not be used with Locomotive │
│ BASIC 2 **) nb. the routine uses the string variable 'A$' as the filename │
│ description. │
│ │
│ │
│ To quit the PIX program (in work screen mode), simply press the [Esc] key. │
│ │
│ To UNDO or erase the last function used, simply press the [U] or [u] key. │
│ │
│ To Clear the work screen, press the [C] or [c] key! │
│ │
│ ----*****---- │
│ │
│ This program was developed by Andrew T Gisby in his lunch hour on a Tandon │
│ PCA with an 80286 Processor EGA screen & Microsoft's "rather spiffing" │
│ QuickBasic version 4.5. │
│ │
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