PIXIT DOCS Introduction ------------ Pixit is a nice graphics processor for anyone to use. The features include: PICTURE EDITOR, CREATE-A-SHAPE, SHAPE TABLE EDITOR, PIXIT SHAPE LIBRARY, and PIXIT FONT LIBRARY. Pixit is very compatible with many other programs and uses Dos 3.3 files. To use Pixit you need an Apple ][, ][+, or ][e with at least 48K, Applesoft Basic in ROM, and at least one disk drive with Dos 3.3. Pixit will work on both color and monochrome screens. To print out your pictures you need an Epson MX-80, FX-80, MX-100, or FX-100 with Graftrax. To select an option on any menu, use the left and right arrow keys and the key. If you ever hit the wrong key just hit . If you have two drives put Pix-It in drive one. General ------- Hopefully, you will be able to turn on your computer and boot up the disk by yourself without any instruction. You will see a menu with the following: PROGRAM MENU ______________________ | | | Picture Editor | | Create-a-Shape | | Shape Table Editor | | Demo | | Quit | | | |____________________| Use the arrow keys and to select Picture Editor. You will see a menu with the following: PIXIT PICTURE EDITOR -------------------------------------------------------------- FUNCTION MENU LOAD SHAPE TABLE LOAD CHARACTER SET CREATE PICTURE (ERASE PICTURE IN MEMORY) CATALOG DISK CHANGE DISK DRIVE 1 EDIT PICTURE IN MEMORY LOAD HI-RES PICTURE SAVE HI-RES PICTURE PRINTER GRAPHICS DUMP QUIT PICTURE EDITOR USE ARROW KEYS AND [RETURN] TO SELECT To make a new picture we will need to load the SHAPE TABLE and CHARACTER SET. So choose LOAD SHAPE TABLE. You will see: LOAD SHAPE TABLE: TUTORIAL SHAPES ANIMALS GEOMETRICS You can scroll the list all the way down until you find the one you want. If you want text on your picture choose LOAD CHARACTER SET and load the font that you want. To draw your picture, choose CREATE PICTURE. You will see the editing screen with the flashing cross cursor. At the bottom are the X and Y co-ordinates of the cursor. Also, we have XDRAW, HCOLOR, ROT, etc. (These are exactly like they are used in Applesoft Basic.) If you need help just hit the ? key for the help screen: PICTURE EDITOR COMMANDS FAST MOVE - X10 SLOW MOVE - X1 UP W UP I LEFT A S RIGHT LEFT J K RIGHT DOWN Z DOWN M SPACE DISPLAY SHAPE X XDRAW/DRAW P PLANT SHAPE U SPLIT/FULL SCREEN L DRAW LINE C CHANGE HCOLOR O DRAW CIRCLE Y CHANGE SCALE T ADD TEXT R CHANGE ROTATION F COLOR FULL USE ARROW KEYS AND [RETURN] TO SELECT SHAPE, SCALE, ROTATION, AND HCOLOR SHAPE #1 XDRAW X=140 Y=80 SCALE=1 ROT=0 HCOLOR=3 W,A,S,Z move the cursor ten pixels. I,J,K,M move the cursor one pixel. The screen is 280 pixels wide (0-279) and 192 long (0-191). V is used to make the bottom four lines of text usable for graphics or to return the screen back to text from graphics. On the display there is "SHAPE #1". To see this shape, press the bar and the cursor will be replaced with the shape. Use the arrow keys to move it around the screen. Pressing will make it disappear. Use the bar to get it back again. Now, if you press the right arrow key once the next shape in the shape table will appear. You may scroll through all the shapes until you see the one you want. Now position it with the move keys where you want it and press P and to make it permanent. Now you will have a cursor. To add text press to get the cursor on screen and then press T for text mode. "ADD TEXT" will appear and your cursor becomes ">>". Type your line. (Hit to erase the whole line and then T to type again.) Hit to make it permanent. Your cursor will become a cross again. Repeat until you are finished. (You still have the wrapping function.) Hit to get back to the FUNCTION MENU. Picture Editor -------------- (Whenever you make a mistake you can just hit .) At the PICTURE EDITOR FUNCTION MENU you have the following: LOAD SHAPE TABLE: load a shape table from library or your own LOAD CHARACTER SET: load character set from library CREATE PICTURE: displays and erases hi-res screen CATALOG DISK: will catalog disk in selected drive CHANGE DISK DRIVE: press to change drive number EDIT PICTURE IN MEMORY: displays hi-res screen w/o erasing LOAD HI-RES PICTURE: load hi-res picture (ooh! hard!) SAVE HI-RES PICTURE: take a wild guess. right-save picture!! PRINTER PICTURE DUMP: prints picture on screen QUIT PICTURE EDITOR: return to PIXIT program menu status window: As I said, the parameters are the same as in Applesoft. SHAPE #: shape which you have loaded from shape table X: horizontal position of cursor Y: vertical position of cursor SCALE: relative size of shape (may go up to 5) ROT: rotation of shape (may be 0-63: 0-original, 16-ninety degrees clockwise, 32-upside down) HCOLOR: determines color of all shapes. 0 = black 1 4 = black 2 1 = green 5 = orange 2 = purple 6 = blue 3 = white 1 7 = white 2 using 1,2,5, or 6 may mess up your picture. 0 and 4 should be used with a background color. don't use 0- 3 near 4-7 or you will get "clashing". XDRAW and DRAW: when you use XDRAW as you move shapes, they cancel each other out. DRAW doesn't do this. XDRAW: places shape on screen in inverse color of background DRAW: places shape on screen regardless of color of background commands: / or ? displays help screen and then displays editing screen if hit again. returns you to function menu and cancels most commands unless they have been confirmed with a . W A S : moves cursor or shape ten pixels Z I J K : moves cursor or shape one pixel M space: displays shape from loaded shape table. use left and right arrow keys to scroll through shapes. X: switches between XDRAW and DRAW V: switches between full and split screens C: changes current HCOLOR, use left and right arrow keys to choose color, doesn't effect XDRAW Y: use left and right arrow keys to change SCALE R: use left and right arrow keys to change ROT, (if Y is pressed then ROT becomes 0. higher the SCALE, the higher ROT can be) P: use to plant shape with L: use to draw line (set first point and press L, move to second point and hit ) O: use to draw circle (move to where you want center and hit O, then type in radius from 1-99 and press twice) T: use to add text if font table is loaded F: use for COLOR FILL, press F and enclosed are around cursor is filled with color. screen will be replaced with color menu. use left and right arrow keys to choose color and to select. hit again to plant. erasing: to cancel a planted shape just XDRAW a (blank) shape over it. or DRAW a black shape over it. to erase a portion of a shape DRAW a black shape over that part only. (PAINTS and PATTERNS, in the shape library, is good for this) to erase text reposition cursor over beginning of text and select XDRAW and ADD TEXT. now type over line. or you can plant a blank shape over the text. (these methods are tedious. however, if it is too late to use they are indisposable.) CREATE-a-SHAPE -------------- when you choose CREATE-a-SHAPE, you get the following menu: PIXIT CREATE-A-SHAPE -------------------------------------------------------------- FUNCTION MENU CREATE NEW SHAPE COMPILE SHAPE TABLE REVIEW & EDIT SHAPE TABLE IN MEMORY CATALOG DISK CHANGE DISK DRIVE 1 SHAPE SOURCEROR QUIT USE ARROW KEYS AND [RETURN] TO SELECT CREATE NEW SHAPE: displays hi-res shape plotting screen with flashing cursor, erases file in memory COMPILE SHAPE TABLE: changes vector move file into Applesoft shape table, displays shape, and saves shape to table REVIEW & EDIT SHAPE IN MEMORY: displays hi-res shape plotting screen and draws shape file CATALOG DISK: displays catalog of disk in selected drive CHANGE DISK DRIVE: use this to switch disk drives SHAPE SOURCEROR: will tell you to load a shape table and then select a shape to edit QUIT CREATE-A-SHAPE: return to PIXIT program menu making your own shape-select CREATE NEW SHAPE, then use left and right arrow keys to select magnifying size (1-7). if you choose 3 or greater you will be asked if you want the grid. then you must choose the starting location of your own cursor STARTING LOCATION ON SCREEN: TOP LEFT LEFT CENTER BOTTOM LEFT CENTER MOVE # is displayed on bottom (a shape may have 8,000 moves) / or ? : use this for the help screen : to exit leaving shape intact I,J,K, and M : are used to plot the sqaure at the cursor and then move it once. A,W,S, and Z : move the cursor once without plotting. Every letter is one move. left arrow key: moves the cursor one move back in file but does not lower the number of steps. right arrow key: moves the cursor forward one move from memory. when you get to the last move you will get an "END OF FILE". CTRL-B: moves cursor back to beginning of file, clears screen but not file CTRL-E: use to replot shape forward to end of file, use space bar to stop file CTRL-X: lets you change scale, grid, or starting location leaving file intact CTRL-F: deletes all moves after this one in file When you get to edge of screen a "SCREEN BOUNDARY" will appear and use CTRL-X to correct. When you finish drawing a shape press to get to the function menu select COMPILE SHAPE TABLE. Then type a name for the shape and insert your disk. To load a shape table and change it select SHAPE SOURCEROR. After you load a table, each shape will be displayed one at a time. Use the arrows to scroll through and choose one with . Then edit it as if you had drawn it. SHAPE TABLE EDITOR ------------------ You may build shape tables with up to 128 shapes. (Any standard shape table may be loaded and edited.) Once you select SHAPE TABLE EDITOR, use the left and right arrow keys to scroll through the choices and the to choose the command you want. (Use to back out of anything.) The screen will be divided into two parts, NEW SHAPE TABLE and AVAILABLE SHAPES. You load shape tables onto the AVAILABE SHAPES and then move shapes into the NEW SHAPE TABLE to build your own table. You may load any number of shape tables into the AVAILABLE SHAPES without messing up your own table. Also, you may arrange them into any order you want. You will get the message "NO AVAILABLE SHAPES-LOAD A SHAPE TABLE" if you don't load a shape table. The NEW SHAPE TABLE will have SHAPE # under it to tell you which shape you are on. There is also MEM:8188 to tell you how much memory in bytes you have for your shape table. (This decreases as you add shapes.) Under the AVAILABLE SHAPES screen will be SHAPE # to tell you which shape is there. Also, there will be SIZE: to tell you in bytes the size of the shape in the AVAILABLE SHAPES box. You have the following functions: (choose with arrows and ) LOAD: load a shape table (use to cancel) SCAN: select a different shape from AVAILABLE SHAPES, use the left and right arrow keys and to select a shape ADD: moves shape from AVAILABLE SHAPES into NEW SHAPE TABLE EDIT: like SCAN but works with NEW SHAPE TABLE. You select shape where you want to add or delete a shape. After hitting , DELETE and ADD will work on NEW SHAPE TABLE. (when you ADD a shape it will come before the current shape displayed) DELETE: use to remove shape from NEW SHAPE TABLE after EDIT SAVE: hit , type a name, and hit to save a shape table, then you will be asked to "BUILD ANOTHER SHAPE TABLE (Y/N)?" QUIT: to get back to PIXIT program menu Using shape tables ------------------ To use shapes in your own program look at ANIMATION EXAMPLE 1 on the PIXIT disk. The first lines are: 10 PRINT CHR$(4); "BLOAD ST.ANIMATION SHAPES" 20 POKE 232,0:POKE 233,96 30 SCALE=1:ROT=0:HCOLOR=3:HGR In line 10, we must BLOAD a shape table. In 20, we tell the computer where the table is. To get this do the following: (A=address, address is automatically 24576 or $6000) POKE 232,A - 256 * INT(A/256) POKE 233,INT(A/256) Line 30 sets the scale, rotation, and color, and clear the high-res screen. Look at this program to write your own. Prefixes --------- ST. shape table CS. character set PI. hi-res picture just add these to normal files to use it with PIXIT Memories -------- hi-res pictures are 34 sector files and loaded at hi-res page 2 at 16384 ($4000) shape tables are at 24576 ($6000) character sets are at 32768 ($8000) if you use a large shape table the colorfill portion of the program will be overwritten. If this happens put PIXIT in drive 1 so that it may reload the colorfill routine. Copying PIXIT ------------- PIXIT is unprotected but uses a fast loading boot program. to copy either: (1) boot PIXIT disk. At PROGRAM MENU select QUIT. (2) type "LOAD MENU" (3) remove PIXIT and insert a blank disk (4) type "INIT MENU" (5) use copy program to copy the rest of the files or use any of the fancier copiers. Error Messages -------------- OOPS! DISK PROBLEM: PIXIT can't load or save something. usually: disk drive door open, no disk in drive, disk not initialized, defective disk WRITE PROTECTED: tried to save to a write protected disk DISK FULL: no room to store files on disk FILE LOCKED: tried to save over locked file THERE ARE NO SHAPE TABLES ON THIS DISK: there aren't any files with .ST and you tried to load a shape table. (similar for hi-res pictures and character sets) INSERT PIXIT PROGRAM IN DRIVE 1 AND PRESS RETURN: PIXIT needs to be in drive 1 when you return to main menu during CREATE-A-SHAPE: SCREEN BOUNDARY: you tried to move beyond edge of plotting screen. Select smaller drawing scale. FILE BUFFER FULL: you have used maximum number of moves. END OF FILE: you have reached last move of file. Version PX3 ----------- PRINTER GRAPHICS DUMP: select this in PICTURE EDITOR. you will be asked for WHITE AS BLACK (usually on normal printers) or WHITE AS WHITE (usually on color printers-you may switch for inverse effect). You will get "TURN PRINTER ON" if it is not ready. To stop while printing press . Otherwise you will get a full page printout. Though it is set up for the IMAGEWRITER with the //c, you may change PIXIT by choosing CHANGE SET UP from menu and then choosing your printer and card. The setup will be written to the disk. (If your printer is not supported use Zoom Graphix by Phoenix Software. If you have a Grappler + or similar card you may print the graphics out from basic. Consult your printer or card manual. Remember to include .PI and that it is on page 2.) PIXIT SLIDESHOW: Applesoft program in PIXIT disk. After quitting menu run it to show up to ten of your hi-res pictures. After typing in names, put in data disk and press a number key corresponding to picture you wish to display. KOALA PAD: may be used in PICTURE EDITOR. (you may also use a joystick, etc. connected to the game port) When you are making a hi-res picture type G for graphics pad. You may then use your input device to draw lines. The status screen will automatically disappear and the cursor will only appear when you touch stylus to pad. Use stylus to move cursor to where you want to draw. Then press left button to draw, and release button when finished. The line will follow your movements. To draw a straight line, press the left button once where you want the start point. Move to the second point and press the right button. (A straight line will be drawn.) Every time you press the right button a straight line is drawn to this point from the last plotted point. Press when you are finished or to cancel EVERYTHING you have done with your input device. MIRROR IMAGE SHAPES: in PICTURE EDITOR, press B to flip shape in opposite direction. EDITING MOVES: in CREATE-A-SHAPE if you want to change a move in a file from plot to non-plot (or vice-versa), find move you want to change. Then press Ctrl-P to change current move. COPY: when using copy program to copy files, you don't need to copy START or DEMO1, as they are not used on the copy. Conclusion ---------- Finally!! By providing you with such a detailed look at PIXIT, I hope that I have made its use easier. It is a nice program that makes it easier to manipulate shape tables. It is very compatible with everything. The only way it can be useful is in conjunction with another program. The experienced programmer will find it an extremely useful tool in making his own programs. The novice will have no use for it unless he has another program to use shape tables. PIXIT goes beyond other fine programs such as APPLE MECHANIC by Beagle Bros. by making shape tables very easy to use. (The people who make PIXIT also make TAKE ONE and BLAZING PADDLES. Baudville makes an excellent use of shape tables in graphics. They are the first to do so effectively. Using PIXIT is so much easier than understanding the manual!! Before PIXIT it was such a pain to figure out all the numbers.)