QuickDrawViewer: A Mac OS X utility to visualise QuickDraw (PICT) files
a day ago
- #Macintosh
- #Swift
- #QuickDraw
- The author created a Swift program to decode and display QuickDraw image files, inspired by an older Java version.
- The program was released to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the original Macintosh computer.
- It translates QuickDraw instructions to Core Graphics for rendering, similar to how printer drivers worked in classic Mac OS.
- QuickDraw was the graphical language of the original Macintosh, but support for these files has diminished in newer Mac OS versions.
- The decoder is based on the 1994 book 'Inside Macintosh - Imaging With QuickDraw'.
- The program also handles QuickTime images (QTIF) and MacPaint images (PNTG) by converting them into QuickDraw format.
- The architecture includes four parts: a QuickDraw parser, a CoreGraphics renderer, a Core Video decoder for QuickTime images, and a Swift-UI application.
- Supported features include basic shapes, text with styling, patterns, color selection, and various QuickTime codecs.
- Some QuickDraw features like exotic compositing modes and text alignment are not supported.
- The application allows viewing, copying, and exporting pictures to PDF, with minimal drag-drop functionality.
- A command-line tool is provided for converting PICT files to PDF, though error handling is minimal.
- A Python script is available for converting QuickDraw data in text resources into PICT files.
- The code is distributed under the Apache 2.0 License.