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QuickDrawViewer: A Mac OS X utility to visualise QuickDraw (PICT) files

• 13 Comments
• Fantastic—I’ve written a QuickDraw PICT converter, but I focused narrowly on just extracting pixel data. The format is basically a way to encode QuickDraw drawing commands, and getting the original image back (in the general case) means reimplementing QuickDraw.
  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.

  By dietrichepp 3 hours ago

• Opened a few PICT files I threw at it.
  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.

  By JKCalhoun 6 hours ago

• Given that PICT is a vector format at heart, what'd be ideal would be a conversion to SVG. At one point I had part of a tool written to do that, but it didn't handle text very well.

  By duskwuff 5 hours ago

• Is it a vector format? It could capture pixels as well, and patterns.
  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.

  By JKCalhoun 5 hours ago

• It was a vector format which could contain embedded bitmaps - which also neatly describes SVG. The format was fairly well documented in "Inside Macintosh: Imaging With QuickDraw", particularly appendix A ("Picture Opcodes").
  https://developer.apple.com/library/archive/documentation/ma...

  By duskwuff 4 hours ago

• Then I am now surprised that SVG can embed bitmaps. Thanks.

  By JKCalhoun 3 hours ago

• PICT supported vector commands like FrameRect and FillOval, bitmap commands like BitsRect, and even embedded PostScript via PicComments.
  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.

  By relium 5 hours ago

• The readme mentions a PDF conversion tool, but I just cut and pasted into Preview, and that seemed to work.

  By classichasclass 2 hours ago

• Great work! If I open your program in ResEdit, will I uncover a hidden Dogcow?

  By mrcwinn 3 hours ago

• I just opened a PICT file in Preview on Mac and it also offers PDF export. What's the advantage of using this app?

  By cactusplant7374 5 hours ago

• > What's the advantage of using this app?
  From the README:
  > Preview can only open a small subset of the files I have.

  By teruakohatu 5 hours ago

• Ah, I missed that part.

  By cactusplant7374 4 hours ago

• Love this

  By curvaturearth 3 hours ago