Brief Instructions for PIX.WHIZ

This program can read in New Print Graphics, both monochrome and color, and
both high resolution and low resolution. It can't read the full page panels,
or the letterhead panels. It creates low resolution color graphics. The
program is pretty much self explanatory, but there are a few things that are
useful for you to know.

1. To create a self-booting disk, just copy ProDOS 8 onto the disc. If you
launch the program from a program launcher, choose the file MICOL.SYSTEM.

2. The program can be used even if you only have one disc drive, although you
will be in for some disc swapping. Run the program from the boot disc. Then
when you ask to load a file, the program will go to a "Point and Shoot" file
selection mode with a list of the on-line volumes. (which, in this case, will
be only one disc) At this point, replace the boot disc with e graphics disc
and then press Open Apple-B. DO NOT SWAP THESE TWO STEPS! As soon as you
press Open Apple-B, the program tries to do an on-line volume search again.
If you are removing a disc from the drive when it accesses the drive, you
could trash the disk. Then chose the file, and it will be loaded. When the
program is ready, it will prompt you to replace the boot disc. Similarly,
when you save the file back onto its original disc to save the changes, the
program will prompt you to replace the graphics disc.

3. Some of the operations take a while, so don't be impatient. For one thing,
once you have chosen a subdirectory that has a significant number of NPS
graphics on it, the disc will have to check the file info on all the files in
that subdirectory to determine which ones are candidates for this editor.
This can involve a lot of disc access, particularly if you are getting files
off a loaded 3.5 inch disc. It can be nerve wracking because it sounds like
the program is reformating the disc or something. Well, don't panic, it's not
reformating the disc. Also, decompressing the files after loading and
compressing them prior to saving take a little time, during which it seems
like the thing has hung up. Give it a little time.

4. The NPS color graphics also have monochrome portions built into them.
These get used when you are printing on a monochrome printer, and also in the
"Browse" feature of the file selection when you are making a project with
NPS. Pix.Whiz allows you to edit the monochrome portion as well as the color
portion. You can get to the monochrome portion by pressing "M", the
mono/color toggle. Pix.Whiz does not automatically fill in any pixels in the
monochrome portion, or change the monochrome pixels as you edit the color
pixels. Whatever is in the monochrome portion of the graphics that you load
will be the same when you store unless you specifically edit the monochrome
portion. If you begin a new picture and do not specifically put pixels in the
monochrome portion, it will remain blank.

5. I have found that Pix.Whiz has a conflict with the software that drives a
RAM drive on my Super Expander C extra memory card. There is a possibility
that it will conflict with RAM drives on other aux type memory cards. The
problem with my RAM drive seems to manifest itself when the program must
switch between drives, such as during a load file or a save file operation,
and a ProDOS "Volume not found" error is generated, regardless of whether the
proper disc is in the drive. Shutting down the RAM drive seems to fix the
problem, so I don't think there is any conflict with the memory card
hardware.

6. Some IIe and IIc clocks seem to conflict with PIX.WHIZ. If you have
trouble getting it to run, try turning off the clock driver.

7. Pix.Whiz does not get along with GSOS. If you are running Pix.Whiz on a
IIgs, boot directly into ProDOS 8, change the prefix to the disc with the
program, then execute the command -MICOL.SYSTEM.

8. If you need to ask me anything about Pix.Whiz, my E-mail address is
included below.


Gerry (the Applesoft-aholic)
g.wright12@genie.geis.com


PIX.WHIZ Documentation
copyright 1995 by Geraldine Wright


ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to extend a special thanks to Abbey Birk, who did a mighty fine
job of beta testing for PIX.WHIZ. Without her help, I would never have been
able to find all the nasty little buglets hiding inside the program.

Gerry (the Applesoft-aholic)
g.wright12@genie.geis.com


INTRODUCTION

Broderbund's New Print Shop program can print color graphics in your signs,
banners, calenders and greeting cards. Unfortunately, Broderbund never
provided a way for Apple IIe and IIc owners to create their own color
graphics. The graphics editor within the New Print Shop only creates
monochrome graphics. The only way to make new color graphics for the New
print Shop was to create low resolution color graphics using Print Shop GS
Companion, and export them to New Print Shop format. This required a IIgs
with at least 768K of memory. There was no way to make the high resolution
color graphics at all.

I wrote PIX.WHIZ to correct this problem. Version 1.0 will allow you to make
low resolution color graphics on the same computer you use to make New Print
Shop projects. A future upgrade will allow you to also make high resolution
color graphics. The system requirements are:

Enhanced IIe w/80 column card or IIc or IIgs
Color monitor

IIgs users should boot their computers directly into ProDOS 8 to run
PIX.WHIZ, since PIX.WHIZ doesn't get along with GSOS. IIe and IIc users, if
you have an aux type extra memory card in slot 3, be sure you are not running
a RAM drive on it, because it will conflict with PIX.WHIZ. Some IIe and IIc
clocks also seem to conflict PIX.WHIZ. If you have problems getting it to
run, try turning off the clock driver.


INSTALLATION

All the files you need to run PIX.WHIZ, with the exception of ProDOS, are on
the disc or in the shrunk file this document was obtained from. Make sure not
to change the name of any of them. All the files must be in the same
directory for PIX.WHIZ to run. You can make the PIX.WHIZ startup disc self
booting by putting ProDOS on it. If you choose to run PIX.WHIZ from a program
launcher, run the file MICOL.SYSTEM.


DRAWING SCREEN

The drawing screen is where you will actually do editing on your NPS
graphics. PIX.WHIZ will automatically bring you here after the program loads
and the initial splash screen displays. The large white square at the right
will display the picture as you edit it. The graphic has been initialized to
all white, so for a new picture, it is not necessary to insert white pixels.
There is an arrow shaped cursor which points to the pixel to be changed. The
cursor is moved by the arrow keys. It will wrap around at both sides, and at
the top and bottom.

At the left of the screen are a list of 1-key commands for activating
PIX.WHIZ functions. There are prompt lines at the bottom with instructions
requiring more text. Messages to the user also will appear here, and commands
which require further user input also will print prompts here.

Finally, there are a few lines of status information at the left. The current
position of the arrow shaped cursor is displayed, along with the current
drawing color.


COMMANDS

All of the commands and user responses are activated by a single keypress. It
is not necessary to press <RTN>. Illegal key presses will cause a beep. The
commands are listed here.

<SPACE> - draws a pixel in the current color at the current cursor location

C - change the current color. A prompt line at the bottom will ask what color
you want. Press the 1-key response required to choose the desired color.

M - toggle between color picture and monochrome picture. Each lo-res color
NPS graphics actually contains 2 pictures. One is the color picture you
want to print, the other is a monochrome representation of the color
picture. The monochrome picture is displayed when you are browsing files
while creating a project, and press the space bar to view a graphic. It
also gets printed when you use a printer with a single color ribbon.
PIX.WHIZ allows you to edit both these pictures. They are edited
completely independently: putting a pixel of any color on the color
picture will not put any pixels on the monochrome picture, and vice
versa. The behavior of the space bar changes slightly when you are
editing the mono picture. It toggles pixels between black and white,
rather than painting them in the current color. The list of 1-key
commands also changes. You no longer see the C command, since you can't
choose a new color. The M command now will take you back to the color
picture. If you have any color NPS graphics that you know were made with
Print Shop GS companion, you might want to go back and edit the
monochrome picture in these files. PSGS Companion doesn't let you edit
the monochrome picture, it just makes a guess what it should look like
for you. What it guesses isn't always very representative of the color
picture, and you may want to touch it up a little.

N - new picture. The entire graphic, both the color and mono pictures, are
erased to white so you can start over. If you made changes to the
currently displayed picture but have not yet saved them, you will be
warned and asked if you want to abort the N command. This gives you a
chance to save the changes you made.

L - load an NPS graphic from disc. As with the N command, if you have made
changes to a picture that were not saved, you will be given a chance to
abort. If you choose to continue, you will taken to the file operations
module to choose the graphic you want to load.

S - save the file. This is used to save modifications to a pre-existing
graphic when you want the changed file to be stored under the same name
on the same disc as you loaded it from. If you accidentally press S to
save a new file you had just created, you will be diverted to the Save
As command, which is described below.

Open Apple-S - save the file using a different pathname than it was loaded
from, or save a new file. You will taken to the file operations module
to choose the disc on which to store the graphic and give it a name.

Q - quit. As with the N command, if you have made changes to a picture that
were not saved, you will be given a chance to abort the N command.


FILE OPERATIONS SCREEN

When you press L or Open Apple-S while at the drawing screen, you will be
brought to the file operations screen to choose a path from which to load a
file or to which to save a file. The S command does not bring up the file
operations screen, because it assumes you want to save to the original path,
and do not need to choose one. All three commands need to read the file
operations module from the PIX.WHIZ startup disc, so you should not remove
the disc while you are editing a picture. If you have removed the disc, you
will be nagged to put it back in. If you are saving a file, there will be a
delay while the file is being compressed. A friendly message box will appear
to let you know that the file is compressing, and you have not been sent to
never-never land.

PIX.WHIZ will then do a search for on-line volumes and present them in a
"point and shoot" list so you can pick which one you want. Move through the
list of volumes using the up and down arrow keys. When the one you want is
highlighted, press <RTN> to select it. Open Apple-B can be used to redo the
on-line volumes search. This is especially helpful if you only have one disc
drive. Take out the PIX.WHIZ startup disc and replace it with the disc that
has the graphic you want. Then press Open Apple-B to redo the on-line volumes
search, and you will be able to choose your graphics disc. MAKE SURE YOU
REPLACE THE DISC FIRST, THEN PRESS OPEN APPLE-B. DON'T SWAP THESE STEPS!
OTHERWISE, PIX.WHIZ MAY BE POLLING THE DRIVE AS YOU PUT IN A DISC, AND YOU
COULD TRASH THE DISC. Open Apple-B is also useful if you realize you forgot
to put your graphics disc in a drive, or you put in the wrong one. In either
case, put in the disc you want and then press Open Apple-B. If you decide you
want to abort the entire operation and return to the drawing screen, press
<ESC>.

Once a disc has been chosen, its volume name will be displayed on the top
line and it will be cataloged. NPS library discs have "PSL." appended to the
front of their volume names. PIX.WHIZ will recognize these as NPS library
discs and automatically append "/GRAPHICS" to the path before displaying the
path and doing the catalog. This is the subdirectory on all NPS library discs
where your graphics will be found. PIX.WHIZ saves you a little time in
automatically taking you there. When the catalog is done, it will be
displayed in a "point and shoot" list, much as for the on-line volumes list.
You highlight file names and choose them for action in the same way. <ESC>
will abort the operation. Open Apple_B will back you up to the previous
directory. You can press Open Apple-B repeatedly to back up to ever more
previous levels, and if you press it while the root directory is displayed at
the top, PIX.WHIZ will redo the on-line volumes search.

Constructing the catalog list can take a few minutes, especially for 3.5"
discs that have loads of files on them. This is because PIX.WHIZ will only
list the files you can load and the directory entry of each file must be
individually examined to determine if it is a file you can load. Also,
because PIX.WHIZ has to do a lot of disc access at this point, it sounds like
the disc is being formatted. Don't panic. The disc is not being formatted,
and your data will survive this operation.

The files that PIX.WHIZ will list for you to choose during a load operation
are:

     Low resolution monochrome NPS graphics
     Low resolution color NPS graphics
     High resolution monochrome NPS graphics
     High resolution color NPS graphics
     Subdirectories within the subdirectory you have cataloged

You cannot load full panel graphics or letterheads, so you will not see
these.

The files that PIX.WHIZ will list for you to choose during a load operation
are:

     Subdirectories within the subdirectory you have cataloged

If you choose a subdirectory, that subdirectory will be appended to the path,
and the new path will be cataloged. You may choose a graphics file if you are
loading, and that file will be loaded. While saving a graphic you may only
choose subdirectories. When the full path down to the subdirectory in which
you want to save a file is shown on the top line, press Open Apple-A to
select that path. You will then be prompted to supply a name for the graphic.
You will not be allowed to enter an illegal name. If there is already a file
with the name you typed, you will be asked if you want to overwrite it.

The desired file operation will now take place, and PIX.WHIZ will return to
the drawing screen. This requires reading a module from the PIX.WHIZ startup
disc, If you have removed the disc, you will be prompted to put it back in.
If you were loading a file, there will be an additional brief delay while the
loaded file is decompressed.


ADDITIONAL INFO

PIX.WHIZ creates lo-res color NPS graphics, regardless of what kind of
graphic you load. In a future upgrade, I plan to have PIX.WHIZ store the
pictures in the same form they were when loaded, unless the user specifically
changes the type. However, for now, it only makes lo-res color graphics. If a
mono graphic is loaded, PIX.WHIZ copies the lo-res portion to the monochrome
picture of the lo-res color file. It then creates a color picture for the
file, all of whose pixels are either black or white. If a hi-res picture is
loaded, all the hi-res information is discarded.

PIX.WHIZ is freeware. You may give it to anyone who wants it without charge.


AN EXHORTATION

Make lots of pretty NPS graphics and share them with all the rest of us!! ;-)