See also: “Help (controls)” which may be selected from the “Other” menu.
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•• I M P O R T A N T ••
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*All ppat's will reside inside the “'ppat' File”, which is created when you make your first ppat. This file will be created in the same folder that the Pict2ppat™ application resides in.
* (If you can) Install the latest version of QuickTime‚Ñ¢ (currently 1.6.1) so that PICT files created from movies or JPEG viewing programs, will display correctly. QuickTime‚Ñ¢ can be downloaded from various information services like America Online (in the operating systems forum), it is not freeware nor shareware, so Apple has a few rules that apply to it's use. If you don't have QuickTime‚Ñ¢, then try and make sure you don't attempt to import PICT's created from JPEG files, otherwise you'll see an appropriate message indicating that the PICT is a photo-JPEG image and that QuickTime‚Ñ¢ is needed to view it. QuickTime‚Ñ¢ version 1.0 will not work, it must be version 1.5 or later. If you get nothing but white after opening a PICT file, chances are you have QuickTime‚Ñ¢ version 1.0, not the latest.
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Quick Tips, Facts and Pointers:
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(Below I refer to “system palette” or “system colors” which is simply the color settings you have chosen for your monitor to display. The number of colors; Black and White, 4 colors, 16 colors, 256 colors, thousands of colors, millions of colors, or grayscale.)
* Use the “Preview” button to see what your ppat will look like when it's applied to the desktop. What you see is what you get (except for the custom icons of course). This view uses the system's palette, just like the ppat will when you apply it with your favorite desktop pattern applying program. Remember that the desktop pattern is ALWAYS drawn with the systems colors. Therefore, images (PICT files) created with the default system colors produce the best ppats that have 256 colors or less.
* Switching dithering on or off has no effect on the image itself. It will only effect the portion that is viewed as a ppat.
* Use the “Select All” command from the Edit menu to select the whole picture if you have the urge.
* Notice that dragging the mouse over the picture also moves a selection rectangle. This rectangle is zoomable with the zoom buttons, one with a large mountain, one with a small mountain. Simply click the mouse button once to “Lock” the selection rectangle over a portion of the picture you wish to copy into a ppat, (the cursor will change into an arrow when the selection rectangle is locked, and you will also see a small lock icon drawn in the upper left hand corner of the selection rectangle) then proceed to zoom-in/zoom-out or use the fine tuning arrow buttons to adjust the selection rectangle. Click the mouse again (somewhere in the picture window) to “Unlock” the selection rectangle, to scan different parts of the image.
* After zooming in or out, you may wish to set the selection rectangle back to it's default size (128 x 128 pixels) instead of zooming in again, which can be painfully slow. This can be accomplished by clicking on the button that has the big rectangle overlapping the small rectangle as it's icon. (The button to the left of the dithering button).
* Any picture you wish to create ppat's from must be in 'PICT' or 'PICT2' format. Pict2ppat™ will not convert GIF, JPEG, nor any other picture file formats. What you need to do is open your GIF or JPEG file and save it as a 'PICT' file, by selecting “Save As…” from the file menu of your favorite JPEG and GIF viewing applications.
* Try to make a habit out of naming your ppat's, otherwise they'll all be named “Untitled”.
* Click on the button with the large mountain to zoom-in on the picture.
( “ + ” plus on the keyboard, no shift required)
* Click on the button with the small mountain to zoom-out on the picture.
( “ - ” minus on the keyboard )
* The keyboard arrow keys are equivalent to using the fine tuning arrow buttons.
* 24 Bit images make great desktop patterns, even on monitors that only support up to 256 colors.
* You can use whatever program you wish to import and apply your cool new ppats created with Pict2ppat‚Ñ¢. If you're using UnderWare‚Ñ¢, you can simply drag the ppat file into the Preferences folder/UnderWare‚Ñ¢ Files folder/UnderWare‚Ñ¢ patterns folder. The next time you launch the UnderWare‚Ñ¢ control panel, your ppat's will appear in the list. NOTE: You will want to rename the second ppat file, third ppat file, etc., so that your old ppat file is not replaced by the new one.
* How much space does a ppat use up on my hard drive?:
A 32 x 32 ppat will require about 3k of disk space.
A 64 x 64 ppat will require about 6.5k of disk space.
A 128 x 128 ppat will require around 20k of disk space.
So, Sixty 128 x 128 ppat's would take about a megabyte of disk space.
How many ppat's can the “'ppat' File” hold?
According to Apple the limit is 2727, however, I have not actually sat down and tried this. Pict2ppat‚Ñ¢ will let you know if you don't have enough space to create a ppat, or if you have exceeded this limit.
