Welcome to PikQuik 3, a
tool that lets you quickly create designs to be used was part
of
greetings cards, small posters, postcards, CD covers, designs for cross
stitch and embroidery and the like with a bit of a
contemporary/abstract/organic feel; realism is low.
Created with the Euphoria
programming
language by David Pletts.
This is free software, but the copyright is retained by David Pletts © 2005.
PikQuik 3 initially starts with a help window open. To dismiss the help window at any time, click on the [Close Help] button below. All further help can be obtained by selecting the appropriate item from the Help menu.
You may email David at DPLETTS@aol.com if you so wish.
The large white area in the centre of the screen is the canvas. Beneath it is the Colour Sequence window. To the right is a small window showing you the x (across the canvas) and y (down the canvas) position of the mouse pointer.
You would normally start by selecting a colour or a sequence of colours. Refer to [Colours] in the help menu.
Alternatively you could open a bitmapped picture, ie a picture with the .bmp extension to its name.
Or you might select a background from the [Background] menu. If you want a white background skip this action.
You then have a number of painting tools available from the [Paint] menu.
Interesting effects can be obtained by making multiple applications of many of the tools.
Tools available under the [All-overs] menu paint all over the canvas. You might like to use one of them. At any stage you could add an effect, from the [Effect] menu, to your canvas.
If you don't like something you have just added to your canvas, click on the [Oops] menu, or press the back-space key.
Finally, if you like what you have created, save the picture by selecting [Save] from the [File] menu.
Many of the slower processes can be stopped by pressing the [Esc]
key. Some are specifically mentioned, but not all. It's a case of
seeing if it works or not, I'm afraid.
The following keyboard keys set the thickness of lines/size of tools: [1] to [4].
Press the [c] key to place the mouse pointer at the centre of the canvas.
Use the arrow keys to nudge the mouse pointer one pixel in the direction of the arrow.
Pressing [Enter] or the [Return] key is equivalent to clicking the left mouse button.
Every time you create a new sequence, or a random sequence or reverse a sequence or add a reversed sequence or collect colours the colour sequence is saved (up to 100 sequences before the oldest sequence is overwritten) and can be recovered using the [s] key.
Press the [r] key to select a new random colour sequence.
Press the [r] key to select a new random colour sequence.
Use the [h] key to flip an imported bitmap horizontally and back again, the [v] key to flip it vertically and back.
You can rotate an imported image [Import Bitmap] by using the function keys F1 to F12. Here is how the keys work: think of the hour hand on a 12-hour clock face. The function keys correspond to the hour numbers on the clock. So F12 means that the imported image will be rotated to point to the top of the screen, F1 towards one o'clock etc.
You can also turn the image clockwise by five degrees every time you press the [t] key on the keyboard.
You can also scale the imported bitmap. Pressing the [-] will reduce the scale by 10% each time you press it until you reach 10% of the original size. A further press will take the reduction down to 5%. By pressing the [=] key the image will be scaled up by 10% each time you press it. To return to the orginal size, press the [0] (zero) key.
Press the comma key [,] - which also displays [<] - to remove the end colour of a colour sequence. Hold the key down for continuous removal of the end colour. Note, however, that the sequence will not be saved unless you finish off by selecting [Remove End Colour] from the [Colour] menu.
You may set a sequence of colours using [Set Sequence]. The standard Windows colour selector will appear. If you have just started PikQuik 3 and you have not already chosen a colour, or if you have chosen [New Sequence], the colour selector will appear twice. Select the first colour in the sequence, followed by the second colour.
If you have already chosen a single colour the first colour the new sequence will be the colour already chosen. If you already have a sequence the first colour the new sequence will be the last colour of the existing sequence.
Every time you create a new sequence, or a random sequence or reverse a sequence or add a reversed sequence or collect colours the colour sequence is saved (up to 100 sequences before the oldest sequence is overwritten) and can be recovered using the [s] key.
[Clear Sequence]: will clear the current sequence.
[New Single Colour]: will replace any existing colour or sequence with a single colour chosen from the Windows colour selector.
ALSO: You may click on any colour displayed in the Colour Sequence window to replace the sequence with the single colour you chose. In addition, if you click at the top of the Sequence Window a lighter shade of the colour will be used. If you click at the bottom of the window a darker shade will be used.
Select [Revert] from the menu to return to the original colour sequence.
[Random]: creates a sequence of colours at random. Use the [r] key instead if you wish. (Also see NOTE below).
[Random 4]: creates a sequence of 4 colours all chosen at random. Useful for use with Diamonds (under [All-overs]) and [Rectangle] (under [Paint]). (Also see NOTE below).
[Graded Random 4]: creates a sequence of 4 colours; the first and last are chosen at random, the two between are a blend of the outer two. Useful for use with [Blend Fill], [Diamonds] (under [All-overs]) and [Rectangle] (under [Paint])]. (Also see NOTE below).
[Graded Random 8]
[Graded Random 16]
[Graded Random 32]\n[Graded Random 64]
Choosing one of these will create a sequence of 8,16,32, or 64 colours; the first and last are chosen at random, the ones between are a blend between the first and the last. (Also see NOTE below).
NOTE: every time you create a new sequence, or a random sequence or reverse a sequence or add a reversed sequence the colour sequence is also saved (up to 100 sequences before the oldest sequence is overwritten) and can be recovered using the [s] key. If pressing the [s] key does not result in a change of colour sequence it means that there are no more sequences saved.
[Add Short Sequence]
[Add Medium Sequence]
[Add Long Sequence]
[Add Very Long Sequence]
Choosing one of these will add a sequence of colours to an existing colour or sequence, blending the colour already in the sequence, or the last colour of the existing sequence with the new colour selected using the standard Windows colour dialog. If you previously selected Clear Sequence, (or its the first time you selected from this menu), you will be asked to select the start colour, followed by the end colour. (Also see NOTE above).
[Add One Colour]: will add a colour from the colour selector to any
existing colour or sequence. (Also see NOTE
above).
In addition you can double right click with the mouse anywhere on the
canvas. This picks the colour underneath the mouse pointer and adds the
single picked colour to the current colour (sequence). Be sure to clear
the current sequence first if you require the chosen colour to be a
single colour.
[Reverse Sequence]: will reverse the order of the colours. (Also see NOTE above).
[Add Reverse]: will add the colours of the current sequence to itself in reverse order, providing a symmetrical appearance to the sequence. (Also see NOTE above).
[Remove End Colour]: this removes the colour at the extreme right of the colour sequence. You may also use the comma [,] key, the one with [<] on it too. Hold the key down for rapid removal of end colours. Note, however, that the sequence will not be saved unless you finish off by selecting this item from the menu.
[Revert]: is an undo process. With it you can revert to the previous sequence or colour.
[Collect Colours]: this tool will make up a colour sequence from the colours displayed on the canvas at the time of selecting this tool. There are no duplicate colours. Even though there may be some that look very similar to others, there will be a subtle difference. At the end the colours are roughly sorted from dark at left to light at right. The process can be slow - and might not even be particularly useful. On the other hand, who knows...Some tools use the colour sequence in order of the sequence. Other tools choose a single colour chosen at random from the sequence. If you want to use a tool with just one colour of your choosing, select [New Single Colour] from the [Colour] menu. You could also bear in mind that white can be used as a transparent colour when copying back from the clipboard, using [from Clipboard transparent white], found in the [File] menu.
This menu lets you select tool attributes and backup settings.
[Straight Lines]: lines are drawn as straight lines.
[Crooked Lines]: lines are drawn with a few bends and angles, similar to hand-drawn lines.
[Plain Lines]: lines are a constant width.
[Ragged Lines]: the thickness of drawn lines vary randomly - they look a bit blobby.
The next four items on the menu, the Factor settings, let you set the basic thickness of lines and other line-drawing tools, borders and sizes of other tools or the amount by which a tool is applied.[Backup frequently]: select this if you want PikQuik 3 to make a backup every time you add something to the canvas.
[Backup on change of tool]: select this if you want PikQuik 3 to backup your work only when you select another tool.
[Backup on demand]: PikQuik 3 will create no backups automatically, instead you need to press the [b] key.Use this menu to select a background painting tool.
The canvas is filled completely, with two exceptions - detailed below.
[Fill with Sequence]: the canvas is covered from top to bottom with colours from the current colour sequence. To cover the canvas with a single colour, just choose a single colour for the sequence, ie select [New Single Colour] from the [Colour] menu.
[Fill with Sequence across]: the canvas is covered from left to right with colours from the current colour sequence.
[Fill with Sequence square]: fills the canvas from the edges.
[Fill circular]: fills the canvas in circular fashion with the first colour of the sequence at the outer edge.
[Blend Fill]: the canvas will be filled with a blend of four colours taken at random from the colour sequence.
[Streaks Across]: paints horizontal streaks of colour taken from the colour sequence. Reminds me of clouds at a distance.
[Streaks Down]: paints vertical streaks of colour taken from the colour sequence.
[Small Cubic]: covers the canvas with small, irregular, four-sided shapes. Randomly uses colours from the colour sequence.
[Large Cubic]: covers the canvas with large, irregular, four-sided shapes. Randomly uses colours from the colour sequence.
[Rough Blocks]: covers the canvas with large rectangles with irregular edges. Randomly uses colours from the colour sequence.
[Brush Strokes]: covers the canvas with blocks of brush strokes. Randomly uses colours from the colour sequence.
[Random Rectangles]: similar to [Rough Blocks] but with more of a vertical emphasis. Randomly uses colours from the colour sequence.
[Plasma]: covers the canvas with a plasma effect. Uses colours from the colour sequence.
[Sinus Plasma]: covers the canvas with swirling effect. Randomly uses colours from the colour sequence.
[Painterly]: the canvas is painted with short diagonal strokes; colours are selected from the colour sequence. ALLOWS SOME OF THE BACKGROUND TO SHOW THROUGH.
[Torn Paper]: gives the effect of over laying the canvas with strips of torn paper. Colours are selected from the colour sequence.
[Remainder]: paints a geometric pattern which varies over the canvas using colours from the colour sequence.
[Texture]: covers the canvas with a series of paint daubs.
[Mosaic]: chooses colours at
random
from the sequence and applies a mosaic effect to the canvas.
Size of the pieces depends on the Factor setting in the [Settings]
menu.
ALLOWS THE BACKGROUND TO SHOW
THROUGH
round the edges of the individual 'pieces'. Suggestion: paint the
canvas black to start with.
[Crazy]: paints overlapping and jumbled polygons on the canvas, with colours taken from the colour sequence, each surrounded with a black border, the thickness of which is determined by the Factor setting in the [Settings] menu.
[Poly]: draws radiating polygons from a near-central point with a cluster of squares in the middle. The polygons are coloured with a blend of colours taken from the colour sequence. Interesting, complex polygons are created by blending. (Copy the first Poly canvas to the clipboard, paint another canvas using [Poly], then blend the clipboard. Add a bit of [Brighten] to taste).
[Boxes Random Colours]: practically fills the canvas with boxes that don't overlap. Set the size of the largest boxes using the Factor settings in the [Settings] menu. This tool starts off slowly - so don't be surprised if things seem to take an age - but boxes gradually appear on the canvas at a faster rate as time goes on. But then it appears to slow down again as it searches for places to put new boxes. Colours are taken randomly from the colour sequence. Use the [Esc] key to stop the process early.
[Boxes Sequenced Colours]: as above but the colours appear from top to bottom in the order of the colour sequence.
[Clear to white]: clears the canvas back to its original white colour.
This menu lets you select tools to paint with using colours taken from the current colour sequence.
Use the cross hair mouse pointer to select the position on the canvas where the image will be painted. Keep on painting until you cancel by clicking the right mouse button. If you are painting directly with the round or square brush, or scraping, clicking the left mouse button toggles the tool on and off, so that you can stop painting and start again without right-clicking and selecting the tool again.
[Flower, Leaves, Trees]: leads to the following tools:
FLOWERS: there are five types of flowers. Each one uses one or more colours selected from the colour sequence. The overall size of each flower depends on the Factor setting in the [Settings] menu.
[Flowers Spray] is also affected by the Plain Line/Ragged Line in [Settings]. The Plain Line setting results in a much more defined edge as opposed to the ragged edge set with the Ragged Line setting.
[Thin Leaf]: paints an upright, sometimes bent, grass-shaped leaf. Size dependent on the Factor setting in [Settings] menu.
[Broad Leaf]: also paints a leaf - but with a broader shape. Size governed by the Factor setting in [Settings] menu.
[Curved Leaf]: paints a curved leaf on the canvas. Size governed by the Factor in [Settings].
[Tree Spots apex]: this paints a Christmas tree shape made of spots.
[Tree Spots round]: paints a circle made up of spots and can be used as a simple tree shape.
[Tri Trees]: paints a simple upright triangle. Edge style set with plain line\ragged line. Size governed by the Factor setting in the [Settings] menu.
[Feather Tree]: paints a spiky, feathery, tree/leaf shape. Edge style set with plain line/ragged line. Size governed by the Factor setting in the [Settings] menu.
[Tree]: this will paint a bare tree on the canvas. You can populate it with leaves found in the [Spray] menu.You can also paint clumps of [Grass] and clumps of small spots [Dust].
[Ribbons]: creates ribbons starting from where you clicked the mouse, but spreading wildly over the canvas.[Broken Column]: paints a vertical column with gaps. Colour chosen randomly from colour sequence.
[Rectangle]: paints a straight edged rectangle. Left click in one corner, right click at diagonally opposite corner. Colour chosen randomly from colour sequence unless you have exactly four colours in the sequence in which case the rectangle will blend the colours in a random way.
[Frayed Rectangle]: paints a
rectangle with frayed edges. Left click
in one corner, right click at diagonally opposite corner.
Colour
chosen randomly from colour sequence.
[Ragged Rectangle]: paints a rectangle with ragged (deckle) edges. Left click in one corner, right click at diagonally opposite corner. Colour chosen randomly from colour sequence.
[White Rectangle Deckle Edge]: paints a white rectangle with a coloured ragged (deckle) edging taken from the colour sequence. Left click in one corner, right click at diagonally opposite corner.
[Rounded Rectangle]: paints a rectangle with rounded corners, filled with a colour taken at random from the colour sequence. Left click in one corner, right click at diagonally opposite corner.
[Diamond]: paints a diamond filled with a colour taken at random from the colour sequence. To get predictable results you MUST click the top or bottom point of the diamond first followed by the left or right corner. The opposite will give unpredictable results. (You will still get a diamond, though.)
[Triangle]: paints a triangle on the canvas with a colour taken from the colour sequence. Click on the first corner of your tringle. The cursor will change to a '2' cursor. The top left tip of the cursor is the active point. Click for the second point. The cursor will revert to the cross-hair pointer for the third and last point to be clicked.
[Polygon]: to paint a polygon with as many corners as you like on the screen, click on each corner in turn. A small x will mark each point clicked. Click twice on the final point and the resulting polygon will be coloured in with a colour taken at random from the colour sequence. Please note that PikQuik 3 will always back up the canvas before adding each curve.
[Oval/Ellipse]: paints an ellipse on the canvas in a colour selected at random from the colour sequence. Think of a rectangle containing an ellipse so that the middle of the ellipses 'sides' correspond with the middle of the rectangles sides. Click the top left corner of the rectangle, then the bottom right. An ellipse will be formed.
[Round Spiral]: paints a spiral on the canvas.
[Block Stream]: paints a stream of blocks from top to bottom of the canvas.
[Line]: click to start a line. Position mouse at the other end and click again. Lines are painted individually; they do not connect. To create connected lines just start the new one where the previous one ended. Note that lines are affected by the settings found under the [Settings] menu.
SPECIAL CASE: when you select the plain and straight settings, each line will use the colours from the colour sequence, in order they appear in the colour sequence. To use one colour in a line, select a single colour sequence.
[Bendy Line]: this produces a curved line (a Bezier line). Click the mouse at the start. You then need to click two control points which affect the bend of the line. In effect they bend what would have been a straight line between the first and fourth points towards themselves. The cursor changes to remind you which points you are adding next. Finally the cursor reverts to the cross shape. Click the mouse a fourth time to indicate the end of the line. A little experimentation will probably be necessary. The active points of the cursors are the top left corner of the '2' or '3'.
Please note that PikQuik 3 will always back up the canvas before adding each curve.
COLOURS:
Each line will
always
be drawn using the colours of the colour sequence, in the order they
appear in the sequence.
[Scroll]: this is another line-drawing tool, but with a difference. For
a start, to create a line, you will need to click the mouse at the
beginning of the line. Then drag the mouse along the route along which
you want the line to be drawn. At some other point click the mouse
again. Continue to move the mouse along the route of the line. When you
have reached the destination click one more time. A line will be drawn
from the start, tracing your mouse movement. It will be thin to start
with, growing thicker until it reaches the point of the second click.
It will continue to be drawn, tracing the mouse movement, getting
gradually thinner before ending at the final click. How thick it will
become depends on the Factor setting
in the [Settings] menu.
The line will be coloured using the exact sequence of colours in the colour sequence.
[Tendrils]: paints a series of spirals. Colour taken at random from the colour sequence. Thickness of line depends on the Factor setting in the [Settings] menu. If you click on the top third of the screen the tendrils will be painted down the canvas, rather than up.
[Star]: paints a five pointed star.
[Spots]: leads to a new set of menus. These tools draw spots on the canvas, according to the size you choose. [Measure Spots], however, lets you choose your own size. Click on the middle, then click on the edge. Click twice on the same spot and you will get a small dot.
[Horizontal strips]: paints strips of colour across the canvas. Uses the colour sequence.
[Vertical strips]: paints strips of colour down the canvas. Uses the colour sequence.
[Disk]: a disk is painted on the canvas, surrounded by three rings.
[Segments]: draws a disk on the canvas with line drawn from centre to edge. Size governed by line thickness/size setting.
[Paint Disks]: disks are painted on the canvas. Their size depends on the speed at which you move the mouse. Slower movements produce small disks. faster mouse movements produce larger disks.
[Highlight Disk]: paints a disk blending the colours of the colour sequence with the first colour on the edge, finishing with the highlight using the last colour in the sequence somewhere near the middle.
[Skyline]: paints a sort of hilly skyline across the canvas, spreading the colour down to the bottom of the canvas.
[Baseline]: similar to [Skyline] but with a straight edge.
[Text]: select a font, style and size from the standard Windows font selector dialogue. Ignore the colour choice as PikQuik 3 will use a colour from the colour sequence. Then enter the words you wish to add to the canvas in the text box which appears at the bottom of the screen. Text is shown in the font you selected. Unfortunately, some fonts do not display correctly and you may have to type blind. Click the [OK] button when ready...then...
Click the mouse button on the canvas at the point at which you wish the text to appear. The base-line and the start of the text will align (more-or-less) to the cross cursor. Keep clicking the left mouse button until the text is in the correct position. Every time you click, the text will move to the new position until you click again in exactly the same position, when the text will become fixed at that point. Unfortunately this means that if you click [Oops] or press the [Backspace] key to restore the canvas to its previous condition, all newly added text will be lost.
You can continue to add the same text in the same way until you click the right mouse button.
[Shadow Text]: proceed as [Text] above. A shadow will be added to the text. The direction of the shadow will depend on the Factor setting in the [Settings] menu - perhaps more easily controlled using the [1] to [4] keys. The shadow is placed using [1], down right; using [2] down left; using [3] up left; using [4] up right.
[Embossed Text]: proceed as in [Text] above. The resulting text has a sort of 3d, embossed appearance.
[Scrape]: Use this tool immediately after adding something new to the canvas to scrape away parts of the new image to reveal the image underneath. Click once with the left mouse button to toggle the tool on and off. Right click to finish using the tool, in the normal way. Setting [Backup on change of tool] or [Backup on demand] before using Scrape would be useful with this tool as [Scrape] will only reveal what was last backed up.
[Round Brush]: this just paints on the canvas, with a round brush that follows the mouse movement. Click once with the left mouse button to toggle the tool on and off. Brush size is set via the Factor setting in the [Settings] menu.
[Square Brush]: this just paints on the canvas, with a square brush that follows the mouse movement. Click once with the left mouse button to toggle the tool on and off. Brush size is set via the Factor setting in the [Settings] menu. Fast movements of the brush results in broken lines.
[Sprayer]: this sprays the canvas using all the colours in the colour sequence, with a brush that follows the mouse movement. Click once with the left mouse button to toggle the tool on and off. Brush size is set via the Factor setting in the [Settings] menu.
[Air Brush]: this paints a circle using a colour from the colour sequence which fades towards the edges of the circle. Underlying images are visible. Click on the middle, then click at the edge of the circle you require.
[Flood Fill]: click on any coloured area on the canvas, and that area will be coloured using the current colour sequence. You can change colours whilst using this tool.
Use this menu to select tools which paint an effect all over the canvas.
[Boxes]: places a number of squares, mostly overlapping, in the centre of the canvas using colours selected from the colour sequence.
[Dust]: randomly applies pixels using random colours selected from the colour sequence. Looks a bit like a dusting of pixels.
[Straw]: randomly applies short lines to the canvas, looking a bit like scattered straw, using colours selected at random from the colour sequence. Use the [Esc] key to stop the process early.
[Scratches]: applies scratches on the canvas. Colour chosen at random from the colour sequence. Use the [Esc] key to stop the process early.
[Woven]: similar to scratches but more dense and just horizontal/vertical lines. Colour chosen at random from the colour sequence. Use the [Esc] key to stop the process early.
[Drop lines]: draws spaced lines of varying length down the canvas. Each line employs the colours of the colour sequence in order of the sequence. The thickness of the lines depends on the Factor size in the [Settings] menu.
[Rounded squares]: applies rounded squares in regular rows and columns. Colours are taken from the colour sequence. Some squares will be missing, and some will be open. Others will be filled.
[Rounded squares filled with white]: as above, but some squares are filled with white, thus allowing you to copy the canvas to the clip board, prepare another canvas, copy the first canvas back from the clipboard using [from Clipboard transparent white] from the [File] menu.
[Rounded Rectangles]: filled rounded rectangles all of the same colour taken from the colour sequence are painted in a grid format on the canvas - with a few gaps.
[Squares Squared]: Paints a white background on the canvas then paints squares within squares arranged in a grid. Randomly uses colours from the colour sequence.
[Feathery]: can't describe this one - give it a try. Warning - takes a little while - just watch it grow. Use the [Esc] key to stop the process early.
[Kaleidoscope]: produces a kaleidoscopic effect in the centre of the canvas. This can sometimes benefit from more than one application.
[Curves]: randomly paints curves on the canvas. ly speaking curves do not cross another of the same colour, or any area of the same colour. Try using symmetry after - also outline in colour.
[Linked Squares]: paints squares down the canvas, each one using a blend of colours from the colour sequence.
[Broad Bands]: paints vertical strips of varying widths and shape down the canvas. Colours are selected from the colour sequence.
[Diamonds]: diamonds are placed on the canvas in a rough grid, each one using a blend of colours from the colour sequence. The size and spacing of the diamonds is set using the Factor setting in the [Settings] menu.
[Stars]: paints simple stars on canvas in a rough grid, each one using a colour from the colour sequence. The size and spacing of the stars is set using the Factor setting in the [Settings] menu.
[Spots]: paints spots on the canvas in a regular grid. Colours are taken at random from the colour sequence. The size and spacing of the spots is set using theFactor setting in the [Settings] menu.
[Squares]: paints squares on the canvas in a regular grid. Colours are taken at random from the colour sequence. The size and spacing of the squares is set using the Factor setting in the [Settings] menu.
[Harlequin]: paints diamonds each coloured by a random selection of the colour sequence, alternating with the background.
[Circular Scatter]: paints a scatter effect on the canvas. Click the left mouse button for the centre of the effect. The 'dust' will radiate out from the centre point using the colours from the sequence in the order of the sequence.
[Pattern]: paints a random, symmetrical, straight line, pattern, a little like a stained glass window. Colours are selected from the colour sequence. The thickness of the 'lead' depends on the Factor setting in the setting in [Settings].
[Paint Daubs]: paints small blobs of colour on the canvas using the colours from the colour sequence.
[Veins]: paints veins on the canvas using the colours from the colour sequence.
[Cracks Across]: paints cracks across the canvas.You might like to treat your canvas with some effects from this menu. Effects don't so much add new images to the canvas so much as alter the image in some way.
[Distress]: adds subtle scratches to the image.
[Bleach Spots]: gradually
whitens small areas of the canvas. The
process is slow, but does eventually end.Use the [Esc] key to stop the
process early.
[Burn]: gradually darkens small areas of the canvas. The process is slow, but does eventually end Use the [Esc] key to stop the process early.
[Texturise]: Leads to further menu items:
[Diagonal Texture]: applies a lighter, diagonal texture to the image.
[Paper Texture]: applies a lighter, laid paper effect texture to the image.
[Pot Luck Darker]: applies a darker, randomly chosen, texture to the image.
[Pot Luck Lighter]: applies a lighter, randomly chosen, texture to the image.
[Pot Luck Mixed]: applies a mixture of both lighter and darker, randomly chosen, texture to the image.
[Frosting]: breaks up the image in a frosty sort of way.
[Fragment]: breaks the image into fragments.
[Brushed]: applies a round brush effect to the image.
[Painted]: breaks up the image in a painterly sort of way.
[Watery]: applies a sort of watercolour and lightening effect to the image. The amount of effect is controlled by the Factor setting in the in the [Settings] menu.
[Mosaic]: applies a mosaic effect. The colour of the cracks is taken from the colour sequence.
[Bee Hive]: applies small hexagons, of a colour taken from the colour sequence, to the canvas, each one filled with the colour of the canvas directly under the middle of each hexagon.
[Convert to Dots]: applies dots
to the screen. They are coloured
according to the colour of the canvas beneath the dot.
Surrounding
colour taken from colour sequence. Size of dot depends on the Factor
setting in the [Settings]
menu.
[Convert to Squares]: applies squares to the screen. They are coloured according to the colour of the canvas beneath the dot. Surrounding colour taken from colour sequence. Size of square depends on the Factor setting in the [Settings] menu.
[Blurry Blocks]: takes the colours of the image and places them in small shaded blocks. The higher the Factor setting in the [Settings] menu the larger the blocks.
[Swirls]: swirls the image around.
[Drops]: deposits 'drops' on the canvas at random positions consisting of colours taken from the surrounding area.
[Soften]: softens the image with a blurry effect.
[Blur]: like soften but with extra blur.
[Sharpen]: sharpens up the image a bit.
[Brighten]: brightens the image. Particularly
useful after blending.
[Darken]: darkens and strengthens the image.
[Emboss]: embosses the image with shades of a colour chosen from the colour sequence.
[Colour Emboss]: applies an emboss effect, but more or less retains the original colours of the image.
[Outline with Colour]: outlines parts of the image with a colour taken from the colour sequence.
[Outline Black on White]: outlines the image with a black e on a white ground.
[Outline grey on White]: outlines the image with a grey edge on a white ground.
[Turn to grey]: Turns every colour on the canvas to a shade of grey.
[Colourise]: Turns the whole image into a monochrome image using a colour at random from the colour sequence.
[Spots of Light]: lightens the image in rows and columns of spots. The effect is stronger in the middle of the image.
[Boxes]: practically fills the canvas with non-overlapping boxes. The boxes are coloured according to the image you had on the canvas when you picked this tool. Starts off slowly - so don't be surprised if things seem to take an age - but boxes gradually appear on the canvas at a faster rate as time goes on. But then it appears to slow down again as it searches for places to put new boxes. Use the [Esc] key to stop the process early.
[Arch Crop]: Adds an arch to the canvas. The arch is outlined in a colour selected from the colour sequence, on a white ground. If you don't want an outline, select white as a single colour. The Factor setting in the [Settings] menu controls the depth of the arch sides.
[Circular Crop]: crops the image within a circle, using a colour from the colour sequence.
[Jumble]: cuts up the image into small pieces and rearranges them on the canvas.
[Perspective]: distorts the canvas to give a perspective appearance then paints it back to the canvas. You might like to flood fill the black edge. I don't think this is a lot of use, but here it is anyway!
The remaining items on this menu allow you to select, with the mouse, an area of the image to which the effect will be applied or a single point at which the effect will take place.
[Symmetry]: the cursor changes to an 'S' shape. If you click the mouse near one of the corners of the canvas that quarter of the image will be copied symmetrically. If you click the mouse near the middle of the left side, the image will be flipped to the right side. Click on the right side and the image will be flipped to the left side. Similarly a click towards the top of the canvas and in the middle will reflect the image below. Click the canvas towards the bottom of the canvas and in the middle to reflect the image above.
[Lattice]: adds a symmetrical lattice effect of two horizontal lines and two vertical lines which cross, relative to the edges of the canvas, where you click the mouse. Uses a colour chosen from the colour sequence.
[Crop area]: crops the image with a border colour selected from the sequence. Click on one corner of the area you want to affect, then on the diagonally opposite corner.[Tile]: click anywhere on the canvas for the first corner of a tile, then click on the canvas to select the second, diagonally opposite, corner of the tile. The canvas will then be tiled with the selected image.
[Highlight]: adds a six-line star shape to the canvas, lightening the colours beneath it. Left click at the position you want it on the canvas. Continue until you right click.
[Spotlight]: creates a spotlight effect on the canvas. Left click on the canvas where you want the brightest intensity to be. At this point the canvas will be lightened, gradually changing to less light towards the edges. The amount of intensity, basically the size of the spotlight, is chosen the Factor setting in the [Settings] menu.Select this menu for a selection of fixed frames:
[Shaded Frame]: adds a frame round the edge of the image with shading made from the current colour sequence.
[Outer Frame]: adds a frame of one colour taken from the colour sequence. The width of the frame depends on the the Factor setting selected in the [Settings] menu.
[Block Border}: adds a fame of coloured blocks taken from the colour sequence.
[Triangle Border]: adds a frame of triangles using random colours from the colour sequence.
[Cut Corner Border]: adds a frame with inward rounded corners. Size and width depend on the thickness setting; the colour is taken at random from then colour sequence.
[Curvy Border]: adds a curved frame round the edge of the canvas.
[Ragged Border]: adds a ragged-edged border of a colour taken from the colour sequence.
[Go Faster Corners]: paints corners of three stripes, in diminishing thickness from the outer edge using a colour from the colour sequence
[Square Corner Border]: draws a straight edge border with inserted corner pieces. Thickness of line is set using the Factor setting in the [Settings] menu.
[ZigZag Border]: adds a delicate double zigzag border to the canvas. Colour taken from the colour sequence at random. The width of the border depends on the Factor set in the [Settings] menu.
[Flower Border]: generates a border of flowers coloured at random from the colour sequence, with green leaves.
[Fade Away]: the colours at the edges of the canvas are faded to white. The width of the effect depends on the Factor set in the [Settings] menu.
The remaining frames let you
select one corner of a rectangular area of the image with the mouse
around which the frame will be applied. The corner you indicate is
matched diagonally opposite so that both side margins will be the same,
and both top margins will be the same. You will be unable to select an
offset area.
[Inner frame]: adds a frame depending on where you click the mouse
pointer. The colour is taken from the colour sequence. The width of the
frame depends on the Factor selected in the [Settings] menu.
[Fuzzy frame]: adds a frame depending on where you click the mouse
pointer. The colour is taken from the colour sequence. The width of the
frame depends on the Factor setting selected in the [Settings] menu.
The effect is of strengthening of the frame from inner to outer.
Select this menu for some house-keeping routines.
[New]: start a new picture. Everything is reset first.
[Save]: save the current picture. The first time you use PikQuik 3 the program will create a new folder name 'Pictures' within the folder from which you launched PikQuik 3. All saved pictures will be placed in this folder. They will be given a prefix of 'pkqk' followed by a number which PikQuik 3 will apply.
The numbering starts at '000' and continues to '999', when it will start again at '000'. The number to be used next is kept in the 'PKQK.ini' file. You may edit this file if you wish to change the number.
Files are standard windows bitmapped files using the '.bmp' file extension.
[Open]: you can open a bitmapped file (with extensions .jpg;.bmp;.ico;.psd;.pcx;.png;.targa;.tiff;.iff) using the standard Windows file selector.
If the image is larger than the canvas in any dimension, it will be scaled uniformly to fit.
[Import bitmap]: this lets you choose a bitmap file (extensions .jpg;.bmp;.ico;.psd;.pcx;.png;.targa;.tiff;.iff) from the standard Windows file selector. The bitmap is painted on the canvas where you click the mouse. You may flip the bitmap horizontally by pressing the [h] key on the keyboard, and vertically with the [v] key. Use the same keys to reverse the process. The mouse pointer indicates the middle of the imported picture. Note that anything coloured pure white in the imported file is treated as transparent when drawn on the PikQuik 3 canvas.
You can also rotate the imported picture by using the function keys F1 to F12. Here is how the keys work: think of the hour hand on a 12-hour clock face. The function keys correspond to the hour numbers on the clock. So F12 means that the imported image will be rotated to point to the top of the screen, F1 towards one o'clock etc. You can also turn the image clockwise by five degrees every time you press the [t] key on the keyboard.
You can also scale the imported bitmap. Pressing the [-] will reduce the scale by 10% each time you press it until you reach 10% of the original size. A further press will take the reduction down to 5%. By pressing the [=] key the image will be scaled up by 10% each time you press it. To return to the orginal size, press the [0] (zero) key.
[Import/distort bitmap]: this lets you choose a bitmap file (extensions .jpg;.bmp;.ico;.psd;.pcx;.png;.targa;.tiff;.iff) from the standard Windows file selector. The bitmap is painted on the canvas where you click the mouse. You may flip the bitmap horizontally by pressing the [h] key on the keyboard, and vertically with the [v] key. Use the same keys to reverse the process. The mouse pointer indicates the middle of the imported picture. PikQuik 3 also distorts the original in various ways - adds some scaling, rotation and some twisting. The degree of the effect is governed by the the Factor setting in the [Settings] menu. Note that anything coloured pure white in the imported file is treated as transparent when drawn on the PikQuik 3 canvas.
[Cut and Save Bitmap]: save an area of the canvas to a bitmap file. This is saved as 'PQminxxx.bmp' (where xxx stands for an incrementing number, as used in [Save] above), in the picture folder. Click one corner of the area you wish to save, then click on the corner diagonally opposite. A 'rubber' band effect will outline the area to be saved. You can then re-import the image using [Import bitmap], [Import/distort bitmap].
RESIZE
There follows a selection of canvas sizes that you can choose; details of the widths and depths in pixels are shown in the menu.
There are two clipboards. Clipboard #1 is the clipboard provided by
the Windows operating system. Clipboard #2 is PikQuik's own internal
clipboard. Both clipboards work in the same way, except that any image
left on Clipboard #1 will probably be accessible to any other graphics
program with a Paste feature when you have finished with PikQuik 3.
[Copy to Clipboard] lets you copy your canvas to the clipboard as a temporary store, overwriting any previous Clipboard image. Likewise, the image will be overwritten by any subsequent graphical copy procedure used by any other application.
[Copy from Clipboard]: lets you retrieve the picture you copied, or lets you copy any other image that has been placed on the Clipboard by any other application. If the image is larger than the canvas in any dimension, it will be scaled uniformly to fit. This menu item will be greyed out and made unavailable if there is no image in the Clipboard.
[from Clipboard transparent white]: no pure white areas of the stored image will be transferred to the current canvas, thus allowing the current image to show through the 'white' areas. This menu item will be greyed out and made unavailable if there is no image in the Clipboard.
[Blend with Clipboard]: blends the image on the clipboard with the image on the canvas.
[Blend Brightness from Clipboard]: the brightness factor of the image on the clipboard is blended with the image on the canvas. A good idea is to start with a fairly contrasty picture on the clipboard. A middle grey or equivalent colour is neutral ie it doesn't change the brightness of the image on the canvas. A darker grey or colour makes the canvas image darker, a lighter grey or colour lightens the image.
Finally, close PikQUik 3 using [Exit] from this menu.
If you've added something to your canvas which you wish you hadn't, select the Oops menu.
Press the back arrow key as an alternative to using the menu.
[Oops] acts as a toggle switch, so that if you use it again it will revert back to the original canvas and continue switching between the two until you add something else to the canvas.