Desperately Seeking Carbon

It's been ten years (give or take) that I've been pushing pixels, and during that decade my app of choice has been ResEdit. Not limiting my usage of it simply for the creation of desktop icons, I've employed Apple's little Jack-in-the-box for generating all sorts of pixel-based art. Obviously any finished work larger than 32 by 32 pixels has had to be assembled in Photoshop, but the detail-intensive, bitmaps-under-the-fingernails work took place within this humble little Mac OS resource editor. Good times, my friend, good times. But the good times had to end. I knew that eventually Apple's Mac OS updates (AKA The Perpetually, Magically Transforming Large Cat Codenames) would sever all ties with the Classic environment. I type this post today on a Mac that recognizes OS 9 software (or prior) no better than I'd recognize your Uncle Howard (whom I've never met).

Grumbling, complaining, ranting, raving, and/or remembering "When" would be a waste of time. I am instead taking action. I'm hoping that somebody out there with mad programming skillz will hear this posted plea and create a carbonized version of ResEdit's pixel editor. Maybe "carbonized" isn't the proper way to describe it. Maybe the app has to be completely re-created. I don't know. I have no idea! But here's what I'm after:

• All pixel editing tools to function exactly as they do in ResEdit
• Selected area moveable by arrow keys, as it is in ResEdit
• "Flip" and "rotate" commands for selected areas - again (say it with me, kids) exactly as it is in ResEdit
• 256 color palette
• Capability to set foreground and background color
• The same alternative fills (patterns) that are present in ResEdit
• Easy copy/paste to and from Photoshop

Here's what I don't want:

• The ability to create old school icon files isn't necessary
• There's no reason for the app to do anything other than create pixel art
• The ability to save files isn't really necessary as long as there's no snag in copying and pasting into Photoshop
• The ic14 color palette isn't needed
• Colors beyond the 256 palette can be had in Photoshop and need not muck things up here

I'm certain that my complete ignorance of programming for the Mac (or, for that matter, any computer at all) is shining brightly in this post. But because I am so totally ignorant I dare not assume that ResEdit cannot be resurrected. If you can do it, if you want to do it, please email me with an estimate of what this task would cost. Thank you so much!

A postscript: Yes, I realize that some people create their pixellated masterpieces entirely within Photoshop. I'm also aware that there are apps out there which are designed specifically for creating pixel art and which play nice with Apple's latest big kitty. But neither of those options are good for me. Neither can do the voodoo that ResEdit can do.

Comments

[extrarice]

Have you looked in to Resorcerer?

http://www.mathemaesthetics.com/ResorcererIndex.html

[Brian]

Yep, I gave Resorcerer a spin, but, sadly, most of the editing niceties I've enjoyed in ResEdit are absent from it. Its raison d'etre is, I believe to accomplish tasks far beyond simple pixel pushing, and because of that it's basic pixel pushing prowess pales in the presence of ResEdit. At least to me!

[greg]

I've used Pixen for similar purposes a few times. although it is not in development anymore up to my knowledge. anyhow, have a look: http://opensword.org/Pixen/

[LoopyMind]

Could Axialis Iconworkshop be what you're looking for... from the site i can't really make out if it's a PC only program, but it is able to produce both Mac and PC type icons, including XP en OSX types. It commes with a lot of features, but as far as i can tell, your wishlist should be possible...however, it also has your "no-wish" list in it...

[debbye]

here, here! let me know if you succeed in your quest …