Image editing in IES

email@example.com (Deep Thought) — Sun, 31 Mar 2013 01:13:57 GMT

As we said in the previous post, the first items planned for the Integrated Editor System were ways to edit image data in the webapp. That's the second major stage of the project, and it's finally finished. You can now upload, convert, and edit your sprites and images directly in the online TI-BASIC/Axe/Grammer editor!

The new features actually come in two forms. The first is an integrated sprite editor, allowing you to design your hex sprites on-the-fly. It's like a simplified version of the Pixelscape sprite editor, except that instead of showing you the code for the sprite, the code in your program is updated as you edit. Just put your cursor inside some sprite data and the sprite editor pops up automatically to show you what that sprite looks like. (It only works in Axe mode right now, but will be added to the Grammer mode soon.)

The second form is a full converter and editor for 96-by-64 images. Like with programs, you can drag-and-drop an image file of any popular image format—GIF, PNG, JPG, or 8XI (Picture variable)—and IES will open it for editing, scaling it down and converting it to calculator-friendly colors if need be. You can also create a blank image by selecting "Image" after clicking the + tab.

If you have images to convert for use in a TI-BASIC project or just to load onto your calculator, this is where IES comes in handy, with the added bonus of being able to edit and preview the converted Picture variable in two, three, or four levels. This is an image that was scaled down from 160 pixels wide and high.

Currently, the image editor is very simple. The only editing "tool" available is a pen tool that draws broken lines. Better generic image-editing tools such as rectangles, ellipses, and flood-fill are planned soon; after all, shouldn't an online image editor have at least the features of a calculator program?

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Image editing in IES