Version 2.0.1 of ALBERT, the pixel art editor for creating extended Commodore 64 images, is now available on its official homepage.

This is a minor update delivering the following changes:

• Fixed the logic to reposition the pencil for connecting lines when undoing or redoing changes
• Fixed the setting of border color in non-extended hires mode
• Fixed the clipping region for flood fill in extended hires mode
• Fixed the visibility of connecting lines so that they are visible with any background color

Binaries are available for Windows and macOS (Intel). For Linux users, Docker images are published on Docker Hub here.

Stay tuned for more!

Version 2.0.0 of ALBERT, the pixel art editor for creating extended Commodore 64 images, is now available on its official homepage.

Binaries are available for Windows and macOS (Intel). For Linux users, Docker images are published on Docker Hub here.

This update delivers the following changes:

• When the pixel pen tool is active, pressing Shift and a mouse click draws a connecting line to the mouse pointer position
• Persist the open/closed state of the script and preview windows too
• Fixed the lookup of sprite attribute byte from the previous row when color switching is not allowed
• Added the option to drag the program into the Applications folder when mounting the DMG for macOS
• Rationalised several UI items/wording
• Added support for embedding a preview in project files (not backward compatible)
• Show ‘(unsaved)’ in the app title bar to advise a project has changes not yet saved to file
• Added the “Open Recent” menu, including dynamical removal of invalid entries
  PRG files are saved and exomized in a temporary folder before being moved to their user-selected location
• PRG file export runs in a separate thread
• Added support for sending PRG files to an Ultimate device
• The actual fraction of work completed is now tracked by the progress bar while loading/saving a project or saving workstages
• Added a context menu to keep the preview window on top

A few more sample projects are also included in each distribution package and in a separate archive.

Dulcis in fundo, I am including a few visuals here:

ALBERT: About dialog

ALBERT: open project dialog

ALBERT: open recent menu

ALBERT: macOS drag to install window

Version 1.2.1 of ALBERT, the pixel art editor for creating extended Commodore 64 images, is now available on its official homepage.

Binaries are available for Windows and macOS (Intel). For Linux users, Docker images are published on Docker Hub here.

This is a minor update delivering the following changes:

• Fixed the logic for saving project files

In fact, there was an issue in version 1.2.0 where a bit was not set correctly when saving an extended image project to disk.

Stay tuned for more!

Version 1.2.0 of ALBERT, the pixel art editor for creating extended Commodore 64 images, is now available on its official homepage.

Binaries are available for Windows and macOS (Intel). For Linux users, Docker images are published on Docker Hub here.

This update delivers the following changes:

• Added support for creating non-extended images
• Fixed background/border color display widget update when starting a new project

A few more sample projects are also included in each distribution package and in a separate archive, contributed by Joachim.

Stay tuned for more!

Version 1.1.2 of ALBERT, the pixel art editor for creating extended Commodore 64 images, is now available on its official homepage. Binaries are available for Windows and macOS (Intel). For Linux users, Docker images are published on Docker Hub here.

ALBERT: About dialog

This is a minor update delivering the following changes:

• Fixed syntax highlighting for the scripting window under macOS
• Revised the drawstar() Lua function to only accept the star’s width and automatically calculate its height to guarantee radial symmetry
• Added support for Drean (PAL-N) systems to the stable code for the Commodore 64
• Added avatars to the About dialog and slightly refactored its contents
• Added another sample project

Happy Easter to Everyone!

Version 1.1.1 of ALBERT, the pixel art editor for creating extended Commodore 64 images, is now available on its official homepage.
Binaries are available for Windows and macOS (Intel). For Linux users, Docker images are published on Docker Hub here.

This is a minor update delivering the following fix to a bug reported by ElfKaa:

• Fixed the coordinate validation for flood fill to avoid a memory access violation

Version 1.1.0 of ALBERT, the pixel art editor for creating extended Commodore 64 images, is now available on its official homepage.
Binaries are available for Windows and macOS (Intel). For Linux users, Docker images are published on Docker Hub here.

With support for rectangular selections, symmetrical drawing, image and selection flipping, and many more features, ALBERT celebrates its first year of development with a bang!

Furthermore, there’s an Easter egg in ALBERT 1.1.0. If you can find it, contact me with its details and you get a chance to prioritize a feature from the list of ALBERT’s upcoming features.

ALBERT: Christmas About dialog

Here are all changes delivered in this update:

• Added support for rectangular selections (drag, cut, copy, and paste), solid or transparent
• Added support for symmetrical (horizontal, vertical, quadrant, and bisected quadrant) drawing and flood fill
• Added support for flipping (horizontally or vertically) canvas and selection contents
• Added the option to load transparent PNG images into a separate layer to be used as a drawing reference, which can be hidden and shown as needed
• Added the option for setting the aspect ratio of pixels (1:1, PAL, or NTSC) for the main canvas and the preview window
• Added the option to reset image adjustment curve properties when importing PNG images
• Added the option to set font properties for the scripting window (part of the Preferences dialog)
• Added two new Lua functions to draw hollow and filled rectangles
• Added two new Lua functions to draw ellipses and provide a strong reference for drawing circles when targeting PAL or NTSC displays
• Added the option to generate random shapes using the Pareidolia menu item
• Added shortcuts for setting the color of pen 1 to values in the range 8-15
• When opening a project or importing a PNG image the main canvas is now zoomed for best fit
• Corrected the display of the current graphic mode in the main window’s status bar
• Fixed color swapping and replacing so that they only modify the editable area and correctly process color clashing
• Multiple instances of dialogs that require user interaction cannot be erroneously created any longer by users under macOS
• Added a few more sample projects

Merry Christmas to everyone!

ALBERT, the pixel art editor for creating extended Commodore 64 images, now has its own website: https://www.albertpixels.com/

Together with Joachim, we are going to provide future updates through such website. Stay tuned for further announcements!

Version 1.0.50 of ALBERT is now available within my Software page.
Binaries are available for Windows and macOS (Intel).For Linux users, Docker images are published on Docker Hub here.

Here are all changes delivered in this update:

• Added support for creating hires standard artwork (with a few hardware-induced caveats)
• Added constraints for the position of new knots in the image adjustment widget when importing PNG images
• Non-ASCII and space characters in the application path won’t impair the execution of exomizer under *nix

ALBERT 1.0.50: support for standard hires artwork

Update: The official homepage for ALBERT is now: https://www.albertpixels.com/

Version 1.0.49 of ALBERT is now available within my Software page.
Binaries are available for Windows and macOS (Intel). For Linux users, Docker images are published on Docker Hub here.

Here are all changes delivered in this update:

• The Lua function drawclear() now creates a checkpoint only if it makes changes to the canvas
• Added the image adjustment functionality when importing PNG images
• The project is not reset any longer when a PNG image is imported

Specifically, a new dialog is available for the PNG image import workflow in order to enhance the results of a conversion to the Commodore 64 palette and hardware.

ALBERT 1.0.49: PNG image import dialog

ALBERT 1.0.49: PNG image import dialog

Multiple palette conversion methods are now available: nearest match, error diffusion (Floyd–Steinberg) dithering, and ordered dithering. Each of these references the palette currently active: different palettes will produce different results at conversion time.

Furthermore, whereas the natural (Euclidean) distance is found to be unsuitable for color matching, a weighted alternative is available. The latter should produce results in line with expectations based on the luminance value of Commodore 64 palette colors.

Finally, a curves adjustment widget is provided in order to adjust each color channel separately and/or all of them at the same time.

Update: The official homepage for ALBERT is now: https://www.albertpixels.com/