[NTLK] PictConverter for Avi's Backdrop - My 2nd macOS app for Newton!

[Pawel Piotrowski]

Hi Newtonians!

I am looking for people who use Avi's Backdrop on their Newtons, and wants to test my new macOS app for generating the pictures for Avi's Backdrop :)

Any volunteers? :)

As I mentioned many times, I am hopeless programmer. I have no idea about programming theory and practice. I have tried a few times, but I can’t get into it. And a lack of free time is also a big issue.
But we have AI, so… Hey ho! Why not ;D 

After 3 days with AI, writing about 23K words as prompts, I managed to create simple macOS app!!! Yay!!!


The app should be easy to use. Obviously, is not fully automatic, so here is a simple instruction how to use it:

1. How to prepare the picture for this app?

- The best way is to have some nice picture (b&w or color), in JPG or PNG format.
- The best resolutions are described in Picture Orientation section (320x365px for Vertical, and 435x250 for Horizontal), but you can use different resolutions. Try to keep the same aspect ratios for each orientation, tho. If not, the app will crop your picture (see in Preview section).
- You can have separate resolutions for vertical and horizontal pictures.
- Do not worry if your picture is in color - the app will convert it always to 16 grey b&w.

2. Generating the PKG for Newton

- Drag and drop your prepared picture on the app window.
- Select your orientation.
- Enter the package name (12 characters max - it is possible to use longer name, but that can cause some issues that I couldn’t solve)
- You do not need to change anything in Advanced section, but feel free to experiment with it. Those function I used for testing the alpha versions of this app, but at the end I left them in app. Just for fun ;D
- On the right side of the window you can se the Preview. If your picture have different resolution and/or aspect ratio, the app will crop it and change the resolution automatically. There is no option for manual cropping. Maybe in future version.
- When you are happy with the results - click Generate Package button. The app will ask you where do you want to save the package for Newton.
- Done! Now you need to install the package on your Newton. Avi’s Backdrop will see this package as a picture, so you can use it as your wallpaper.

Here you can download it and test it: https://unna.applenewton.co.uk/-%3DAppleNewtonFanResources%3D-/PictConverter%20for%20Avi%E2%80%99s%20Backdrop.zip
The app should work on Intel and Apple Silicon Macs, with Tahoe macOS.

Feedback: Any feedback, thoughts, comments are VERY welcome! Please share with your experience! I am very excited about my work and the fact that I was able to use AI to create working macOS app!


Best regards,
Pawel Piotrowski

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