Pixel Joint Forum: [tool] Pixel Checker

Message

(Note, if you don't see the screenshot or if the link is broken, please be patient or check again later. My provider isn't guaranteeing 100% uptime and whenever it's up it's usually sloooooow.)

I had some freetime today, which I invested into writing a little Windows application that can check a piece of pixel art against various technical details, such as:
width/height (multiple of whatever/exactly whatever)
maximum allowed colors
maximum allowed colors per arbitrary rectangular block
pseudo pixel size
pallette conformity
[updated 1,2]
(see new screenshot / download is at end of post (redownload v2, if you still have the version that can not load gif)
new features:
1 save/load restriction settings
1 save error image file
2 can load gif now (only checks first frame)
fixes:
1 fixed a crash that occured when trying to mark pixels on pallette-indexed images
2 fixed a bug in which pallette-indexed images were not loaded correctly(got stretched or skewed and auto antialiased on loading) and thus reported wrong results (loading is slower now as it copies the source image pixel by pixel to an internal 32bpp format)
planned features for next version:
commandline interface
[/update]

Well, I guess a picture says more than a thousand words, so here's a screenshot(sorry for suckily slow page load):
screenshot from version 1

For demonstration purposes(see screenshot) I did select values and a pallette that lead to some errors.

At programme startup, EVERY image would pass the default settings.

Long story short, here's the download:
It requires the .NET Framework Redistributable to be installed on your Windows machine. If you don't have that installed, the programme will just crash at startup. 
Download Pixel Checker (v2) (Windows App)
Download Pixel Checker (Alpha) (Windows App)

edit: Almost forgot, full C# .NET source code and project file for VS2005 is included within the zip and the executable is located in the subfolder /bin/Release.

Edited by Dennis - 23 March 2008 at 9:32am

Author	Message
0xDB Commander Joined: 15 March 2025 Online Status: Offline Posts: 209	Topic: [tool] Pixel Checker Posted: 22 March 2008 at 1:55pm
	(Note, if you don't see the screenshot or if the link is broken, please be patient or check again later. My provider isn't guaranteeing 100% uptime and whenever it's up it's usually sloooooow.) I had some freetime today, which I invested into writing a little Windows application that can check a piece of pixel art against various technical details, such as: width/height (multiple of whatever/exactly whatever) maximum allowed colors maximum allowed colors per arbitrary rectangular block pseudo pixel size pallette conformity [updated 1,2] (see new screenshot / download is at end of post (redownload v2, if you still have the version that can not load gif) new features: 1 save/load restriction settings 1 save error image file 2 can load gif now (only checks first frame) fixes: 1 fixed a crash that occured when trying to mark pixels on pallette-indexed images 2 fixed a bug in which pallette-indexed images were not loaded correctly(got stretched or skewed and auto antialiased on loading) and thus reported wrong results (loading is slower now as it copies the source image pixel by pixel to an internal 32bpp format) planned features for next version: commandline interface [/update] Well, I guess a picture says more than a thousand words, so here's a screenshot(sorry for suckily slow page load): screenshot from version 1 For demonstration purposes(see screenshot) I did select values and a pallette that lead to some errors. At programme startup, EVERY image would pass the default settings. Long story short, here's the download: It requires the .NET Framework Redistributable to be installed on your Windows machine. If you don't have that installed, the programme will just crash at startup. Download Pixel Checker (v2) (Windows App) Download Pixel Checker (Alpha) (Windows App) edit: Almost forgot, full C# .NET source code and project file for VS2005 is included within the zip and the executable is located in the subfolder /bin/Release. Edited by Dennis - 23 March 2008 at 9:32am
	0xDB \| twitter
	IP Logged

Aleiav Commander Joined: 08 April 2016 Online Status: Offline Posts: 2380	Posted: 22 March 2008 at 2:17pm
	Looks cool. Any chance of you making it for Mac as well?
	IP Logged

0xDB Commander Joined: 15 March 2025 Online Status: Offline Posts: 209	Posted: 22 March 2008 at 2:35pm
	edit: GOOD NEWS - I just ran the executable through the Mono Migration Analyzer and it reported no issues, just green checkmarks and it said the only thing left to try is to run it under a Mono implementation on your platform of choice. :) /edit Unfortunately I don't have access to a Mac, but there's one thing you could try: According to the FAQ on the Mono Project, the Mac Version of Mono is capable of running .NET executables produced by Visual Studio. I can not test this myself and I would presume that the compatibility between Mono and .NET is still not 100% but I guess it's still worth trying. If all else fails, the source is included in the original zip, so maybe someone could just port it to Mac, using Mac native libraries or maybe even port it to Java. I was going to work some more on the windows version tomorrow, as I plan to add more features, like "saving the error image" for example. But really, if anyone wants to, feel free to start porting already. It's a completely free product, created to help checking pixel pieces against the most common types of restrictions that I could think of. Edited by Dennis - 22 March 2008 at 2:47pm
	0xDB \| twitter
	IP Logged

Hatch Admiral Joined: 05 August 2015 Online Status: Offline Posts: 1387	Posted: 22 March 2008 at 3:22pm
	I can confirm that it runs on Mac OS 10.4.11 Tiger with a PPC chip under the hood. Unfortunately it requires X11, and you have to either launch the exe through mono in the command line, or load the solution file and build/run it from the MonoDevelop app. Most of this is beyond the casual user. If any PJ Mac users need help running it, feel free to PM me.
	IP Logged

jalonso Admiral Joined: 29 November 2022 Online Status: Offline Posts: 13537	Posted: 22 March 2008 at 4:06pm
	Would this work to verify weekly challenge entries. Like you can change the values that must be passed, etc.? What the color palette limit? Can this be run online? or locally only? *Sedge, PB ?? o.O Edited by jalonso - 22 March 2008 at 4:07pm
	PJs FAQ <•> Sticky Reads
	IP Logged

surt Commander Joined: 30 December 2015 Online Status: Offline Posts: 413	Posted: 22 March 2008 at 4:26pm
	With a command line interface and a constraints specification file format it could be a nice automated challenge conformance validation tool. Edited by surt - 22 March 2008 at 4:27pm

	IP Logged

Hatch Admiral Joined: 05 August 2015 Online Status: Offline Posts: 1387	Posted: 22 March 2008 at 4:48pm
	twould be rad if it could be turned into a php script :o But I guess it would basically have to be rewritten from scratch.
	IP Logged

0xDB Commander Joined: 15 March 2025 Online Status: Offline Posts: 209	Posted: 22 March 2008 at 5:22pm
	It's nice to know that it runs with Mono. Thanks for testing that Hatch. jalonso: The tool will only check the restrictions entered that make sense. e.g. at programme start, width/height restrictions are set to 0 (=no restrictions) and multiple of 1 each (=no restrictions), same goes for color restrictions and leaving the pallette empty likewise results in no limits of used colors. So yes, the tool can check those technical restrictions arbitrarily (values are changeable). Pallette limit: The color pallette limit is theoretically unlimited. (the current version allows loading a pallette from an image file in which case all distinct colors from that image will be put into the check pallette) Running local/online: If the server allows running executables, I don't see why it should be restricted to local only. The server would have to have .NET or Mono installed though. surt: I'll add commandline options tomorrow and also two buttons to load and save the whole set of restrictions (currently only the pallette is load/saveable). So tomorrow there will be a restrictions file format and then a commandline check could be like: pixelchecker restrictionsfile.res inputimagefile.* outputlogfile.txt And the thing would report the result to the calling application via the exit code (e.g. 0 for everything passed and other numbers to signal which checks did fail). Optionally it could also put out the error image to another file. regarding php: Yup, rewrite from scratch would be needed for that but I think at least the algorithms could be copied (by the logic) and don't need to be rethought about. I however won't be the one porting it to php (due to a lack of php knowledge on my side). I'll go sleeping now, feel free everyone to suggest other things while I'm off. :) [update] (see opening post for latest version / update information) Against my original planning, I don't seem to have time to also add the commandline interface already today, sorry. [/update] [updated again]gif loading, bugfix[/updated again] Edited by Dennis - 23 March 2008 at 9:35am
	0xDB \| twitter
	IP Logged

Pixel_Outlaw Commander Joined: 01 September 2005 Online Status: Offline Posts: 3829	Posted: 25 March 2008 at 8:25pm
	Awww beat me to the punch. I had thought about making something like this.

	IP Logged

PixelSpy Seaman Joined: 29 May 2007 Online Status: Offline Posts: 28	Posted: 27 March 2008 at 5:38pm
	Very cool. Thanks for providing the code. Now I have something fun to work on! ;)
	IP Logged

Resources and Support
Pixel Joint Forum : The Lounge : Resources and Support