KoalaPad

Koala Painter was the mid-1980s a graphics program for various 8- bit home computer. On the Apple II, it was known under the name Koala Paint and PC systems under the name PC design. It was sold by Koala Technologies under the Software Label Koala goods in combination with the 10 cm x 10 cm graphics tablet KoalaPad and was at that time very popular.

Operation

The program can be operated using the supplied KoalaPad using the included stylus, or your fingers. The KoalaPad can thus be considered as the predecessor of today's touchpad. In addition, the control by joystick or mouse is possible.

Functions

The C64 version of the program runs in the so-called multicolor mode, whereby it has 16 colors and a resolution of 160 × 200 pixels. Using coarse dithering can also be created the impression of a higher color depth. The software has a selection function for rectangular areas and offers in this context the possibility for easy copy and paste. On drawing tools, various brushes, an eraser, a filler function, a free hand function as well as various lines, rectangular, and circular functions are available. A special ability for a program of this time is the possibility to switch back and forth between two full-screen graphics. This can be compared with each other or parts of the image using copy & paste are exchanged two images. In addition, the software provides a zoom function for pixel-precise editing and an undo function (" Oops" ), but which only allowed the withdrawal of the last action.

File Format

The C64 file format of the Koala Painter Graphics has a constant size of 10003 bytes. The file name consists of 15 characters, of which the first five are used as type identifier and the sequence of bytes 81hex 50hex 49hex always 43hex 20hex match.