How to
contact me.
Request a
Reseller or Media Evaluation Copy.
Additional
Reseller Information with Pricing
Anyone who needs a powerful, easy to learn but affordable graphics / image acquistion, display and image processing toolkit. This includes ...
Digital camera, scanner and frame
grabber owners who want to produce their own custom imaging utilities
and applications.
Yes. While PiXCL can be quickly learned and used by anyone, an experienced programmer will usually find PiXCL a useful tool to do fast prototypes and short use utilities, when the greater flexibility and speed but longer development time of VB/C/C++/C#.NET is not appropriate.
PiXCL supports Still Image, WIA and TWAIN-compatible scanners, digital cameras and USB video. PiXCL also reads and writes fifteen of the most commonly used image file formats.
PiXCL is a graphics / image processing and display language toolkit that has a self-documenting interpreted syntax. Visual Basic is a general purpose programming language that includes database access. VB supports BMP and JPEG image formats only, and does not provide any of the image processing functions without the purchase of additional libraries. PiXCL is far less expensive than VB, and is learned quicker in my users' experience. Most PiXCL users report that they had their first programs running in an afternoon.
Support for Active X Automation Servers is in PiXCL 8. If your database is an Automation server, eg MS-Access, PiXCL applications can work with them. Consult the Automation client programming documentation that comes with your database. You can generally use scriptable ActiveX controls using the HTML Control command.
Yes. The PiXCL MDI editor can be extended with helper applications to make code development more automated. I include two code writing Helper applications with the PiXCL sources so they can be extended as desired.
PiXCL is marketed as a downloadable product. It includes full on-line help equivalent to a 500 page printed manual, and plenty of sample code is also included. Currently PiXCL is designed as an OEM type product. Only 2% of responses to a download user market survey wanted a printed manual. A complete CD-ROM and manual kit is available at extra cost.
If by consignment you mean that we ship you the product and we get paid when they sell, no. Resellers can buy the CD-ROM / Manual product at a reseller price that depends on quantity, and have the option of returning unopened packages within 30 days at their expense, less a 25% restocking fee. This is standard practice for just about all reseller deals.
For Canada and the USA, I am. If you are international, I am open to proposals.
Permission to include the FreePiXCL 4.8 version on CD-ROM products is usually granted. Please contact me with details of the proposed product and for the latest Shareware version. I do not provide the registered version for CD-ROM compilations.
No, not without an appropriate contract. Unauthorised duplication of the registered version is a breach of international copyright law, and carries severe criminal and financial penalties.
Briefly, for quantities up to 100 per quarter, standard reseller pricing applies, with packages shipped to you. For quantities greater than 100 per quarter, a reseller contract can be arranged, which guarantees a minimum quantity of sales, payable quarterly in advance. Such a contract provides the reseller with a master CD-ROM for duplication.
There are various copyright issues to be addressed. Please contact me with a proposal and details of the book. In general I would provide a variant of the release version, but I am also open to proposals.
A specific reseller contract is required. Please contact me with a detailed proposal.
Please contact me with a detailed proposal. In general, this requires an upfront single licence payment for unlimited distribution, based on the forecasted sales volumes. See also Questions #17 and #25.
No. PiXCL is designed for individual PC's. If you have a specific site in mind with more than 20 PC's, contact me for appropriate multi-copy pricing.
I am prepared to consider doing "badge engineered" versions on a case-by-case basis. I can add support for custom commands, support other libraries and DLL's, and provide complete custom development of a named product for your company. A contract is required for licensing, plus a contract for the extra development. Please contact me with a detailed proposal and I will respond with pricing details.
Yes, they are if required, contact me for details. I have standard daily rates plus expenses for training courses for a minimum number of students. However, an experienced programming instructor will be able to pick up the methods quickly from the Help files, and the Overview in the Help files is the basis for a training course. Teaching users with some programming background to write useful programs in PiXCL takes 2 - 3 days. With no programming background this would take 4 - 7 days, as the basics of good programming practice needs to be instructed first.
If you mean just a manual for less money, no. The manual is the most expensive single part of the package. Manuals only come with the complete package included. In the case of a specific reseller agreement, I may provide the manual as a source text document.
Yes. PiXCL requires about 24 MB with sample code and test images.
No. JAVA is a Web tool for experienced programmers, with a quite complex syntax. PiXCL is a designed for the imaging professional who needs / wants to program occasionally, or develop prototypes quickly.
No. JavaScript and VB script are embedded languages, have a quite complex syntax compared to PiXCL, can't be used to create a stand-alone EXE file, don't directly support all the bitmap formats, can't be used to access the Registry, have no file i/o, and cannot do any of the image processing functions. PiXCL does not need WSH, as it can create its own executables. You can also set the file association for .PXL files to invoke PiXCL and run the PXL file directly.
Yes, it could with a little extra work. However, PiXCL is a powerful language, and is not secure like JAVA, that is, it could quite easily be used by unscrupulous persons to create Trojan Horse programs that delete data or worse. That is also why it is not practical to use Visual Basic sources for Web page applets, and why VBscript was developed by Microsoft. Besides, JAVA is the default Web applet language.
If you are prepared to provide full corporate details, I have a Reseller and Media Evaluation Program in place for PiXCL 6. Click to request a free Reseller or Media Evaluation Copy.
Alternatively, you can purchase a copy at the retail price. If you subsequently enter into a Reseller Contract, you will get a credit for the first five copies you provide to your clients.
If you are in Canada, to get reseller pricing you will need to quote your company or registered business name and GST number. Your web site should indicate that you are a reseller of software or systems. Elsewhere, please mail me your order on company letterhead or equivalent.
For the first order, and for any order under C$500 / us$300, I require either a PayPal transaction or a certified cheque with the order. All cheques must clear before any product is shipped. If you want credit terms, send me three trade references, your account name and the name and branch of your bank (I don't ask for or need your account number). Once I have verified your references I will provide you with suitable credit terms. Purchase Orders are accepted only once credit terms have been approved, or otherwise if a certified cheque is included.
Yes. You have to first purchase PiXCL 6 Developer version which includes the PiXCL Extension Command Library API. This API provides all the necessary information to access PiXCL internals, and includes a Visual C/C++ 6 or later sample project. Once you have the API, you can develop and sell any additional functionality that is required.
PiXCL was originally developed as a scripting language for Windows 3.1, for internal use in my products. In 1993 I produced the first commercial version 2.1, which had 82 commands, and supported BMP and RLE bitmap formats only.
In 1994 there was a Windows NT 3.51 version 3.0 with 112 commands and operators. I added an imaging DLL to support many more bitmap formats to produce in 1995, version 4.0 with 160 commands. With the release of Windows 95 in August 1995, v4.00 was extended to include over 200 commands and operators. The PiXCL product component source code in C/C++ is over 100,000 lines, plus the 460 page equivalent Help file.
PiXCL v4.10, September 1997: 272
commands and operators, more image processing operations, plus the
PiXCL MDI code editor.
PiXCL v5.40, released in May 2003: 740 commands and operators, updates and bug fixes.
PiXCL v6.00, released in March 2005: Merged with geoPiXCL 5 for 820 commands and operators, updates and bug fixes and new DLLs.
PiXCL v6.10, released in January 2006. Added some extension commands and XP theme support.
PiXCL v8.00, released in January 2008. Added Firewire digicam command set, better graphing and extended automation support. PiXCL 7 was an internal unreleased version.
Development is ongoing with new
commands added on a monthly basis.