Kid Pix
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A screenshot of the Kid Pix 1.0 about screen. Above: the Kid Pix Studio Deluxe logo.
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| Original author(s) | Jost Claassen |
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| Developer(s) | Jost Claassen (1989-1998) Brøderbund (1991-1998, 2000) Riverdeep (2000-2004) The Learning Company (1999, 2004) Software MacKiev (2004-present) |
| Initial release | 1989 |
| Stable release |
Kid Pix Deluxe 3D (Mac and Windows) / October 2011
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| Operating system | Classic Mac OS, Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows |
| Type | Bitmap graphics editor |
| License | Proprietary |
| Website | www |
Kid Pix is a bitmap drawing program aimed at children. Originally created by Craig Hickman, it was first released for the Macintosh in 1989 and subsequently published in 1991 by Brøderbund. Hickman was inspired to create Kid Pix after watching his son Ben struggle with MacPaint, and thus the main idea behind its development was to create a drawing program that would be very simple to use. The product today retains much of the same principles as the original software created by Hickman in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The latest Mac and Windows versions of the product were developed by the current owner and publisher of Kid Pix, Software MacKiev, who had been involved in development of Kid Pix versions since 2004 prior to acquiring the brand from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in October 2011. Hickman had no involvement with the development of Kid Pix from the early 2000s until late 2011 when he began consulting with Software MacKiev on the development of future editions. Kid Pix and all of the intellectual property, trademarks and copyrights associated with it are owned by Software MacKiev.
The canvas occupies most of the available screen face, and the entire canvas is visible at all times. The drawing tools available to the user are placed in a column of buttons down the left edge of the screen. Instead of using menus to access the different options that each tool has, they are displayed in a row of icons along the bottom of the screen. Selecting a new tool presents a new set of options, such as different styles for the Wacky Brush. The color palette is situated below the list of tools and consists of a collection of colored squares for each of the available colors. Files with the KPX extension can be converted to the more accessible PCX format by renaming the extension.
Here are the drawing tools used in Kid Pix:
Kid Pix includes a selection of tools that go beyond drawing simple lines and shapes. These include:
The Undo Guy acts as a standard undo button, undoing the last change made to the image. When clicked, the Undo Guy yaps out phrases such as "Oh, no!", "Yikes!", "Uh-oh!", "Whoops!", "¡Espera un minuto!", "No, no, no!", "Wait a minute!", "No way!", "Phew!" "Whoee!", "I made a boo-boo, yeah!", "Oh, dear!", "♪Undo, undo!♪", "Yuck!", "Yep!" ,"Uh-uh!", "Oh, man!", "My bad!", "♪Ooh, don't want it!♪", "Oops!", "♪¡Ay Caramba!♪", "OY! Don't you dare!", and "Now, wait a minute!" in an odd voice, including a robot and a little girl. The Undo Guy is designed to appeal to young children. Starting with Kid Pix Deluxe 3D, the Undo Guy can undo and redo several times, but in all versions of Kid Pix prior to that version, the Undo Guy could only undo and redo once.
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