I have ALWAYS wanted this converter ever since the demo from Apple that converted Kaleidoscope schemes to Mac OS 8.5+ themes. It existed but was never released.

I have extensive knowledge of Mac OS 8.5 themes and I am confident that this converter is a reasonable undertaking. There are some features of schemes that aren't available to themes, such as alpha-transparent menus and custom cursors, but other than that, themes are capable of everything, if not more, than schemes.

This is basically what would need to be done:

• Convert 'cicn' resources to 'pxm#' resources. These are both raw bitmap data and can be converted DIRECTLY, even retaining color tables (if used). Totally lossless. However, 'cicn' images would have to be trimmed into multiple pxm# resources.
  
• Interpret layout data from the scheme and build layo resources for the theme. The 'layo's reference the 'pxm#'s and tell them how to act and where to go. (For example, put 'pxm#' ID 128 at (t,l,b,r) and give it close box functionality.)
  
• Icons: copy over directly.
  
• Patterns / colors: copy over with minimal modification. (convert colors to different resource type)

I do know how to do these things:

• Convert the image/layout/color data in C / C++ code

I don't know how to do these things:

• Build an app that runs on OS 9, using MPW or CodeWarrior or something. (I really don't want to use RealBasic!)
  
• Access resource data in an easy way
  
• I am used to embedded C programming, very little experience with using GUIs (ironically). I despise object-oriented programming, I apologize.

I wanted to gauge if people are interested in this converter, because if it's only me that would use it, I couldn't really justify the development. Converting the cicns to multiple pxm#s and building layos will not be a 1-day project. This is to see if anyone else would like to run Kaleidoscope schemes without having Kaleidoscope installed and constantly crashing and reminding you about the shareware fee.