Toolbox

Software I’ve been making: tools for drawing, printing, picture making, music practice and live performance.

Dithering and risograph studio · working

Dot Garden

A tool for making layered images with dithering, risograph colours and print patterns.

I used it to make the images on this site’s project cards.

Dot Garden’s risograph workspace: a stack of layers beside a composition printed in red, blue and black inksThe same composition at 400%: red, blue and black dots overprinting

Pixel art editor · in progress

Square Dance

A pixel art editor: draw, layer and transform, trace a photo into blocks, or match a picture to a palette from classic machines (NES, Game Boy, C64, PICO-8 and more).

A companion to Dot Garden and Plot Twist, so pictures can pass between them.

Square Dance’s window: tools, a small pixel scene being drawn, palettes and layersThe palette library: the picture matched to classic console palettesA photo traced into pixel blocks with a palette of its ownA layer scaled and turned with handles over the scene

Surtitles for live performance · in progress

On Book!

Surtitles that follow the actors: it tracks the script as they speak, and translates live when they leave it. The script is prepared as a table of cards in several languages.

I made it to surtitle live theatre.

On Book! in rehearsal on a made-up show: script cards, the line being followed, and the Spanish surtitleThe script as a table of cards: speakers, English, German and SpanishThe surtitle window’s settings: size, type and colours

Media server and show control in TouchDesigner · working

FADE ENGINE

A media server and cue console in TouchDesigner: a cue list with crossfades and parameter moves, sending OSC to QLab and Eos, split between a console machine and a render node.

I built it to run HEIST at the Arts Club Theatre Company in 2026.

HEIST on stage, the show FADE ENGINE ran

Pen plotter software · in progress

Plot Twist

A desktop app for the AxiDraw pen plotter. It turns photos and generated patterns into line drawings, places them on the paper, orders the pen’s path and drives the plotter. Each plot is kept in a record with its pen and settings.

I made it for my own drawing on an AxiDraw SE/A3.

Plot Twist making a drawing: the Waves method’s settings, sixty wavy lines on an A4 sheet, and variations on the rightPreparing the sheet: the drawing placed on its paper, with handles to move and scale it, and the pen and layer settingsReady to plot: the job, the sheet as it will be drawn, and the pen’s heights and speedsTuning a pen: setting up a test strip to find the pen-down height

Drum practice app · in progress

Stickler

A rhythm game for a practice pad: it listens through the microphone and judges every stroke against the click.

I made it to learn the drums.

Components for TouchDesigner · in progress

TouchDesigner tools

Components that bring Dot Garden’s dither patterns, risograph inks and layer stacks to video in TouchDesigner.

For building print-like textures into live visuals and projection work.

Dither Mix running in TouchDesigner: a camera-slider test clip in three inks, the Mix controls, and the network of three Dither Layers feeding itThe same frame before and after: the slider test as filmed, and as three inks out of Dither MixThe yellow, pink and blue layers on their own, and the mix they make

Theatre drafting in Blender · name to come · early

Drafting for Blender

A Blender extension for theatre drafting — plans, sections and the paperwork of a set. On the way.

I want to draft shows in Blender instead of Vectorworks.

See also

Workbench Tools & systems