Sprite Editor

[Martin the Dane]

Good to know I'm not the only one who didn't notice

[Maquiladora]

I reported this as a news item by accident (not the first time ive pressed that link by accident) but all publicity is good publicity

[The Big Mc]

martin what is with the numbering of frames on some spr files (eg ai spy plane)

Some have frames with the same number or is some spr files numbers are missing

it appears to be in all builds.

oh and here is the terrain strip I promised you

i have altered them so you can see what the unit would look like on the map also as a bit of a bonus the new terrain strip is good for larger fx (eg eco ranger). as on most of the land and sea tiles they make one big image rather then what happens at the moment

i also moded the original to fix the dead, plains and volcanoes

[Martin the Dane]

Originally posted by The Big Mc
martin what is with the numbering of frames on some spr files (eg ai spy plane)

Some have frames with the same number or is some spr files numbers are missing

it appears to be in all builds.

The list of frame-numbers, is the animation-sequence - a list of the frames as they are played, not the list of frames in the file. I'll add the number of frames to the display as well as a number of other minor but usefull bits of information.

Let me use give a short description of the structure of the .spr-file:
The file has three parts:[LIST=1][*]File-headder - describes what type of sprite the sprite-file contains and what version number.[*]AnimBlocks - a number of animation blocks.[*]Footer - the firepoints, shieldpoints, etc. (This has not yet been implemented into SpriteEdit, but will obviousely have to be implemented befor long)[/LIST=1]
Each AnimBlock consists of the following:[LIST=1][*]Block-headder - Dimentions, facing-offsets, etc[*]Frames - the frames available to this animation.[*]Animation-Description-Block - three lists (all with the same number of elements): first a list of frames to be shown, then a list of deltas or nudges, and finally a list of transparency-values.[/LIST=1]
Note that there are to number of frames: first SPRITE_NUM_FRAMES or number of sprite-frames witch is the number of "slides" stored for this particular AnimBlock in the file. Secondly ANIM_NUM_FRAMES or number of animation-frames to be played in the playback-sequence fro this particular AnimBlock. This system lets the artist reuse each sprite-frame in several anim-frames.

Originally posted by The Big Mc oh and here is the terrain strip I promised you

Thanks, looks good.

[The Big Mc]

That’s great now I know what is what I can get back to my planes for world domination

[Martin the Dane]

Ok, here comes a new version of SpriteEdit.

The reason for the long delay between build 5 and 6 is that I have made some major (from a programing point of view) changes to the display, and finally got all the Export options working.

Changes from Build 5 to 6
(minor-version changed from 1 to 2)

1. Implemented all the save image options, (I hope) so now you can save as Combined Image, Masked Image, Pixels, Mask, and Shadow.
2. Added Export images options. You can now save all frames in the sprite file in three different modes:
1. One file : All elements of the frame is saved to the same image.
2. Two Files : Each frame is saved as Masked Image and Shadow.
3. Three Files: Each frame is saved as Pixel, Mask, and Shadow Images.
3. Fixed the shadow color bug.
4. Added displaying of a number of properties: (Not fully implemented)
1. Centerpoints, for each headding
2. Deltas or nudges for each Animation frame
3. Transparency (fade) values for each Animation Frame
4. SpriteNumFrames, number of frames pressent in the animation block
5. SpriteFirestFrame, first frame in animation block only used in the scripts from Activision, has no impact on the spritefile.
6. AnimType, sequential, loop, or back-n-forth.
7. AnimNumFrames, number of animation frames.
8. AnimPlayBackTime, length of animation in milliseconds, not implemented acording to Activision.
9. AnimDelay, number of times to play last frame in animation befor restarting animation.
5. Relative Paths now work in the interface (note: This is only visual).

[The Big Mc]

i will let you know how it handles

[The Big Mc]

Small problem when you extract all the images that make up the spr file you save the victory animation wrong the file names you have selected is gu__w for some reason when it should be gu__v

[Martin the Dane]

Originally posted by The Big Mc
Small problem when you extract all the images that make up the spr file you save the victory animation wrong the file names you have selected is gu__w for some reason when it should be gu__v

And Work is gu__v not gu__w. Have fixed it so it'll be corrected in the next version. And I'll add a reset filename-mask option, to take care of mask strings saved in the ini-file.

[The Big Mc]

Martin I have a idea for you when exporting the image and shadow as two different files could it be possible for you to allow the user to export each image with different background colour for example black for the main image and whit for the shadow for some reason ( like the first compiler) I prefer to see the main image on black but the shadow on white

[Martin the Dane]

Thought I already did that. The idea was that if you exported with black shadow and black background, in any other than Single File mode, you'd get black shadow on white background, but apperently I messed it up somewhere along the way, so you now get black shadow on black background, witch is not verry usefull.

Thinking it over, it seems to be a better idea to add an 'individual colors option' to the advanced page on the export menu. That way you can export in any color combination you like.

[The Big Mc]

You get a dark blue image on black

Other then that I think the export spr file is not bad

I found a temp work around like I sav the spr file 2 times one black one on white and just copy and past the white background on top of the black background :d

[The Big Mc]

I am trying to get a test image ready for you when you come to compile the spr

To make sure it works I am compiling it throw the original make spr file but I just noticed the program can’t handle with file names like gu090 funny hay.

When it come to lading the images in to your make spr what will the import options be

Eg

One frame at a time

The hole spr file (like the original make spr)

One characteristic at a time ( like victory)

[Martin the Dane]

Originally posted by The Big Mc
To make sure it works I am compiling it throw the original make spr file but I just noticed the program can’t handle with file names like gu090 funny hay.

Well that's 'caus MAKESPR.EXE is version 1.3 where units have two digit numbers, not three as in 2.0

When it come to lading the images in to your make spr what will the import options be

Eg

One frame at a time

The hole spr file (like the original make spr)

One characteristic at a time ( like victory)

Yes

The whole answer is: the plan is to include several different options, ranging from importing one frame (and possibly single elements like pixels, mask, or shadow) at a time to importing a whole sprite in one go.
For programing reasons, the first option to be implemented is replacing single frames in an exsisting sprite, then I'll probably add the ability to add and remove frames. When that works, I'm going on to the variouse multi-frame import options.

[The Big Mc]

Martin the ctp sprit maker did not work something to do with needing tiffs instead of tga

Plus I noticed on some ctp units that when I extract them there is pure black on them (I can’t think of a ctp example of the top of my head)

Also what kind of alpha channel support you offering