Spritecreator

Short:			Useful tool for generating sprite files for Hollywood (4)
Author:			Alfkil Thorbjørn Wennermark
Version:		0.7.2
Architecture:	Hollywood

Description: I was in the need for a tool, that could easily generate 
correctly aligned multiframe sprites for a Hollywood game I was writing, so I 
ended up making this tool. This is my first ever project to go beyond my home 
lab, so please be gentle in your judgement ;-). The program is greatly 
inspired by sprite editors from the past like the AMOS Bob Editor and the 
GameSmith CITAS animation tool.

I've tried to make the program as easy to use as possible. Put briefly, you 
have two ways of saving your project: 1) As a '.sprite' file, that contains 
information on all the frames in your project, but contains only *references* 
to image files. 2) As a large PNG, with all the images aligned and ready to 
load into your own Hollywood script with LoadSprite(). If you choose the 
second option, it will also store a '.data' file, that is used if you try to 
import the PNG back into Sprite Creator at a later time. One more thing to be 
aware of is, that when you use the first option, you should ALWAYS be sure to 
have all images, that you want to include in your project in a dedicated 
project folder on you disc. When you choose 'New Project', you are first asked 
to select your project directory. Also, remember to choose 'Select 
Transparency' before you import pictures, to select the color used for 
transparency/background!

For starters, try and load the sample project 'gitte.sprite'. To flip between 
frames, the easiest way is to move the mouse into the empty area to the right 
of the work area and press left or right mouse. Or you can click the 
thumbsnails to the right. Or you can use 'TAB' and 'Shift-TAB', it's all up to 
you!. The 'scrollbar' doesn't respond to input, sorry! You can quit at any 
time by clicking the upper left corner of the screen (unless you are using the 
painting tools).

If you are in doubt of anything, run into trouble, find bugs, have ideas for 
improvements... or if you simply just like the program, please don't hesitate 
to write me an email!

Here are some keyboard shortcuts for the different functions:

n = New Project
l = Load project
i = Import Frame
s = export PNG
d = Save Project
a = Save Project as

c = Auto Crop Frame
f = Auto Crop All Frames (very useful! But also very slow...)

cursor keys = move frame

ESC = quit



TODO:

Status bar and progression bars for longtime operations. Update to H4.5
Also there are (still) a little too many "project has not been saved!"
requesters.
Known bugs: The transparency color is not saved with the .sprite file.
Workaround: Choose 'Select Transparency' and select the real transparent
color from any image file in your project BEFORE loading the .sprite
project file. This is only a problem, if you are using a transparency
which is not exactly equal to #WHITE or ($ffffff)!


History:

0.7.2: Archive update (no functionality added)

- Included missing example project gitte.sprite and all needed image files
- Updated the format of this readme

0.7.1: Bugfix release

- Removed most (if not all) bugs in the 'Grab Image' routine
- Scaling implemented
- Solved the 'first frame = 0' problem!
- Solved bug in 'copy to' and 'move to', that only linked to but didn't copy
data
- Thumbs redraw updated
- Scrollbar redraw bug solved
- 'Move frame' is now also default in the edit menu
- Removed 'Transparency update' hack. Now it uses 'SetBrushTransparency' as it
was supposed to

0.7: First really useful version

- Grab frames from images
- Rotate frames on the fly
- Move and copy frames to another location
- Simple paint util to do small "fixes"
- A nice scrollbar ;-) (..that doesn't respond to input..Doh!)
- Auto crop feature to remove excess background color in all frames
  Especially useful when you import files containing many frames
- Bugfixes
- Well, if you need a feature, write me an email!

0.6: First useful version !
0.5: First "public" version



   alfkil()gmail.com