Index:
About MapWin32 Pro
Tile graphic editor
Brush selector
Object editor
Area editor
(back to main documentation)
MapWin32 Pro is an extended, professional version of MappyWin32 by the
same author. It has all the features of MappyWin32 plus a tile graphic editor,
brush selector and object/area editor.
MapWin32 Pro is not free, but you can try out all the Pro features (except
saving and object export) by selecting the pro demo in mapwin.ini
(set proregnumber=00000001).
If you want to buy a registration number (required to enable map saving and object
export) you can get one at www.tilemap.co.uk If you are interested or have suggestions,
please contact me.
To select which version to use (free, pro demo or pro full), open the
mapwin.ini file (see main docs on how to do this) and change the
proregnumber according to the instructions in the file.
You can use New, Cut, Copy and Paste (Edit menu) to manipulate the
raw graphics when the 'Graph' window is active.
If you originally imported a picture for graphics doing
this may change the order, so you may need to export the graphics if
you want to import them again. If you want, you can make
an entire map without importing any graphics, instead creating them here.
Paste pastes over the selected graphic,
rather than inserting a new one (unlike the other windows). Use New to
insert a new, blank graphic. Cut, Copy,
and Paste also use the Windows clipboard, so you can use an external
paint package to alter individual tiles and paste them back.
To use a newly created graphic in the map, it must be put in a
Block Structure. The quick way to do this is click the 'BLK' button
below the graphic.
All maps have a 256 colour palette:
* 8bit (paletted) maps modify all the pixels of a set colour index
if you change that indexes colour
* 15/16/24 and 32 bit maps do NOT modify colours in the graphics, the
palette is used to store colours you want to use and can be changed
whenever you like
Click the colour squares in the palette to select an index
Use the colour bars below to change the colour of an index
Palette tools:
* CPY - Click index to copy in palette, then CPY, then dest index
in palette
* EXG - Click index to exchange in palette, then EXG, then dest index
in palette, the two indexes will be swapped
* SPR - Click index to spread from in palette, then SPR, then dest
index in palette, the indexes between will be smoothly spread in a gradient
* TRN - 8bit changes the current index to the 8bit transparent index,
15/16/24/32bit changes the current index to the 24bit colourkey
* ? - Click ? then a pixel in the block to the left to:
8bit changes to the index of that pixel
15/16/24/32bit changes the current index to the pixels colour
Click in the area in the top left to edit the graphics
Graphic Tools:
NOTE: The following 3 operations physically alter the block graphics,
they are not the same as selecting flipped tile mode or rotated tile mode
and using the block properties to modify how the block is drawn
* FLH - Flips the current graphic horizontally
* FLV - Flips the current graphic vertically
* ROT - Rotates the current graphic 90 degrees
* CLR - Clears the current graphic to the selected index/colour
* MSK - Masks out the current graphic with the clickmask graphic (for
non-rectangular tiles)
* BLK - Creates a new still block with this graphic as the BG
* REV - Reverts the current graphic to before lat draw,
also crtl+z (undo).
Keys:
Use the arrow keys to slide the graphic (useful to smooth the joins at the edges)
The current map position is shown in the bottom right corner and changes
as you modify the graphics, zoom also works on this.
'l' will draw a line between the last pixel placed and the mouse position
'f' will fill the area at the mouse position with current colour
'p' will pick the colour at the mouse position (same as '?' button)
Draw size shows the thickness of the drawing tool when you edit the graphic
Tip: Use CLR to fill a new graphic with selected colour, then use MSK to
get the right shape for non-rectangular tiles (try it with isotst.fmp or
hextst.fmp).
This shows the brushes (from the brush menu), you can select them
by clicking then edit the map with them.
You can use New, Cut, Copy and Paste (Edit menu) to manipulate
objects when the 'Object' window is active. Click an object to select,
doubleclick an object to change its properties. An object is represented
either by a tile graphic, or part (or all) of an external graphic file.
Add an external graphic file (any format, 24bit pics can be used on 8bit
maps if you want) with the 'Add' button. An object can be any size
and positioned at any pixel coordinate (even off the map). Set its position
either in the properties, or left click in the map window when it is
selected. Hold the shift key to align the object to the tile boundaries
as you click in the map window. Hold the shift key as you select an object
in the Object window to go to its location in the map window. Colourkey is
used when drawing objects.
The Object properties consist of map X, Y pixel coord to the handle
of the object. If you choose an external graphic, the Tile Graphic must be
set to 0. You can make a list of shared External Graphics with the 'Add'
button. Select the area of the graphic for the object with the Coords
section. The User data area is for your own use. You can set the border
colour of an object with the 'Col:' field in the object properties. The selected
object is highlighted with a white border. For no border, use 000000
(transparent), for black, use 000001.
Objects can be exported with File:Export as text (Pro full version
only), they are stored in the FMP file as OBDT chunks, example code to read
them (I will update the playback libs to do this eventually):
readobj.c
This is incorporated into the Object editor, to define an area, make
a new object with 'area only' as the graphic, and set the width and height
you want, then place the area just like an object. You can set the border
colour of an area with the 'Col:' field in the object properties. The selected
object is highlighted with a white border. For no border, use 000000
(transparent), for black, use 000001.