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----------- SpriteST -----------
--- by CHRIS GREEN (ME) 1989 ---
--------- Instructions ---------
------------ (V1.0) ------------
SpriteST is a versatile, cheap!
(ie for nothin') sprite designer
for, of course, designing sprites
to use in your own programs. Or
you could just use it to try your
hand at animaing objects and creating
your own short "stories".
There are four different sizes of
sprite possible; having a width of
either 16 or 32 pixels, and also
either a heght of 16 or 32 pixels.
You can use all 16 colours and mix
your own colours from the ST's
standard palette.
You can have up to 128 different
sprites(Frames) and string them
together into an animation "sequence".
This sequence can be up to 140 frames
in length, but of course some sprites
would have to be shown twice.
On the main screen you will see
the main grid which shows a
magnification of the current frame.
Clicking in that grid will set that
particular square with the currently
selected colour.
In the top right hand corner is the
current frame number, beneath that
is the sprite shown exactly as it
would appear in your programs,
i.e. its true size.
On the middle right are the 16
colours in the current palette, with
the currently selected one denoted
with a 'tick'.To change the 'pen'
colour, just click on whichever
colour you wish to use.
Below that, in the bottom right-
hand corner are 12 icons, through
which you tell the program what to do
with your sprite.
The icons are:
SAVE : (1st row,1st column)
This icon does exactly as it
suggests, saves all sprites to disk,
displaying the standard GEM file
selector through which you can select
a file to save to or create a new one
LOAD : (1st row,2nd column)
To load in a previously saved
file, click on this icon.The load
will fail if the file is not the
correct format (more about that in
a bit).REMEMBER TO SAVE ANY SPRITES
THAT ARE ALREADY IN MEMORY BEFORE
LOADING ANY NEW ONES IN.
QUIT : (1st row,3rd column)
This icon (the one with the 'Q'
on it) will QUIT SpriteST and return
to DESKTOP, but asks for confirmation
first, just in-case.
FLIP : (2nd row,1st column)
You can flip the current sprite
using this icon either horizontally
or vetically, just click on the icon
and you will be asked which way, or
to cancel if you have changed your
mind.
CLEAR : (2nd row,2nd column)
This will clear the current
sprite to the background colour,
and asks for confirmation first.
FILL : (2nd row,3rd column)
Clicking on this icon will
fill the whole sprite with the the
currently selected colour,this also
asks for confirmation.
ANM ON : (3rd row,1t column)
This will turn the animation
on (ANM ON!) pressing enter will
stop the animation and return you
to designing your sprites. Of course,
if you haven't set any animation
(using the next function), animation
will not be turned on.
ANM SET : (3rd row,2nd column)
To set the various parameters
of the animation, use this function.
All about this later.
COL SET : (3rd row,3rd column)
This function changes the RGB
values of the current colour. A
small box will appear in the bottom
right corner with the RGB value of
the colour. Clicking on the up
arrow increases the value, the down
arrow to decrease. Double-click to
return to your drawin'.
RESIZE : (4th row,1st column)
You can change the size of the
current sprite using this icon. You
will be asked for the width+height.
NOTE:If a sprite is resized, all
previous data will be erased. if you
stumble into this by accident, set
the values to the same as the current
sprite and nothing will happen.
FRAME FORWARD : (4th row,2nd column)
This will move you onto the
next frame, up to a maximum of 128.
FRAME BACK : (4th row,2nd column)
This will move you back to the
previous frame, down to number 1.
------------ ANIMATION ------------
You can animate frames, of different
sizes, by following the following
steps:
1: Draw your sequence.
2: Click on the ANM SET icon.
You will first be asked whether
you want to load in a previously
saved sequence. Then comes a little
reminder, press RETURN and up comes
a sequnce of numbers. These are the
order in which you would like your
frames to be shown in the sequnce.
Move about the grid using the cursors
and type in your sequnce.When
finished, you will be asked what
speed you would like the animation
to run at, and what happens at the
end. These can be either:
LOOP - When the animation
reaches the end of
your sequence, the
sequence loops back
to the beginning
and starts again.
STOP - At the end of your
sequence, animation
stops and you can
press SPACE to see
your sequence again.
GO BACK - At the end of your
sequence,animation
then flows backwards
through your sequence
upon reaching the
beginning when it
loops through again.
When you have finished watching
your sequence, press RETURN to end
and enter the drawing again.
----- SpriteST File Format -----
The sprite files saved using
SptiteST have the following format:
4.L(16 bytes) - these 1st four
long words are used internally by
SpriteST to signal where certain
sprites should appear within the
block of 128.
1.W(2 bytes) - this contains the
number of sprites in the file.
16.W(32 bytes) - this is the colour
palette which the sprites use.
Following these is the sprite
data,each block of data has the
following format:
1st byte - width of sprite.
2nd byte - height of sprite.
The actual sprite data appears
here. Which is either 128, 256
or 512 bytes in size, depending
on the size of the sprite.
---- Animation Set File Format ----
This file is 174 bytes long. The
first 140 bytes are the numbers of
the sequence, the rest are used
internally.
--------------- Demo ---------------
On the disk is a short demo to get
you used to using the various
features of SpriteST. It is 12 frames
of dripping water. Load the sprites
in and set the animation for the 12
frames, they run straight through
from 1 to 12. Change the other
settings to see the differences. Feel
free to change any of the sprites to
do what you want.
That's just about all you need to
know about creating your own sprites
using SpriteST, hope you have fun,
and watch out for updates and later
versions containing many extra
features and improvements.
--CREDITS AN ALL THAT BORIN' STUFF--
Thanks to :-
HIM,MAD,YOU(KIERAN-K),DIGA,
MARK-C,GAZZ(HIM'S BROTHER),PAUL-K,
HISOFT FOR A SUCH A BRILLIANT
ASSEMBLER AND LOTS+LOTS OF JAMES
BROWN!!!!!!.
WATCH OUT FOR OUR FIRST MEGA-
GAME.
last modified-20th FEB 1989
-------------------------------------