The Atari Compendium/The Atari Compendium (Toad Computers) (1994).iso/files/umich/falcon/graphics/spooky4.lzh/spooky.txt

Text File | 1995-08-12 | 11KB | 370 lines

                        Spooky Sprites



                           Johan Karlsson

                     Internet: [e-mail]


                              Version 4
                          August 11, 1995



Contents


1  Short Introduction                                              1


2  How to use this program                                        1
   2.1  Choosing colours  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .*
 *  1
   2.2  Put me down  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . *
 * 1
   2.3  Saving sprites  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .*
 * .  1
   2.4  Animation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .*
 *  2
   2.5  Grabbing sprites from a picture  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . *
 * 2


3  How do I use the sprites in my own program                    3


4  Keyboard commands                                            3


5  Sprite and picture formats                                      3
   5.1  TRS, True Colour Sprites (version 1)  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  3
        5.1.1 File header  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . *
 * 3
        5.1.2 Sprite locations  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .*
 *  4
        5.1.3 Sprite data  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . *
 * 4
   5.2  TRP, True Colour Picture  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4
   5.3  TRE, Run length encoded True Colour Picture  . . . . . . . . . .  4
        5.3.1 raw data chunk  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4
        5.3.2 rle chunk   . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .*
 *  4


6  History                                                          5
   6.1  Version 4   . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .*
 * .  5
   6.2  Version 3   . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .*
 * .  5
   6.3  Version 2   . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .*
 * .  5
   6.4  Version 1   . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .*
 * .  5



1    Short Introduction


With this program you can create true colour sprites for the Atari Falcon.
The stuff you require are a F030 with at least 4 megs of memory.  It's now
compatible with both screen enhancers, virtual memory and strange monitors.
It still doesn't work with mtos, but then again what does?



                                  1




   If you have any questions, bug reports or suggestions for improvement then
please send me an e-mail at this address [e-mail].



2    How to use this program


2.1   Choosing colours

To pick a colour press the right button on the colour you want. You can do this
anywhere but on the buttons. To create new colours double click with the left
button on the palette you don't want anymore and you will come to the palette
creation screen. The program uses all 65000 colours.



2.2   Put me down

When you have made your sprite you can put it down into the sprite storage
area by pressing the put button (arrow down on the top row).  To retrieve a
stored sprite use the numeric keyboard keys 4 and 6 to scroll until the correct
sprite is in the middle of the screen, then press the get button.



2.3   Saving sprites

Sprites may be saved in either uncompressed or compressed format. The sprites
may also be saved as both formats at once.  This is chosen per sprite so you
might save some of your sprites uncompressed and some compressed and the
rest both.  If you want to change all sprites to the same format this can be
done in the preferences meny.  Selecting format for single sprite is done with
the symbol in the bottom right corner of the button panel. If it says 1 then the
current sprite will be saved in an uncompressed format, if it says 2 it will be
saved in a compressed format and if it says 1&2 it will be saved in both format*
 *s.
Notice that only sprites that have been put and show up in the bottom part of
the screen will be saved.
   The advantages of saving the sprites in compressed format is that they are
drawn faster and if they contain lots of black they will require less disc space
and memory than uncompressed sprites.  The drawback is that if clipping is
required the sprites they will take longer time to draw and if they don't conta*
 *in
any black then they will require more memory and disc space as well.  Since
the save method is chosen per sprite you can save the most important sprites
in both formats e.g. the shots in a shoot-em-up game.
   The sprites may also be saved as raw data. This makes the data very easy
to use, but a serious drawback is that raw data cannot be reloaded because no
information about sprite sizes etc. is saved. When saving sprites as raw data
compression is never used.



2.4   Animation

To animate a sprite use the keys 4 and 6 to scroll to the first sprite in your
animation sequence. Then click on the pacman button and your sprite will be
animated. If the animation sequence isn't the one you want then make a right
button click on the pacman and choose Change animation sequence.



                                  2




2.5   Grabbing sprites from a picture

The grab a sprite from a picture you must first load a picture. When you have
done that you may grab a sprite from it. When grabbing you shall click on the
top left corner of the part you want to grab. In the preferences you might turn
on a grid with an optional offset to make grabbing easier. This is all made from
the file menu. The following picture formats are currently supported.

   - TGA 24 bit type two Targa pictures.

   - TRP 16 bit Falcon true colour picture.

   - Raw data 16 bit Falcon true colour raw data.

   - NEO 16 colours ST Neochrome picture.

   - PI1 16 colours ST Degas Elite picture.

   - TRC Don't know what this is, but it seems to work ok!

   - GOD Godpaint 16 bit true colour picture.

All picture formats except Targa can be Ice packed (2.40). If you load raw data
you have to enter the size of picture and the offset of the picture data from t*
 *he
start of the file in bytes.



3    How do I use the sprites in my own program


If you program in assembler then you can find a sprite drawing routine
in falclib6.  If you are using STOS then you could use Anthony Jacques'
([e-mail]) Falcon STOS extension,  because it supports true
colour Spooky Sprites.  The assembler sprite drawing program is written in
position independent code and could easily be used in other languages like
GFA-Basic with very small modifications.



4    Keyboard commands


Note that the copy and paste commands can only be used from the keyboard.
Flood fill may also be used by right clicking on the Fill button.



                                  3




    q       quit
    p       preferences
    x       fx
    s       save sprites
    l       load sprites
    L       file menu
    z       change size
    c       copy
    v       paste
    V       set paste mode
    b       paste onto picture
    B       paste onto last grabbed place on the picture
    a       animate
    A       set animation mode
    Undo    undo
    4       select sprite to the left
    6       select sprite to the right
    1       select colour to the left
    3       select colour to the right
    r       grab sprite form picture
    e       replace colour
    f       fill
    F       flood fill
    d       dictionary
    space   views picture



5    Sprite and picture formats


5.1   TRS, True Colour Sprites (version 1)

5.1.1  File header

4 bytes Ascii header 'TCSF'.
1 word Number of sprites.
1 word File version. This should be 1.
1 word Xres that the packed sprites are calculated for.



5.1.2  Sprite locations

This section is repeated number of sprites times.


1 byte Width in pixels.
1 byte Height in pixels.
1 long Offset to unpacked data from start of file or 0.
1 long Offset to packed data from start of file or 0.



                                  4




5.1.3  Sprite data

This section is repeated number of sprites times.


If unpacked data is available then it's here.
width*height words of raw true colour data
If packed data i