Sprite Maker

Rev. 2.01


copyright 1989 by Billy Dalrymple

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Billy Dalrymple
5219-G Penrith Dr.
Durham N.C. 27713

OR

Leave Message on

GENEAL BOARD
919-471-6026


Donations and/or Comments are Greatly Appreciated !


Special Thanks to Brook Monroe for his Technical Assistance !


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What Is Sprite Maker ?

Sprite Maker Rev 2.01 is a tool for EGA programmers which allows
the programmer to easily create, manipulate, and save EGA images
for use with many block manipulation functions such as putimage,
and moveblock. Sprites created with Sprite Maker can vary in
size from 1*1 pixels to 100*60 pixels.

Sprite Maker can be used as a paint program for people who doodle,
and just want to draw. However, I designed Sprite Maker specifically
for creating EGA / VGA sprites to be used in other programs. In
addition to the sprite being created, a mask is also created which
can be used to enhance the display of the sprite. ( More info
available by request )

Sprite Maker displays sprites in two formats. 1) the actual
sprite image (on the right hand side of screen) and 2) an edit image
which is displayed beneath the color palette. The actual sprite image
is the actual representation of the sprite, ie: how the sprite will
actually look if used in other applications. The edit image is
where editing will be done. This image is automatically adjusted
to the maximum possible size for a given sprite size. ie: pixel
representations in the edit image will be considerably larger
for a 5*5 sprite than for a 80*50 sprite.



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Sprite Maker 2.01 supports a mouse, and has several added
data manipulation features.

This program was written in Turbo C (tm) and is designed for
EGA/VGA Graphics systems. Resolution is 640*350 for EGA or
640*480 for VGA (both at 16 colors).

Hardware requirements are 512k ram, EGA or VGA graphics, Microsoft(tm)
compatable Mouse, and IBM compatability.

I hope that you find this program useful to your work, play,
or hobby. Feel Free to Distribute this software package AS IS
and without alteration, according to the following standards.

1) That no one receive any compensation from this
program package in any way. (without
my written consent)

2) Should you find this software to be helpful
to you, please write and tell me so. (I could
use it to justify my computer time to my wife.)

3) If you find any bugs that I should be aware
of, or improvements which you feel would be
benificial to you, Please notify me of them.

4) This software package should not be archived by
any other name than SPRITE21, and should contain
the following files:

Sprite21.exe - Sprite Maker rev 2.01
executable file

Readme.doc - This file

Exit.dat - Icon data files
Load.dat
Save.dat
New.dat
Fill.dat
Flip.dat
Flop.dat
Rot.dat
Brdr.dat
Line.dat
Crcl.dat
Rect.dat

Should you find any discrephancies in this archive
Please notify me immediatly.

5) And last but not least, should you find
this software extremely helpful to your
programming, donations are greatly appreciated.
However, I require no registration fee. If
you are having difficulty with the program
or just have comments, feel free to express
them without feeling obliged to pay a registration
fee.

Please include the following information when contacting me:

- Name, Address, age
- Where you aquired my program
ie: BBS name, number, State
or Shareware Distributor name
- Why are you using it ?

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SPRITE MAKER 2.01 INSTRUCTIONS:


EXECUTION:

To execute Sprite Maker 2.01 , type Sprite21 from DOS. After the
title screen has been displayed, you will see a screen divided into four
sections.


SCREEN FORMAT:

The top section will contain 12 icons. These are the
command icons which you can click on to give Sprite Maker your commands.
These commands will be discussed later. Beneath the icons, you will
see the color palette consisting of 16 colors to choose from. To the
right of the palette, you will see a block showing the current
selected color.

The screen section which is below and to the right of the
icon/palette section is where the actual sprite will be displayed
just as it would be in an actual application. Beneath the sprite
will be the sprite mask.


The screen beneath the color palette and to the left of the
sprite screen, is the edit screen. This is where the "blown up"
version of the sprite will be displayed. The sprite will be magnified
to it largest possible size in this window to allow for detailed
editing of the image. If a sprite has been defined, a white rectangle
will show the boundaries of the sprite.

The fourth window is at the bottom of the screen. This is the
message window. All messages will be displayed in this window.


COMMANDS:


Commands are given by clicking the mouse on the appropriate
command icon at the top of the screen. Certain messages will be
outputted in the message window. Look at this window periodically
since some messages are displayed for awhile and then disappear without
user intervention.

EXIT: Causes Sprite Maker to do an orderly exit.

LOAD: Loads a previously saved sprite. ( The only sprites
included in this archive which can be loaded are the
icon sprites listed in the file list.) When this icon
is clicked, you will be prompted to enter a file name
in the message window. any path/file name may be given
as long as it is less than 25 chars long terminated by
a CR.

SAVE: Save the current sprite to a file. ( A sprite must be
defined first.) You will be prompted for a file name
in the message window. Any path/file name may be given
which is less than 25 chars terminated by CR.

CREATE: This option is used to begin a new editing session.
when this icon is clicked, an X/Y scale is displayed in
the edit window, along with two rectangles in the sprite
window. These rectangles represent the size of the new
sprite. Use the mouse to adjust the rectangles to the
size of the sprite you wish to create. The scale in the
edit window is in pixels. Once you have the rectangle
equal to the sprite size, click the right button to
create that size sprite. This must be done to create a new
sprite. If a sprite is already current, you will be
asked if you want to destroy the current sprite.

FILL: This option will fill a bounded area with the selected
color. The boundaries can be of different colors. Once
clicked, you will be prompted to click in the area which
you wish to fill, once clicked, the function will replace
all pixels with the same color as the one clicked within a
bounded area.

FLIP: This will flip the sprite upsidedown.

FLOP: Flops the sprite over (mirror image)

ROTATE: Rotates the sprite 90 degrees counterclockwise.

CIRCLE: Will draw a circle. you are prompted to click on the
center point and then the outter point which determines
the radius. Sprite Maker will then draw a circle
of that radius.

LINE: Draws a line between two points. You are prompted to
click on a start point, then a stop point. Sprite Maker
then draws a line between the two points.

BORDER: Outlines the sprite. Border fills the pixels surrounding
the borders of the sprite with the chosen color.

RECT: Draws a rectangle given two opposite corners of the
rectangle. You are prompted to click on the first
corner then the second.



CHOOSING A COLOR:

To choose drawing colors, simply move the mouse to the color
you wish to use and click any mouse button. Notice the "selected
color" block to the right of the palette change to the newly selected
color. This verifys that the new color has been selected.


EDITING A SPRITE:

Once you have defined the sprite by either loading a previously
saved sprite, or by creating a new one using CREATE, you can draw
by choosing a color then moving the mouse to the edit window and
press the left mouse button. Pixels will be drawn with the selected
color at the current mouse position/s. Hold the button down to draw
continuously, or press then release the button to plot a pixel.

While you are editing the sprite, the mouse is bounded to within
the bounderies of the sprite. To exit from this area simply press the
right mouse button and Sprite Maker will put you into the palette.
If you just want to choose another color and go back to editing,
put the mouse on the desired color, and hit the left button. If you
wish to quit editng, press the right button.

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