A few things to know, for good or ill, about the first incarnation
(there may be more ... you have been warned ; ) of the GAFfer ...

I built it after trying to use the GAFmaker unsuccessfully, several
times. All I was ever able to accomplish with GAFmaker was extracting
component frames to bitmaps, and that's nothing I couldn't do with
screen captures from HPIView. (thanks again, Joe!)

Sooo ... I figured that while GAFmaker is probably capable of many
impressive things in the right hands, it was overpowered and over-
complicated for the purpose I wanted ... building GAFs to hold three-
frame Build menu pics, for new units.  I read through Joe D's file 
on GAF format, found myself abruptly really curious about graphics 
file formats in general, and decided to give it a try.

The result is GAFfer version 0.2, which cannot be all things to all 
people, but hopefully will serve a purpose (assisting third-party TA
unit development being my primary goal).  That being said ...

HOW TO USE THE GAFFER
======================================================================
1. Enter the unit name in the first edit box.  Like it says ... the 
   name you enter here has to match the unit name/object name in the 
   FBI file, or you'll get a grey square for the Build menu pic.  The
   GAFfer appends "_gadget.GAF" automatically.  I tried building a GAF
   without the "_gadget" in the filename, but I got the grey square.
   I renamed the GAF and re-packed the UFO, and it worked fine.

2. Select the three files that will go on the Build menu.  There are 
   three frames that compose a Build menu pic ... the first is its 
   normal picture;  the second is the highlighted version that flashes
   briefly when you click the button;  the third is the disabled pic.

   Now, there's a few restrictions, currently (keep in mind that this
   app was written over the course of one afternoon ; ) ...

   * GAFfer 0.2 can ONLY read 16, 256, or 24-bit BMP files.  No PCX, yet.
     It also can't read compressed RLE4 or RLE8 bitmaps.

   * The bitmaps MUST be 64 pixels high by 64 pixels wide.  Hopefully in 
     a future version I'll be able to do some of these things auto-
     magically, but for now just size 'em appropriately.

   * The frame preview only works if you use the Browse buttons to 
     select the pics.

3. Select whether or not to use compress the pixel data. Depending on the
   picture, this may decrease the overall GAF size dramatically or by very
   little.  I only added the compression recently, so I made it optional,
   but so far every GAF I've built with compression on has been identical
   to uncompressed versions, except for the file size.

4. Pick "Build GAF" from the File menu.  Tha's it.

A note on colors.  The GAFfer resolves all colors to the 256-color TA palette.
So ... you don't have to create your build pics with the TA palette, but be
aware that bizarre colors may not have a good equivalent.

One caveat ... GAFfer 0.2 can only put one entry per file, and it creates 
exactly three frames for that one entry.  That's because that's what it 
takes to make a build-menu pic for a unit, and that's the goal I had in 
mind when I started out.  Additionally, every new unit in the TACC CCDATA.CCX 
file has its own _GADGET.GAF file, so it might be necessary to do them 
separately now, anyway.

Tha's all for now,
good luck with it.
BSR 6/98
