QUAKE GRAFIXER V1.0, (c) 1996 by Jonas P. (joXonoX@berlin.snafu.de)
21. October 1996

WHAT IS THIS?
-------------

Freeware!

This should be a new star in the sky of QUAKE tools! :)
At least I would have jumped around in my room with happiness like crazy if
I had found somethin' like this in the web before.

I've seen a lot of custom graphics where the choose of colors could be nicer.
Especially when some pixels of a graphic are fullbright colors, it looks
shitty in darker areas of the game (I find). Or skins have single pixels of
the shirt and/or pants colors, then you see ugly dots with the color
depending on the color the player chose in mutiplayer.

With this tool you can take bitmaps and convert/remap the colors to the
QUAKE palette.

You can determine exactly which colors of the QUAKE palette are used in
your pictures.

It will convert the colors to the closest equal colors of the (defined colors
of the) QUAKE palette.

It's great to make new skins, textures and other quake graphics.

You also can adjust the brightness and switch/compare the view to the
original picture while fooling around with the palette.

It's written for DOS but works also under WIN95 (see WIN95 section).

GARANTY:
---------
This program is garanteed to work on my computer. I think it should work on
any other machine too (as long it is at least some 486). But, like any other
freeware progammer, I can NOT garantee anything. And I am not responsable for
anything that happens when you start this cool tool on your machine.
Enjoy anyway!


CREDITS:
--------
Robert Seidel   XGRAF V1.01 for PowerBASIC 3.xx (256 color mode) 
IDsoft          you know why


LANGUAGE:
---------
If enough people ask me for a german documentation I'll write one. :)


HOW TO START:
-------------
Make a directory called GRAFIXER (e.g. C:\GRAFIXER). Copy/unzip the 2 files
there (GRAFIXER.EXE and GRAFIXER.TXT). Now copy the BMP files you want to
convert in that directory and run GRAFIXER.EXE (type 'GRAFIXER' and <ENTER>).
GRAFIXER will detect all BMP files in that directory and tell you how many
has been found. You can also give filenames to GRAFIXER via the command line
(then it will NOT scan the directory for BMP's) like this:

  GRAFIXER PIC1.BMP PIC2.BMP

or with full path:

  GRAFIXER C:\BMP\QUAKE\PIC1.BMP C:\BMP\QUAKE\PIC2.BMP

You also can put GRAFIXER.EXE into your PATH (e.g. C:\DOS) or add your
GRAFIXER directory to the PATH (AUTOEXEC.BAT) and use it from any directory.

Now you are prompted to type in a directory name. Type in up to 8 chars (just
press ENTER to cancel). If the directory you typed in already exists then you
got 4 options:

  N   - type in another name
  D   - delete all files in that directory
  A   - add new files to that directory (keep what's in there)
  ESC - change of mind, cancel the programm, exit to wherever you came from

The directory will be created in the folder where you're currently in
(the dir you started GRAFIXER in).


EDIT SCREEN:
------------
After that is done you will see the edit screen. There you will see the
picture of your first BMP converted to the deafault color combination (all
colors exept fullbright). At the bottom there is the QUAKE palette split up
into 16 blocks. 4 blocks are special!

  One has a little "S". If it is used in the skin of the PLAYER.MDL it
  changes to the SHIRT color which is set with "COLOR" in the console.
  If it's used for textures or monsters etc. it will look like you see
  it here.

  One has a little "P". If it is used in the skin of the PLAYER.MDL it
  changes to the PANTS color which is set with "COLOR" in the console.
  If it's used for textures or monsters etc. it will look like you see
  it here.

  One has a little "F". These are fullbright colors used for fire and
  flames, they always have the same brightness, even in the darkest vault
  of the game.  (you still can change the brightness with GRAFIXER)

  In the rightmost block are miscellaneous fullbright colors. The red
  shades for example are used for the little red light on the weappon
  or the health packs or some switches etc. I will work on some code
  to apply them easily to your bitmaps

The number in the upper right is the brightness.


EDIT MODES:
-----------
There are two editing modes. You can toggle between them with the TAB-key.

'normal' edit mode (default):
You can move the 'block selector' with the left and right cursor keys. With
space you can toggle the use of the color at the selector for your new
bitmap. You'll see the changes instantly. You can move left and right and
set the colors with SPACE like you desire until you like what you see. The
colors that are used have a little white marker.

'combination' edit mode:
If you switch to this mode there will be only the color marked where the
selector is located and the bitmap will be shown made of only this color.
If you move left or right the color of the bitmap will switch to the color
at the selector. Now you can again add (mark) colors with SPACE but the
color at the selector will always be added to the marked ones. This is good
if you wanna try different combinations of colors. Select one color and move
left and right to see and optimize mixes of colors.

This is hard to explain for me, just try it out! If you don't understand
it at all, mail me.

The selector is dark grey in 'normal' mode and light grey in
'combination' mode.

The settings of the first mode will be remembered (if you switch to the
second mode and back). The second mode starts always with one color (the
color at the selector).

With <DEL> you can delete all markers.

I've added some presets which you can access via F5-F9. See the KEYS section
of this doc.


BRIGHTNESS:
-----------
With cursor up and down you can adjust the brightness. The numbers at the
top right of the screen show the brightness value (in %). Press '0' to reset
the brightness back to zero.


SAVE:
-----
Press 'S' to save a bitmap like you see it. You can save several versions of
one bitmap. The names will be ascending like this:

original:
PICTURE.BMP

quaked:
PICTUR_0.BMP
PICTUR_1.BMP
PICTUR_2.BMP

(_0 to _9, then _A to _Z and then to hell :)

The pics will be saved into the directory you specified at the beginning.


VIEW ORIGINAL BITMAP:
--------------------
Press 'O' to view the orginal (source) bitmap with it's orginal palette.
The orginal palette will be shown at the bottom as well. Press any key to
get back to edit mode.


WINDOWS95:
----------
If you use WINDOWS95 (maybe WIN3.x too) you can place a link to GRAFIXER.EXE
on the desktop (or anywhere) and "drag and drop" files onto it (even multiple
files). This is kinda comfortable, I find. (if you drag and drop to many
files at once you'll get a windows error message, select less files then)

You might want to check the "close after exit" option (don't know the exact
term in english win, mine is german) in the properties of the link. Also make
sure the 'working path' (or whatever it's called) is set right (should be
automatically when you drag it to drop the link). In my WIN95 the file
access is a little slower than under DOS. Dunno why. I will try to fix this,
meanwhile watch the asterisk (*) in the upper left corner of the screen.

The directory you define at the beginnig will be created in the same dir as
GRAFIXER.EXE is in (actually in the 'working path' directory in the
properties of the link).


MISCELLANEOUS:
--------------
There will appear a little asterisk (*) in the upper left corner of the
screen when work is in progress.

The more colors are marked the slower it gets (e.g. when changing
brightness), but I think it's fine for what it does...

Right now the bitmaps must be 8 bit/256 colors and not bigger than 320x200.
The program will tell you if they don't fit those restrictions though.
Im still working on this, if anybody wanna try larger bitmaps use the
-CRAZY option and tell me what the limit is right now :). The part that
doesn't fit on the screen will be clipped away (at least:). But you'll
probably get a error message.

I might create a little hompage in the web concerning GRAFIXER and other
QUAKE related tools. Mail me for more infos.

For ideas, criticism, complains, reporting bugs, say hello, sending me
cybercash, telling me where to get/sending me this cool thing GRAFIXER
helped you creating email to joXonoX@berlin.snafu.de instantly!


KEYS:
-----
F1         - Help

TAB        - toggle between 'normal' and 'combination' edit mode
             settings of 'normal' mode will be remembered
O          - view original bitmap (with original palette)
S          - save edited bitmap (save up to 36 versions, from '_0' to '_Z')
ENTER      - edit next bitmap (if there is more), else exit
ESC        - exit (nothing will be saved automatically)

             [PALETTE]
RightArrow - move palette selector to the right
LeftArrow  - move palette selector to the left
SPACE      - Include/exclude (select/deselect) color at palette selector
DEL        - delete all markers
F5         - preset: all colors exept fullbright colors (e.g. textures)
F6         - preset: all colors exept fullbright, shirt and pants colors
             (e.g. skins)
F7         - preset: only shirt color
F8         - preset: only pants color
F9         - preset: only fire fullbright color

             [BRIGHTNESS]
UpArrow    - increase brightness
DownArrow  - decrease brightness
0 (zero)   - reset brightness to zero



Planed for following releases:
------------------------------

- everything faster :)
- the feature you desire and I like
- being able to choose specific single colors
  from the miscellaneous fullbright colors
- when started without BMP's in the command
  line, all BMP's will be listet and
  choosable in a menu
- maybe support for other file formats (PCX)
- specify the destination directory in the
  command line
- increase the maximum size for images
  (still got some memory problems with this,
  question of time)
- make more messages to clarify what's going
  on (like telling which edit mode is selected)
- add a 'QUAKE Brightness' adjustment
  (also for single colors)
- add a full screen view
- I'll make a true windows version as soon as
  I'm able to
