
Xspred v2.02 : Sprite editor


Copyright:
	Xspred is freeware. You can use it and redistribute in any way you
	want,but you shouldn't ask money for this.

	If you find it usefull, you can still send me a postacard, some
	nice sprites, a copy of something you've done with it, or anything
	you want ...

Requirements:
	Xspred needs a 386 computer with a VESA compatible card, or a SVGA
	card directly supported by the allegro library. It has never been
	tested with less than 8MB of RAM, but I think it should work with
	less RAM.

WARNING:
	When saving a datafile, only the palette and the bitmaps are saved.
	this means that if you loaded a datafile and then save it,
	EVERYTHING THAT IS NOT BITMAP OR PALETTE WILL BE LOST. This is
	especially true with the new format (v 2.2).

keys used by Xspred:
	ESC   :	Quit
	F1    : adapt the editor colors to the palette. usefull when you
		load a new palette
	F2    : toggle grid on/off
	F4    : swap the two "edit buffers" (try it, and you will probably
		understand)
	TAB   :	swap the two "edit buffers" until it is released. Usefull
		for editing animations.
	F5    : toggle 320x240 aspect on previews: Xspred was originally
		designed to edit 320x240 mode X sprites (Xspred means mode-X
		SPRite EDitor), and now that it uses SVGA, this option
		allow you to see how they would look in	this graphic mode.
	F6-F7-F8-F9-F10-F11 :
		change position of a "box" relative to the mouse. Usefull
		when you want to paste a box in a corner of the sprite.
	F12   :	refresh screen. Only usefull if you work under windows and you
		got garbage on your screen. (not very tested)

	+     :	select the next color in the palette (current_color++)
	-     : select the previous color in the palette

	Left SHIFT : allow you to select arreas of the sprite edited (for
		copy, cut, copy, outline, move, flip, filtering ...)


Things you may need to know: 

	You can select filled or non filled rectangles and circles by holding 
	down the button while on the icon. 

	The same way, you can select draw with a brush (the pen like icon) or 
	with a "box" (a part of the bitmap which has been cutted or copied)

	The strange icon above UNDO is the size of the pen when you draw.

	You can add ,remove or modify filters by editing the file filters.rc 
	the file format is self explanatory. If you don't understand it, have 
	a look at Lennart Steinke Homepage : 
		http://mars.adv-boeblingen.de/~steinke. That's where I found
	the filters I used.

	If you don't know the Datafile format, download allegro and have a
	look at it. you can find allegro at x2ftp:
		ftp://x2ftp.oulu.fi/pub/msdos/programming/djgpp2/allegxxx.zip
		where xxx is the version number (22 at the moment)

Features to add:
	First, fix some bugs and write a real doc
	Improve datafile support.
	Interpolate colors when stretching a sprite.
	Maybe add others drawing modes, like translucent drawing.


Thanks to:
	DJ Delorie 	: DJGPP is really a great compiler
	Shawn Hargreaves: I like very much his allegro graphic library
	Lennart Steinke : I found the filters used in Xspred on his web page
	Ove Kaaven      : He found and corrected a bug in the drawing of the
	                  grid

	And everybody else I have forgotten.


Misc:

Sorry about my english writting.


Antoine Requet
MDE-EMN, logement R409
5 allee Jean Baptiste Fourrier
44300 NANTES
FRANCE

requet@eleve.emn.fr
