Hi Whit,
>I do have another question, though. Suppose I wind up layering text
>and such in another program. First, does Vassal require .bmp images
>(that's what I want to use anyway)?;
I do not believe you can use .bmp images in VASSAL, and you would not want to
anyway. .bmp images are uncompressed and result in files many, many times
larger than identical images saved in the .png file format. If you are using
256 colors, you can also use .gif.
However, there is absolutely nothing wrong with developing and maintaining your
artwork as .bmp images, and then converting them at the last moment to .png
files. This is how I work with original artwork supplied from a game developer.
After cutting up the counter sheers with 'SplitImage', I end up with a bunch
of, say, 188x188 pixel .bmp counter images and create a batch script using the
'ImageMagick' package to resize and reformat the images.
I love imagemagick:
convert counter.bmp convert.png
converts a counter from .bmp format to .png
convert .\Orig\fin-7f.bmp -shave 2x2 +repage -resize 75x75 -raise 2x2 +dither
-colors 96 -strip .\Small\fin-7f-a.png
converts from .bmp to .png, first removing the outer 2 pixels of the counter,
then resizing it to 75x75 pixels, then creating a 2 pixel 3-D raised border,
turning off dithering, reducing the number of colors from 16 million to 96 and
removing any comments and unneeded information.
Halfway through a project, I need to change all my counters from 65x65 to
75x75, I just edit my DOS script, change the size, rerun it and copy all the
new images into my module in 1 go. 10 minutes work and it's done.
>second, once I save the layers in
>the graphics program, Vassal cannot activate them, can it? What I
>mean is that, for ex. the Blitzkrieg mod conveniently allows one to
>change the text w/ a right click. (This helps w/ substitute counters
>in that particular game.) It seems that to allow such an option, one
>must use the default text editing features within Vassal. The idea
>that I had for the counters is an up-tempo graphics scheme w/ much
>easier to read counters that "jump" a bit. I guess, without knowing
>more, that I'll just have to supply a ton of individual counters
>through cloning, or soemthing.
One way or another, you need to create a base image for each counter. You can
use an external editor, or use the Game Piece Image Definitions facilitity
within VASSAL.
Then, you will have a variety of text and images to layer over the top. You can
do Text with a 'Text Label' trait, images again, will probably need to be done
as an external layer.
I am just finishing a module now for a game that has two complete counter sets,
'Standard' and 'Alternate'. Each counter can optionally have a reduced 'Step'
side. I have a button on the toolbar that flips all counters between the
standard image and the alternate image. I have one .png image for each side for
counter for each counter set (i.e. 4 complete images for each counter). Each
counter is separately defined with 2 'Layer' traits - one with 2 images for the
Standard size, which is permanently activated. The second Layer trait is for
the Alternate counter set and is Activated by a key command on the counter.
> (I.e., one won't be able to amend them on the fly during a game.)
There are a couple of ways to do this:
1. Use Text Labels
2. Use Dynamic Properties (with text labels to displa the property values).
These allow you to change the text that is displayed on counters during a game.
Cheers,
Brent.
>That is just one issue I've got--I've thought of a thousand more but
>will wait until I can put up or shut up about those.
>
>Thanks so much,
>
>Whit
____________________________________________________________
Brent Easton
Analyst/Programmer
University of Western Sydney
Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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