How to create an animated sprite from a GIF :


- Tools I use :

  - Gif Construction Set Professional
    Alchemy Mindworks Inc.
    http://www.mindworkshop.com/alchemy/alchemy.html

  - IrfanView        OR        ACDSee
    Irfan Skiljan              ACD Systems, Ltd.
    http://www.irfanview.com   http://www.acdsystems.com
      other image converters from GIF to JPG will do as
      well but this is the one I use

  - Infinity Textures
    Tobias Reichert
    http://www.i-tex.de
      You can try to do the same things using other
      image and photo manipulating software.

  - Paint and Notepad
    Microsoft Corp.
    MS-Windows contents
      Actually I use an old text editor fron 1986 for the
      RWX - VI is a good choice too but NotePad can be used ;)



- Open the animated GIF with "Gif Construction Set"

  - In the 'Block' menu choose 'Reconstruct'
    Some GIFs are compressed and show only the
    changing parts of a picture. This operation
    undoes this optimization.

  - Activate the reconstructed image strip

  - In the 'Block' menu choose 'Resize'
    This opens a dialog box. Select the resize mode
    'By size' and enter the maximum of 'Width' and
    'Depth' into the field with the lower number
    and confirm the resizing.
    Image strips in AW have to be square, you can
    skip this step if the image is already square.

  - Hilite all images of the now square GIF

  - In the 'Block' menu choose 'Image Strip'
    This opens a dialog box. Switch to 'Vertical Strip'
    and confirm.

  - Save the resulting strip to a new GIF file

- Convert the vertical GIF strip to JPG. Use high
  quality because JPG compression artifacts can make the
  mask creation very hard.

  I use "I-Tex", "IrfanView" or "ACDSee" for this step:
  You can 'Convert' from the context menu of the ACDSee
  list view (right-click the file) or use 'Save as' if
  you see the image in the full size view.
  IrfanView and I-Tex both have 'Save As'.
  Compression settings can be choosen in the 'Options'
  dialog - 90% is a good choice.

- To create the mask, open the JPG file using a image
  manipulating software.

  "I-Tex" does a nice job, all operations you need can be
  found in the 'Color' branch of the 'Utilities' section :

  - You will need to experiment a while - so configure at
    least 16 'Undo' steps ('Memory and Files' section).

  - If the image is on a white background 'invert-all'
    colors of the image.

  - Now use the functions 'Brightness-Increase',
    'Contrast-More' and 'Special-Swallow Dark' to make the
    image look Black&White. This is an experimental work,
    you will need each function more than once - and off
    course the 'Undo' (Ctrl+Z).
    Be careful not to swallow details, these will not show
    although they can be seen in the colored strip!
    Hint : Some pictures might need the 'Flood fill-Solid'
           if they have dark contents.

  - Save the result as 'Bitmap'. Usually the mask has the
    same name as the strip with a trailing '!' or 'm'.

- To convert the BMP mask to Black&White open it with
  "Paint" and save it as 'Monochrome'.

  You will find masks with 256 or more colors but this uses
  more space than necessary and is not guaranteed to work!


- Use NotePad to create a text file that looks like this :

  ModelBegin
   ClumpBegin
    AxisAlignment ZOrientY
    Vertex -.0W 0 0 UV 0 1
    Vertex  .0W 0 0 UV 1 1
    Vertex  .0W .0H 0 UV 1 0
    Vertex -.0W .0H 0 UV 0 0
    TextureModes null
    Texture ABC mask ABC!
    Quad 1 2 3 4
   ClumpEnd
  ModelEnd

  In the 'Vertex' lines
  - Replace the W with the width (in pixels) of the original(!)
    GIF you used to create the strips.
  - Replace the H with twice the height of the original GIF

  In the 'Texture' line
  - Replace the ABC with the name you have choosen for your
    JPG strip file
  - Replace the ABC! with the name you have choosen for your
    BMP mask file

  If you don't want a "Facer" replace the 3rd line (the alignment)
  by the following line :
    AddMaterialMode Double