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How to create your own sprites

The easiest way to create a new item is to modify an existing one.
Please note: Don't modify moove resources directly. Instead make a copy and add your designer abbreviation / tag / label to the name. Submit the label at shop search to check, if it is already in use by another designer. The following examples are always using "My". Please replace it with your own label. When you create your own shop, you will get package and distribution hints.
Please pay attention to Copyright, e.g. you may not use resources from other designers unless it is explicitly allowed.

Tools and documentation can be found in our Shop under Developer, in the Community menu section Designer and in moove Roomancer "Extras", "Developer Tools".

Sprites are often used, when 3D appearance isn't very important, but :Transparency is needed with pixel resolution. Roomancer uses sprites in the \moove\ART\SPR folder.

• Sprites are created from BMP pictures (:Windows Bitmap). These have to use 24 bits per pixel (24 bpp), e.g. one byte (= 8 bit) per pixel and :RGB value for Red, Green, Blue - value range: 0-255
• The width has to be a power of 2, e.g. 16, 32, 64, 128, 256 or 512 pixel.
• One color can be reserved for :transparency - default is :Cyan with RGB = (0, 255, 255).
  In this case the :graphics software should disable :Anti-Aliasing, to prevent smear effects at the edge to the transparency color. Otherwise you will see rests of the transparency color later on.
• Please open the Roomancer menu "Extras", "Developer Tools", "Sprite Manager" to import the BMP files.
• After clicking the Add button you can select the file.
• Importing a Single Sprite lets you enter the wished sprite name.
• Sprites can have the dimensions View and Phase. The Sprite Manager can show the related pictures.
  If there are several versions for View, the camera angle will later on decide, which of the pictures to show.
  Several phases can be used for animations.
• All the pictures for a sprite can be added with one step to make your work easier.
  The BMP files must have the following naming convention: NAME!view_nr!phase_nr.BMP
  Example: The files MySprite!0!0.BMP, MySprite!0!1.BMP, MySprite!0!2.BMP will create the sprite MySprite with three phases.
  The Add Mult button imports all pictures for one sprite at once. Please enter only the name, e.g. MySprite in this case.
• Actors are using sprites for throwing. The soul of the actor can contain something like m_SpritesThrow := "Rose"
  The following example is using the sprite "BAL" with three phases:
  m_SpritesThrow := "BAL"
  m_nSpriteThrowPhases := 3
• Gadgets are using sprites, too:
  The cactus will get a rose bloom when being used:
  FUNCTION FU_Cactus(Furniture, Actor, sParam)
  ...
  nSprite := SpriteAdd("ROSE", "ROSE")
  The caminett uses the fire sprite with several phases:
  FUNCTION FU_Chimney(Furniture, Actor, sParam)
  ...
  nSprite := SpriteAdd("Fire", "Fire")
• Related are transparent textures for gadgets, for instance the tree crown:
  FUNCTION FurnTree(nR,v,nS)
  ...
  __FurnSurf(__FurnTex("___Crown"), "Tree1_1", 1.5*nS, 2*nS, 1.5*nS,TRUE)
  The three starting underlines mark the transparent BMP Texture ___Crown.bmp in the \moove\ART\BMP folder.