Dov's KiSS Utilities This is a small collection of simple DOS utilities which I wrote and use for making KiSS sets. You may find them useful but they only work as DOS command-line programs. Included are.... GIF2CEL - A GIF-to-CEL conversion utility CEL2GIF - A CEL-to-GIF conversion utility CELMIN - CEL offset minimizer CELOFF - CEL offset incrementer KCFMERGE - Merge two KCFs to form a new KCF (for multi-palette sets) More detailed descriptions of these utilities follow in this document. Disclaimer: I have tried to test this program a great deal during the creation of my past KiSS dolls but there may still be problems I don't know about. Use these programs at your own risk. I disclaim any responsibility for any problems you may have as the result of using these programs. I've been using these for years now so I think they're pretty reliable though. --------------------------------------------------------- GIF2CEL A GIF-to-CEL conversion utility Copyright 1996 Dov Sherman GIF2CEL is a very simple DOS command-line utility for the creation of KiSS .CEL files from .GIF images. To use this program, you should either place GIF2CEL.EXE in the same directory as your GIF and CEL images or somewhere in your PATH as defined by AUTOEXEC.BAT. If you don't know how to put something into your PATH, just put this file into your GIF and CEL directory; messing around with your PATH can really mess things up if you aren't familiar with the operation. Syntax: GIF2CEL [] [/t] The first parameter is a GIF image. The CEL that is created will have the same name as the GIF image. For example, if you use a GIF named "hat.gif", you will get a CEL named "hat.cel". GIF2CEL hat.gif - hat.cel and hat.kcf created The second parameter is a palette KCF filename. This is the KCF file which will be created based on the colors in your GIF file. This parameter is optional. If you don't supply a KCF filename, GIF2CEL will make a KCF file with the same name as the GIF file. In the previous example, you'd wind up with a KCF file named "hat.kcf". If your GIF file is 16 color, the KCF will have 16 colors. If you GIF is 256 color, the KCF will have 256 colors. If your GIF has some number of colors other than 16 or 256, it will make a messed up KCF file. I'd fix this but I lost all my source code in a hard drive crash. Just make sure your GIF is 16 or 256 color only. The KCF will always use 24-bit color. GIF2CEL hat.gif basic.kcf - hat.cel and basic.kcf created The third parameter is the "Don't Trim" option. Put a "/t" at the end of the command to indicate that you don't want the CEL to be trimmed. When GIF2CEL looks at the GIF, if trims off all the extra empty space around the edges of the image, storing only the smallest rectangle of image that actually contains the image. However, if you use the "/t", it will make sure the CEL knows how much was trimmed from the upper-left and uses that as the offset for the CEL. This is useful when creating CELs for multi-level objects. GIF2CEL hat.gif basic.kcf /t - hat.cel and basic.kcf created hat.cel not trimmed --------------------------------------------------------- CEL2GIF A CEL-to-GIF conversion utility Copyright 1999 Dov Sherman CEL2GIF is a simple DOS command-line utility to create GIF images from CELs. This can be handy if you lose your source images and need to recreate them from the CELs you have. Syntax: CEL2GIF This will create a GIF image with the same basename as the CEL. You MUST give the name of a KCF file so that CEL2GIF will know what colors to use in the GIF image. If the CEL has a non-zero offset, the new GIF will have some extra blank space in the upper-left to match the offset. Example: CEL2GIF hat.cel basic.kcf - hat.gif would be created using colors from the first color group in basic.kcf --------------------------------------------------------- CELMIN CEL offset minimizer Copyright 1997 Dov Sherman This DOS command-line utility is best used for working with a group of CELs which are all part of the same object. It's purpose is to minimize the offsets of all the cels while still keeping them in the correct relative positions to one another. Syntax: CELMIN [ ...] Here's an example: Suppose you are drawing a hat and this hat has three levels (the front of the brim HATFRONT.CEL, the bowl of the hat HATBOWL.CEL, and the back of the brim HATBACK.CEL). Suppose that, in your source images you drew this hat in the middle of a large empty space and then converted the images to CELs. If you use PCX2CEL or GIF2CEL or something similar with "trimming" turned off, the three parts would be in the correct relative positions but they would also have a really high offset value which keeps them from approaching the upper-left edge of the screen in KiSS. If you type: CELMIN HATFRONT.CEL HATBOWL.CEL HATBACK.CEL CELMIN would look at each of the files, compare their offsets, and then shrink those offsets to be as small as possible while still keeping each piece in the right relative position. You can list as many CELs as the command-line will allow. You can also use wildcard filenames. Examples of valid commands: CELMIN HATFRONT.CEL HATB*.CEL CELMIN HAT*.CEL CELMIN NOSE.CEL EYE*.CEL MOUTH.CEL EAR*.CEL --------------------------------------------------------- CELOFF CEL offset incrementer Copyright 1997 Dov Sherman This DOS command-line utility is extremely simple in its function. It accepts a list of CELs and then increases the offset of each CEL by a set amount. This can be useful if you have a group of CELs which are all part of the same object and have the right offsets relative to each other but for which you want to increase the offsets uniformly. I use it when I want an object to stay away from the left side of the screen for some reason, but you may find other uses. Syntax: CELOFF [ ...] X and Y are the horizontal and vertical increments. Valid examples might be: CELOFF 10 100 HAT*.CEL - takes all cels matching HAT*.CEL and increases their offsets by 10 to the right and 100 down CELOFF 50 0 NOSE.CEL EYE*.CEL - takes all cels matching NOSE.CEL and EYE*.CEL increases their offsets by 50 down You can list as many CELs as the command-line will allow. You can also use wildcard filenames. Examples of valid commands: --------------------------------------------------------- KCFMERGE Merge two KCFs to form a new KCF (for multi-palette sets) Copyright 1999 Dov Sherman If you've seen some of the older KiSS sets which make use of the little multi-palette buttons and want to know how to do that in your dolls, this is the utility you need. (You can also do this with some of the other utilities but this one is good for DOS junkies and very simple.) Here's the way it works. Suppose you're doing a KiSS set where you want the little palette buttons to change the haircolor. First you draw your source images with blonde hair. Then make the CELs and a KCF file called BLONDE.KCF. Now go back and change the palette in your source image so that the colors that were blonde are now brunette. (It's important to understand that you're changing the *palette*, not just selecting different colors from the existing palette.) Then make a KCF file called BRUNETTE.KCF. The new CEL will be identical to the old one but the new KCF will have different colors from the old one. Now you use this utility to combine BLONDE.KCF and BRUNETTE.KCF to create HAIR.KCF and use it in your KiSS set. Then, when someone clicks on different palettes in the set, the haircolor will change from blonde to brunette. The new KCF file will have the first KCF colors first, followed by the second KCF colors. Syntax: KCFMERGE Example: KCFMERGE BLONDE.KCF BRUNETTE.KCF HAIR.KCF - Takes the colors from BLONDE.KCF and BRUNETTE.KCF and makes a new HAIR.KCF KCFMERGE HAIR.KCF RED.KCF HAIR.KCF - Assuming HAIR.KCF is the one we just made, it will add RED.KCF colors to the end of HAIR.KCF so that it contains blonde, brunette, and red colors ---------------------------------------------------------