Using the Gimp (w/help) to make LBMs

[VDS]

The Gimp is FREE at http://www.gimp.org/

For those of you who are cheap, like me, and want to make their own LBMs, you don't need Paint Shop Pro. You can load the "JASC_WINSP_PICPAL.pal" into the Gimp and go from there.

Find the file "JASC_WINSP_PICPAL.pal" in the WinSPMBT\Game Data\Design\Palettes folder and copy it to share\gimp\2.0\palettes in your gimp directory. Open the
"JASC_WINSP_PICPAL.pal" file you just moved with Wordpad, not notepad. The first three lines should read:

JASC-PAL
0100
256

Change these three lines (and these three lines only) to:

GIMP Palette
Name: WinSP
#

The name "WinSP" does not matter, you can change that to whatever you like, but keep everything else as is. Now save the file and change the extension to .gpl, so that it reads

"YOURNAME".GPL.

Fire up the Gimp. Edit/Resize your photo to the 160x80 greyscale format
1) save it as a .psd file
2) click Image-Mode-Indexed
3) Select Use Custom Palette and select the "YOURNAME.GPL" palette you converted and named earlier
4) Make sure the "Remove unused colors from final palette" box is NOT checked
5) Dithering Options should be Floyd-Steinberg(normal) with the "Enable dithering of transparency" box NOT checked
6) Click "OK" and save the file again.

Use a conversion program (like pictview, also free, http://www.pictview.com/) to convert the photo to the .lbm format.

[VDS]

There is a plugin for the Gimp that allows you to load/save the .lbm format. It can be found at -

http://registry.gimp.org/plugin?id=914

Unfortunately, it needs to be compiled into a windows executable file. Way beyond my skill level. If somebody out there can do this, or knows a bribeable person that can, it would make creating .lbms even easier.

[DRG]

Just FYI I use Paint Shop Pro for all the graphics in the game including LBM's and there may be older copies available on the 'net somewhere

Don

[VDS]

DRG said:

Just FYI I use Paint Shop Pro for all the graphics in the game including LBM's and there may be older copies available on the 'net somewhere

Don

Yeah, I wanted to make a few pics so I downloaded the latest version of PSP (11, I think) as a trial. It was great, but after 30 days I didn't feel like shelling out $50-70 for it. Even older versions still cost some $s.

Making pics with the Gimp is easy once you figure out how to load the WIN-SP palette. I thought I would post the info here in case other gamers wanted to make a few pics without shelling out $. The only problem is its a two step process since it doesn't read/write the lbm format.

Anyway, I posted the info about the plug-in on the off chance that somebody w/skills would see it and decide he/she had nothing better to do.

Unlikely, I know, but it doesn't hurt to try.

[Isometric]

I'm using Paint shop Pro version 8,there is no charge for it.*


*Looks like I was wrong,it's a 30 day trial.

Reduced charges for older versions maybe?

[DRG]

Isometric said:
I'm using Paint shop Pro version 8,there is no charge for it.

Where did you DL it from ? I started out with ver 5 and went to ver 7 then bought a copy of ( I think...) ver 9 and didn't like it so went back to 7 and am still using it for everything I do in the game and anything outside it. I have Corel as well but only use it for rotating images a few degrees as it does it better than PSP 7 does.

Don

[Isometric]

I got PSP version 8 from
http://www.oldversion.com

[DRG]

Interesting. Is that a 30 day evaluation copy or a full featured version ?

Edit

OK I see from the write up they are evaluation copies. I also checked the last copy I bought and it's ver 8 I didn't like not 9 and I also see from the comments on the webpage I wasn't alone. If you started with that version you probably didn't notice a difference but I found it awkward to use and went back to 7.04

Don