The picture above is one of two possible control panel layouts, governed by the
Preferences dialog box.
The other is arranged like this, but has identical functionality.
This group of controls manipulates the currently-select cel.
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This is the name of the currently selected cel (the last cel clicked in the main doll window). Alternatively, a cel can be selected by using the menu button immediately to the right.
Clicking this menu button will bring up a menu of all the cels in the doll. Clicking one of them will make that cel the selected cel.
NB It is quite likely that the same cel name will appear several times in the menu; this is because there is one entry in the menu for each cel line in the cnf file, and the same cel file may have multiple entries (eg with different palettes, or in different objects or sets so the fix attribute is not common). In such a case, make sure you select the correct cel before altering it.
Clicking on this button will invoke an OLE (Object Linking and Embedding) edit session for the current cel (as a sprite). However, to the best of my knowledge there is no application available that provides an OLE server for sprite files, so the editing will be done by Paint with the aid of the OLE_Support module.
When the sprite file is saved, it is immediately converted into a temporary cel file and reloaded. The original cel file will not be overwritten until you select any of the "OK" buttons ("Save" is not necessary). The temporary file will have exactly the same name as the original, but will have the extension ".ce_" rather than ".cel".
As Paint is not a true OLE server, occasionally there may be slightly odd behaviour. For example, any outstanding OLE sessions are closed down when you change to Play mode, but the sprite window will not be closed. Any further saves will be ignored, and the resulting work file (in <Wimp$ScrapDir>.OLEFiles) will not be deleted when MakeKISS exits.
This shows the offset (from the top left of the object) for the cel, and only applies to KISS/GS2 cels and later. Clicking the adjuster arrows can be used to modify these offsets.
The use of the right and down adjuster arrows may expand the area of the image window required to display the entire cel. If the "Auto-Resize Image" preferences item is enabled, this will be performed automatically, otherwise the cel may be shifted partially off-image.
If the offsets display and buttons are greyed it means that the cel is a KISS/GS1 cel; the current version of MakeKISS cannot automatically convert such cels into KISS/GS2 format. To convert such files, export the cel and then re-import it.
NB The adjuster arrows are set up to shift the cel in the direction of the arrow; this means that clicking the up arrow /reduces/ the offset. If the left and/or up arrows are greyed, the cel cannot be shifted further (negative offsets are not allowed).
Normally the cel offset (from the parent object position) is stored within the cel file; hence, if a doll uses multiple copies of the same cel, they all have the same offset. However, the latest revision to the KISS specification allows the cel offsets to be overridden as part of the cel definition line; this override affects only a single instance of the cel. If the Override toggle button is on, adjustments to the cel offset (see above) will use this override mechanism, and hence will apply to a single cel. If the Override button is off, adjustments to the cel offset will update the offsets stored in the cel file, and hence will affect all instances of the cel (other than those that have override offsets).
NB: This only works in the very latest viewers.
The order of cel entries in the cnf file defines the order in which the cels are drawn (and hence which cels are on top of which). The up and down adjuster arrows can be used to change the draw order.
Normally, the cel set mask buttons (see below) apply to individual cels. However, if this option button is ticked, the buttons apply to all the cels in the current object.
Cels may appear in some or all KISS sets, and this is reflected in the row of small buttons - if a cel is in a particular set, the button is depressed. The set mask can be altered simply by clicking on the buttons.
NB If all the buttons are deselected, the cel will not be present in any set, and will thereafter not be selectable except with the cel menu. If the cnf file is saved with such a cel, the cel will not appear in the file.
This option button is used to mark the cel as unmapped at doll start, rather than requiring an "unmap" FKISS action to hide it.
NB: This only works in the very latest viewers.
This option button is used to mark the cel as a ghost at doll start, rather than requiring a "ghost" FKISS action to desensitize it.
NB: This only works in the very latest viewers.
This field shows the original (start) transparency of the cel, before it is modified by any FKISS commands. It can be altered either by the adjuster arrows, or by typing directly into the field.
This shows the palette that is currently associated with the cel. This can be changed by using the menu button immediately to the right.
Clicking on this button will produce a list of all the palettes currently loaded. Selecting an entry from the list will change the palette of the current cel to that selected.
Clicking on this button will open the palette editor window.
This writable field shows the comment associated with the current cel. It serves no purpose other than to make editing the doll simpler.
This group of controls applies to the object that includes the currently-selected cel.
This is the "mark" of the currently selected cel, which is equivalent to it's object identifier. The cel can be moved to another object by using the menu button immediately to the right.
Clicking this button will display a menu of all the objects in the current set (ID and comment, if any), plus "<New Object>" & "<None>".
Selecting any of the existing objects will move the cel to that object (which may cause an image resize).
Selecting "<None>" will disconnect the cel from any objects, and it will no longer be displayed in any set. Thereafter, the only way to select that cel will be to use the cel menu, and if the cnf file is saved the cel will not be present.
Selecting "<New Object>" will create a new object, with a position of (0,0) and move the cel to that object.
The Object position display will be continually updated as the cel is dragged around the screen with the mouse. Irrespective of the "Constrain to Image" preference, MakeKISS will not allow an object to be dragged off-image in Build mode. If you wish to do this (which may generate an image resize, depending on your preferences).
Clicking this button will copy the current position of the object to all sets in which the object appears.
MakeKISS is capable of generating a block of object comments at the start of the cnf file. Due to the mechanism used, it is possible that editing a doll built outside MakeKISS will have garbage in this field. Any comments written in the field, however, will be saved thereafter.
MakeKISS treats the fix attribute of a cel as if were an attribute of the cel's object. This is to avoid the (not uncommon) problem of different cels in the same object having different fix attributes. It is not clear from KISS/GS whether selecting a cel with a fix of 0 in the same object as a cel with a fix of 1000 should allow the object to be dragged. MakeKISS (in common with PlayKISS and most other doll viewers) assumes that the object is fixed until the largest fix attribute for any of its cels is overcome.
This group of controls perform high-level actions that may affect the entire doll.
MakeKISS supports a limited "Undo" facility; when you change from Build mode to Play mode (or vice versa), all object positions, offsets, cel order etc, are reset to their starting values, discarding any changes made.
These buttons are used to override this behaviour, and can be regarded as mechanism to confirm any outstanding changes; changes to Play mode will thereafter reset the doll details to their state at the time of the last "OK Obj", "OK Set" or "OK All".
The "OK Obj" button confirms only those changes that apply to the currently selected object; the "OK Set" button confirms only changes local to the currently displayed set, while "OK All" confirms all outstanding changes. For example, assume you have changed some object positions while displaying set 1, then changed to set 6 and altered some more positions. Clicking "OK Set" while displaying set 6 will confirm the changes made to set 6, but will leave the changes to set 1 unconfirmed. "OK All" will confirm the changes made to both sets 1 and 6. If you had changed back to set 1 before clicking "OK Set" would confirm set 1 changes and not set 6.
NB Some changes are regarded by MakeKISS as global, rather than local to a specific set; global changes are confirmed by any of the "OK" buttons. The rules are quite complicated, but go something like this:
Trust me, it's not as complicated as it sounds, and it shouldn't take long to get used to it.
This button discards any outstanding changes, and resets the doll to the way it would look immediately upon opening if the cnf file were saved.
This button will bring up a standard "Save As" dialog box with a sprite icon and two radio buttons, labelled "Cel" and "Palette". The "Cel" button will be selected. Clicking the "Palette" button will change the icon to a Palette file, and will unfade a further control which will allow you to choose which palette group you wish to save. The sprite or palette icon can be dragged to any filer window as per normal RISCOS file saving.
If the "Cel" button is selected, the currently selected cel will be exported, complete with its palette (using the currently selected palette group).
If the "Palette" button is selected, the palette associated with the current cel will be exported, but you will be able to specify the palette group to export explicitly.
This function is exactly the same as that provided by the "Export" menu entry in the control panel's menu.
Clicking this button will bring up a normal RISCOS Save As window. Clicking "OK" will write the cnf file back to its original location, or you can drag the text file icon to any other filer window. NB Only changes confirmed with "OK This"/"OK All" are saved, which is why the Save button is faded until one of the confirmation buttons is clicked. NNB If you have confirmed any changes to cel offsets, these are executed at the same time as the cnf file is saved, but the updated cel files are always written back to their original location.
This entry leads to a dialog box where both the size of the image and the border colour can be set.
The controls on this dialog box perform the following functions:
NB Unlike earlier versions, the latest versions of PlayKISS and MakeKISS do not use the border colour as the background colour - indeed, border colour is not used at all, and the Border control is provided simply for other players. The background colour is always colour zero in the first palette.
This entry allows you to create a new object at coordinates (0,0) containing a duplicate of the current cel. Once created, the duplicated cel can be edited to give it a new palette or set mask, etc.
During doll loading, MakeKISS builds a menu of all the cel and palette files in the directory containing the doll that are not referred to in the cnf file.
Selecting one of the files from this submenu will immediately load it into memory (and if it is a cel file, a new object will be created for it).
This provides exactly the same function as the "Export" button on the control panel.
This entry simply renumbers all the created objects from 1.
It's just for tidiness, not for any real useful purpose.
In Build mode, the "ghost" FKISS function can be inconvenient, as it will prevent the user from selecting cels for editing. This menu item allows the user to disable ghosting when necessary. If "Enforce ghosts" is ticked, ghosted cels are not selectable; if disabled, the ghost effect is ignored, so cels can be selected as if they were not ghosts.
This will open the Cels and groups window.
Hints are a mechanism that enable doll artists to minimize the effects of differences between players and user configurations. When a doll includes a hint, any equivalent configuration item will be overridden. This menu item will open a dialog box to allow the doll hints to be edited, added or deleted.
Each of the currently defined "hints", has a pair of controls, a toggle bar to enable the hint and one to hold the value of the hint.