ScenePainter
From YPPedia
ScenePainter is a tool for browsing through resources based on the Nenya library provided by Three Rings. Since Puzzle Pirates is based on Nenya, you can use ScenePainter for creating scenes like Yohoho Tools, but you may also add Pirates, Familiars and Pets. A client must be installed, but not running while using ScenePainter.
With version 2.2 beta testing has ended.
The program can be downloaded at: http://www.home.unix-ag.org/patrick/index.php?scenepainter
Current version is 2.3.
Since 2.1 significant changes were made. Scenes created with older version cannot be used anymore.
Since 2.3 some more changes were made. Older versions of SP cannot open files created with the new version.
Contents |
Installing ScenePainter
ScenePainter (SP) is written in Java and requires a working JRE. Installation just means extracting the downloaded ZIP archive. After extraction following files and folders are present:
- tools - folder containing plugins
- scenepainter.jar - application in java archive
- README.html - further information
Starting ScenePainter
SP will ask for the location of Puzzle Pirates or any other Nenya game. The path will be stored in windows registry for later runs.
Depending on your operating system a JAR can be started in different ways. Assuming a correctly installed JRE, type
java -jar scenepainter.jar
in a console window after changing to the directory, where SP was downloaded. The path to the desired resources may be added, then these will be loaded instead. The registry entry will be adjusted accordingly.
- Example
Assuming puzzle pirates resides in C:\Program files\Three Rings Design\Puzzle Pirates (default installation path)
java -jar scenepainter.jar "C:\Program files\Three Rings Design\Puzzle Pirates"
will use these resources directly.
Localization
Since 2.2 SP offers different languages. Depending on the language set in the JRE all menus and messages are displayed in that language. SP currently supports German and English. If the language isn't available in SP english is used instead.
ScenePainter can be extended to more languages. Please contact the author.
SP can be run in a certain language explicitly using the option
-Duser.language=xx
following
java
where xx is replaced with the ISO country code.
-Duser.language=de --> German -Duser.language=en --> English
- Example
SP should be run in German.
java -Duser.language=de -jar scenepainter.jar
Using ScenePainter
ScenePainter is mainly controlled with the mouse, but there are also keyboard shortcuts.
Mouse
- Left Button click: Select elements, drag and drop elements
- Right Button click: Delete element
- Wheel scroll: move active layer up/down
Keyboard
- Alt-E: Open/Close scene elements dialog
- Alt-Q: Quit ScenePainter
- Alt-S: Open/Close scene properties dialog
- Alt-W: Open/Close project properties dialog
User Interface
With version 2.0 the user interface was completely redesigned. The main window is generally empty and contains all dialogs and the scene. All windows can be placed anywhere inside the main window.
There is a help page for every dialog. It can be accessed inside SP by pressing F1.
Scene element dialog
The scene element dialog contains everything, that can be placed in the scene. It consists of four parts tabbed into one dialog.
- Composites
Composites are scene elements built from one or more component. For example pirates or their faces visible during fights. But also pets, ships and sea monsters. All desired elements are chosen from the library tree. To select multiple parts hold the CTRL key while clicking.
In a similar fashion these parts are colored. Choose the component in the combo box and apply a color from the "colors" tab. If the component tells SP which colors are valid, only these colors are displayed. Else all available colors are displayed.
ATTENTION: Not every color will alter the appearance of a component. Vice versa colors may be applied to components for which they are not intended.
Below the component tree are controls for more settings. The first is for the Action. Pirates for example may walk, stand, cross arms, cheer etc. Ships may sail or sink. If the chosen action does not apply to the composite a warning sign (red circle with a white bar) is displayed instead. In that case just select a different action.
The next control selects the orientation and the last box selects a frame of the animation. There is an inconsistency in the library causing the sinking animations to start from a different frame than 1.
more details in see also
- Tiles
Tiles are single scene elements. For example walls, floors and furniture. Tiles are selected and colored like composites. The slider selects the view. That can be different aspects, but also different parts (e.g. stairs)
- Images
SP is able to import PNG Images. For example exported scenes from the Yohoho Tools or screen shots taken from the game. There are additional ingame graphics like swords, commodities or even flags (which are not used in the game). Imported images can be colored and are accessible throughout the whole project.
ScenePainter is not a full graphic editor. If only parts of images should be used, the image has to be cropped with a different tool.
- Text
SP renders Text as standalone elements. There are different option for text like text color, background color or border color. Colors must be noted in hex decimal notation. #000000 is Black, #FFFFFF is White.
more details in see also
Project properties dialog
In this dialog project properties can be set and scenes be loaded. Only property of the scene is its size in pixels. Should a scene be saved and exported as PNG the resulting image will have this dimensions, if no clipping area is set.
All available scenes, i.e. all scenes created and saved in this project, can be loaded by a simple click on the name. For finding scenes and images see Folder structure.
Scene properties dialog
This dialog offers layer control, layer operations and visual aids.
Layer control manages the arrangement of layers. Think of layers as a stack of transparent sheets. Every element is on its own sheet. Sheets on top hide sheets or parts below. In this model it is not possible that the same element hides and is hidden by the same element. But since Nenya uses the same model the library has to offer a work around. For example the crow's nest consists of two parts: Mast with back nest and the front part. A pirate is put between these parts. Layers can be rearranged in this dialog, but also with the mouse wheel.
Layer manipulation moves elements. Origin is the upper left corner of the scene. Elements can be made transparent. Enter a value between 100 and 0.
SP offers some visual aids like a grid for spacing. Enter the dimensions of the grid and if elements should snap to it. The grid can be displayed below the last layer or on top of all layers. To see easily which element is selected a box can be drawn around it. The two boxes set the colors of grid and background. Colors must be noted in hex.
Tools
With 2.2 a plugin system is introduced. It allows the use of self developed tools. Only the 'basic' tools provided with SP directly are shown here.
detailed article: ScenePainter/Tools
- Pipette
The Pipette allows evaluation of the color of single pixels. The dialog shows the zoomed portion of the scene around the cursor. The HEX values of the pixel targeted by the crosshair and its position in the scene are shown in numerical values. By pressing the ALT key, the crosshair can be locked in its current position unti the key is pressed again. This allows using the mouse without losing the chosen pixel.
With the color picker also provided in this dialog the values of a certain color can be retrieved. By default the color picker is set to the color of the currently selected pixel.
- Coloring
Coloring allows the creation of custom color definitions. In the tree the required branch is selected. A new ID and a name for the list are assigned. Last thing is the base color. The tool transforms the values, so the color can be used properly.
If one or more color definitions were added, it is recommended to restart SP to apply the changes. Predefined definitions cannot be overwritten.
To delete a custom color colordefs.xml needs to be edited directly. After that SP should also be restarted. see Folder structure
- Translocator
The scene can be resized with Translocator. Exisiting elements are kept. Enter the new width and height. Additionally the offset for the existing elements may be specified, e.g. to keep the elements centered.
- Finder
Finder lists all existing resources alphabetically. The list can be filtered and only ressources matching the provided string somewhere caseinsensitive are shown.
Folder structure
On first startup SP creates a subfolder projects meant to contain a subfolder for every saved project. default always exists, since it is the start project for SP. Inside every project folder there are the following subfolders:
- importedgfx - PNG images imported into SP
- renderedscenes - scenes also exported as PNG
- sceneelements - saved sceneelements as XML files
- scenes - saved scenes as XML files
- nenyarsrc - colordefs.xml with custom color schemes.
- nenyrsrc - unknown
Scenes and elements can be copied and moved between different projects. Just copy the appropriate XML file into the same folder of the other project. The same way files may be shared between users. The project or SP should be restarted after an addition.
ATTENTION: Editing XML files directly may cause damage to projects, scenes and elements.
Troubleshooting
ScenePainter won't start, because it can't find the folder with ressources
- Puzzle Pirates will be installed in this folder by default:
C:\Program files\Three Rings Design\Puzzle Pirates
- If PP was installed into a different location search for
getdown.txt
- This file resides in the root of the installation directory of PP. If there are several installations there will be more hits.
ScenePainter does not accept the provided folder
For some reason ScenePainter does not find the expected folders. If the search for getdown.txt returned several hits try a different folder.
If the problem persists, SP can be unzipped into the installation folder of PP as a last resort.
See also
- Support thread on PP board
- German article: ScenePainter
