    

  MakeASprite is a program that makes it easy to save masked images 
  that can be used as sprites in Just BASIC programs.


  How to make a sprite

    First, open a bmp file by selecting "Open image".

    Then press "Save sprite" to mask the image and save it as a
    bitmap.

    Note: If a confirmation dialog mentions the number of colours used 
      in the bitmap and prompts to save the file in a different format, 
      it is save to reply "Yes". There will be no colour loss, and the 
      resulting bitmap will have the minimum possible disk size.


  Transparent colour.

    In the image to be masked, one colour has to be transparent.
    It means that this colour, usually the background of the image
    will not be visible in the sprite.

    By default, the transparent background colour is black. However,
    once you have opened an image, you can set any colour on it as
    transparent. To do so, left-click on the image preview (RGB values
    under the mouse pointer are displayed on the statusbar). In this
    case "custom" button in the "transparent colour" section becomes
    selected, and the line below it shows the selected colour.

    To set the transparent colour back to default (black), click on 
    the "black" radiobutton.

    Note: if you want to use black background and visible black areas
      on the sprite, you'll need to edit the black areas you want to
      show with a paint program so, that it won't be "perfect" black
      (e.g RGB values "1 1 1" instead of "0 0 0".


  Selection corners.

    MakeASprite lets you mask only a part of the original bitmap. This
    can be useful to remove any wide margins the sprite could other-
    wise have.

    Corners can be set, once a bitmap is loaded. To do so fill in the
    four textboxes: upper left x and y, and lower right x and y coordi-
    nates.

    To make it easier, the x and y coordinates are displayed on the
    statusbar, as you move the mouse pointer above the image preview.

    To apply the selection, press on the "Set corners" button. If 
    the corner points are applicable, a box will be drawn on the
    preview image, showing the area that will be masked as a sprite.

    You can adjust the corners many times before saving the sprite.

      Notes:

    - Once an image is loaded, the displayed coordinates correspond
      to the full image.

    - If lower right values are bigger than upper left values, they
      will be swapped automatically.

    - If the coordinates are invalid (zero width or height), pressing
      "Set corners" will revert to last good values.
    - If the selected corners are outside the original bitmap, they 
      will be adjusted to maximum size automatically. (This feature
      is meant for cutting parts out of the image and not making it 
      larger.) 
