splatter

README

Splatter

Splatter is a very small, simple utility for assembling a single spritesheet from multiple PNG files. It does not attempt to do anything clever with layouts or producing the smallest possible file given the inputs - you will get a row per input file, with the dimensions of the output being the width of the widest input file, and the combined height of all inputs.

All inputs must be PNG and all outputs are PNG.

Usage

splatter -i input_directory -o output_directory -d def.json -m 8

splatter -input_dir input_directory -output_dir output_directory -definition def.json -margin 8

(Both are equivalent)

input_directory is the directory containing your source input files. output_directory is where you want to put the output files. def.json is a definition file, of which more details below. margin is the amount of vertical space to leave between rows, for input files which do not include this.

A mask (see below) can optionally be supplied with the -mask or -k parameter.

Definition file

A definition file is an array of rules for creating spritesheets. An example file looks like this:

[
  {
    "prefix": "sheet",
	"suffixes": [
		"32bpp",
		"indexed"
		],
    "mask": "mask.png"
  }
]

Or, for multiple sheets:

[
  {
    "prefixes": [
        "sheet1",
        "sheet2"
    ],
	"suffixes": [
		"32bpp",
		"indexed"
		],
    "mask": "mask.png"
  }
]

Each item has the following elements:

• prefix the start of an image filename. prefixes can alternatively be used as an array to process multiple files with the same settings.
• suffix the end of an image filename. This is useful for dealing with e.g. the output of GoRender which will produce files for _32bpp, _8bpp and _mask.
• mask (optional) a .PNG file to use as a mask. When compositing, only areas of the mask that are transparent will have pixel data from the input sprites written to them. This can also be globally supplied as a command line parameter, -k. The definition's mask takes precedence over the command line one.

All files which start prefix and end with the chosen suffix will be included (in alphabetical order) in the resulting spritesheet. This is useful to note when working with mask files, which add a constraint to the order in which sprites can be laid out.

Indexed vs. RGBA

Indexed inputs will result in an indexed output. RGBA inputs will result in an RGBA output. It's assumed that all files with a given suffix share the same colour depth and, if indexed, have the same palette. Results may be inconsistent, or the program may crash if this is not the case.