<< Back to contents.

CharPad 2.8 User Manual - Subchrist Software, 2021.

The Character Set Form.

The Character Set form allows you to view and organize character images and also perform multi-image transformations.

Resizing the character set (quantity)...

To set the quantity of images in the character set, simply type a new quantity into the numeric entry box on the form's tool bar and hit ENTER.

nb. The minimum quantity is 1 and the maximum quantity is 500,000.

Selecting characters...

This version of CharPad allows you to specify two 'current' characters, a 'primary character', this is the one that also appears (for editing) in the Char Editor, you can use the LEFT mouse button to specify a primary character, it will appear highlighted and boxed by yellow vertical bars to indicate it's position in the set.

The primary character is the one that will be used as a brush when drawing on the map using the LEFT mouse button, or (if tiles are enabled) by the Char Brush tool when using the LEFT mouse button in the Tile Editor.

A 'secondary character' may be selected by using the RIGHT mouse button, it will appear boxed by red horizontal bars to indicate it's position in the set.

The secondary character will be used as a brush when drawing on the map using the RIGHT mouse button, or (if tiles are enabled) by the Char Brush tool when using the RIGHT mouse button in the Tile Editor.

To select a range of characters, use the LEFT mouse button to select a primary character, then hold down the SHIFT key and select another primary character, the selected range will appear highlighted.

Transformations...

The following transformations are available when this form is active...

• Scroll (up, down, left, right).

• Flip (left-to-right, top-to-bottom).

• Reflect (left-to-right, top-to-bottom).

• Negative.

• Colour swapping (for multi-colour images).

Other functions...

• Swapping - By selecting an image using the LEFT mouse button and then selecting a second image using the LEFT mouse button whilst holding down the CTRL key, the two image's positions in the set can be swapped.

• Cropping - With a range of images selected, the 'Crop' menu item will remove all images not included in the selection.

• Cycling - With a range of images selected, the 'Cycle Backwards' and 'Cycle Forwards' menu items will cycle (rotate) the selected image's positions in the set by one place.

nb. Char cycling does not perform correction on ie. map data, so the function can be used to produce an animation effect.