Pale (build ::VERSION:: ::DATE::)

System Requirements

• RISC OS 3.5 or above
• 1MB of free RAM
• Shared C Library version 5.45 or above
• CallASWI 0.01 or above (unless you are running RISC OS 3.7 or above)

Getting started

Main SpriteFile window

When you double-click on a supported sprite, two windows should open: The preview window and the palette editor window.

Preview window

Palette editor window

The preview window gives you a zoomable view of the sprite you clicked on. You can also draw on the sprite with Select, and pick the colour under the mouse pointer. with Adjust. As you move the mouse over the image, the info text in the palette editor will update with the pixel coordinates and the palette index of the pixel under the pointer.

The palette editor window has five components:

1. The palette
2. The tool buttons
3. The RGB boxes
4. The info text
5. The sprite list pane

Click with Select in the palette area to select a colour; click with Adjust to select a region of colours. You can also drag the selected entries, both to a location within the current palette window or to a different palette window. The action performed when dragging is dependent upon which tool is currently selected.

As the pointer moves over each palette entry, you will also see that the pixels of the sprite which use that palette entry will become highlighted. The info text will also update with the entry number and RGB values.

The four tool buttons are as follows:

	Sprite link When enabled, this causes palette entry moving and swapping to also update the pixels of the sprite, so that the sprite will stay looking the same despite the changes being made to the palette.
	Gradient To use the gradient tool, first select a single palette entry. Then click the Gradient button. Then click a second palette entry. A colour gradient will then be created between the two entries, by mixing together the colours of the two entries you selected.
	Copy This causes palette entry drags to result in the entries being copied instead of moved.
	Swap This causes palette entry drags to swap the entries at the destination with those at the source.

Note that when dragging entries to a different palette editor window, copying is the action performed. Also note that selecting both Copy and Swap at the same time will have undefined effects. If neither Copy or Swap are selected, the palette entries will be moved when they are dragged.

The RGB boxes underneath the palette entries can be used to edit the red, green and blue values of the currently selected palette entry.

The sprite list pane

When you double-click a sprite, by default all sprites which have an identical palette will be listed in the sprite list pane. If you edit a palette entry in the editor, that change will be mirrored in all the palettes of the attached sprites. Sprite link will affect all the sprites in the list as well.

You can remove sprites from the edit list by selecting them, clicking Menu over the pane, and selecting 'Remove'. You can also open viewers for the sprites, either by double-clicking the entry or via the menu. Sprites can be added back into the list by dragging them from the main sprite file window.

Note that if you add a sprite which has a different palette to the one shown in the editor, the sprite will continue to use its own, unique palette. Moving and swapping entries will work without changing the palette to the one shown in the editor; however copying entries, editing their RGB values, or using the gradient tool will result in the affected palette entries being overwritten with those values shown in the editor window. So although it is possible to edit differing palettes using the same editor, it may not always work how you expect or want it to.

Note that currently it's also possible to open multiple editors for the same set of sprites/palettes; but editing sprites in this way is not recommended as there are no clear rules laid out for how the tools should work, or any guarantees that all the preview windows will update properly.

Files

Pale also supports loading of partial palette files (i.e. ones where only a few entries are defined). It can also load palettes which have flashing colours defined; however the editing tools do not currently support editing of flashing colours and so the information may be lost during editing.

Palettes can also be saved from the editor window menu.

Bugs

The source code

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