   spr2gif converter, v2.2
 (c) 2001-2004 ABel [TeamX]
 ==========================

 0. BEFORE YOU START
---------------------
   Some of the images that can be produced by means of this program are
very violent (almost all of the files named Death*). If you are sensitive
person I recommend you not to watch this images.


 1. Purpose
------------
   This utility converts FT: BOS sprite files (*.spr) to GIF images.
The utility was tested on all sprites of both demo versions of the game and
also appeared to work fine with sprites of the game release (including patch
032301). Still it can contain some minor errors/bugs/features. If you find
some strange behaviour of the utility please e-mail to abel@krasu.ru or
return0@pisem.net. Any comments or suggestions are welcome.


 2. Main features
------------------
* Each sequence of a sprite is written in a separate animated GIF file.
* List files can be used, for example type
	dir /s/b *.spr >sprites.lst
	spr2gif @srites.lst
  to process all the SPRs in the current directory and below.
* Two modes of alpha-blending are used:
   1) binary transparency (-b=1 from cmd. line), and
   2) fake alpha transparency (-b=0 - by default).
* Color names in 'bgcolor' parameter are those used in HTML and
   JavaScript, so you do not have to remember all the color values -
   just type them (take a look at colors.cfg file).


 3. Program usage
------------------
   spr2gif <option>|<file[::sequence]>|<@listfile[::sequence]>
The parameters can be mixed. Each option applies only to the files listed after
the option. Available options and their description can be found in spr2gif.cfg
file.
   GIF images for every sprite are stored in separate subdirectory (in the
directory named as the sprite itself). For the sprite that is specified in the
command line, this subdirectory is placed in current working directory. For the
files enumerated in the listfile these subdirectories are created in the
directories where the sprites themselves are located.

   File can be specified just as filename, e.g. 'sdc.spr'. In this case all the
available sequences are extracted. To process only particular sequence you can
place its name after sprite name and double colon. Sequence name can contain
wildcard characters '*' and '?'. Wildcard matching is case insensitive.
   If filename parameter contains spaces, doublequote it.
      Examples of filename parameter:
         sdc.spr
         "Explosion BIG.spr"
         TwoHeadedBrahmin.spr::*t	extract 'StandFidget' and 'default'
					sequences of TwoHeadedBrahmin sprite.

   Sequence wildcard can also be added to listfile name. In this case only
matching sequences are extracted from listed files. For example
	spr2gif @sprs.lst::StandWalk
will extract all the 'Walk' movies from the files enumerated in 'sprs.lst'.


 4. Modes explained
--------------------
1) Binary transparency. In this mode each pixel can be either
  visible or transparent. The visibility is determined from
the alpha value of a pixel and the value of 'treshold' parameter.
When alpha<treshold, pixel is invisible. The less treshold parameter
is the more pixels are visible in the GIF image.
   Internally, transparent pixels are marked with the color specified
in 'bgcolor' parameter. But since GIF supports only up to 256 colors,
the color reduction should performed. So when using this mode set
bgcolor to some intensive, "acid" color, which is not used in the image
itself ('red' or 'yellow' work great, but if they not try some others),
otherwise the transparemcy will not be achieved.

2) Fake alpha transparency. In this mode the color of each pixel is
   calculated based on the pixel's color, background ('bgcolor'
parameter) and the alpha-value of the pixel. And then the color reduction
is applied to fit into 256-color palette.

   Fake alpha transparency is preferred, since the anti-aliasing works
in this mode and images look smooth (no sharp edges). Also the shadows look
too dark when binary mode is used.


 5. Credits and such
---------------------
   This utility is based on:
1. TGIFImage library version 2.2 by Anders Melander.
2. 'zlib' general purpose compression library version 1.1.2 by Jean-loup Gailly
     and Mark Adler, Pascal tranlastion by Jacques Nomssi Nzali.
3. Wildcard matching function from InstallShield v5.x Compression and
     Maintenance util by fOSSiL.

   The author is very grateful to Karl Burdack for useful comments on the ZAR
image format.

   Credits goes to  APTYP,  FriagoN  and  MaZaFAKa  for alpha- and beta-testing.
