Instructions for Avatar File Generation

Worlds Chat uses a proprietary compression scheme to generate
our avatar image list files.  The file compression program is
provided on the disk, along with color palettes used in Worlds
Chat.  The program is COMPIMGB.EXE.  We have also provided a
batch file, COMPMOV.BAT, which will read in your image files
and produce the .MOV and .CMP files that can be read by
Worlds Chat.

To Begin:
Unzip the file COMPIMGB.ZIP in a new, empty, working directory.
Copy your image files into this directory when they're ready.

Images:
To make your own avatar, first generate from 1 to 8
image files in the MS Windows .BMP format.  If you want a
multifaceted avatar, the first file should be the front view,
and the subsequent images should be what you see as the avatar
rotates clockwise.  For a two-sided avatar, you will need just
a front and back images (180 degrees per image).  In general,
each image is visible over an angle of (360/n) degrees,
where n is the total number of images.  Suppose you want your
avatar to be named "phred"; name the first image PHRED1.BMP,
the second image PHRED2.BMP, etc.

Image Size:
For best results, we suggest that you make your images fit in 
a 200x200 pixel square.  While it's tempting to use higher
resolution (larger) images, it is very expensive at run-time in 
both memory costs and rendering costs.  As a result, Worlds
Chat may not perform satisfactorily if the avatar images are
too large.

Transparency:
COMPIMGB.EXE will use the upper left-hand pixel as the "transparency" 
color; if the whole background doesn't match this pixel color
exactly, the transparency won't turn out right.  The images should 
have a sharp boundary (no anti-aliasing on the edge) and a completely 
uniform background color.  Also, be sure to leave some extra transparency 
on the top of the image files (about 20% of the total height of the 
bitmaps) to provide rooms for the nametags in Worlds Chat.  The images 
should be centered left-to-right, and should extend to the bottom of 
the bitmap.

Image List File:
When you've finished preparing your .BMP files, make an ASCII
file that lists the image files in order, separated by a linefeed.
Following the example above, name this file PHRED.LST.

Running the Batch File:
You're ready to do it!  In our example, you would type

	COMPMOV PHRED

at the DOS prompt.  This will read in PHRED.LST and make an avatar
image list file named PHRED.MOV from the files listed within.  
In a second step, it will read in PHRED1.BMP and create an image
file PHRED.CMP.  The .MOV file should be around 20-40 kB in size, 
while the .CMP file should be about 5 kB.

Using Your New Files in Worlds Chat:
The trick is to simply substitute your new files for image files
that Worlds Chat would normally read in.  After backing up existing 
files in the C:/WORLDS/CHAT/AVATARS directory (say, ELVIS.MOV and 
ELVIS.CMP), copy your new files to this directory and rename them.  
Now, when Worlds Chat runs, it will read in your new files instead
of the king avatar originally provided with the program.

To sum up:
(1) create image files PHRED1.BMP, PHRED2.BMP, etc.
(2) create an ASCII file PHRED.LST that reads:
	PHRED1.BMP
	PHRED2.BMP
	.
	.
	.
(3) with everything in the same directory, type
	COMPMOV PHRED
(4) copy the new PHRED.MOV and PHRED.CMP to the
C:/WORLDS/CHAT/AVATARS directory, taking the place
of an existing avatar.
(5) run Worlds Chat!

WARNING:
Don't edit the color palette files COMMON.210 and COMMON.PA2,
these are required for your new avatar to match the color
palette of all of the other images in Worlds Chat.  COMPIMGB
will pick the best colors it can to match your source images.
A tip:  our palette is rich in grays, browns, blues and flesh
tones, and somewhat poor in brighter colors.