Images and Attachments

This article details the formula used when creating image files and attachments for brained-creatures.

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The sprite and attachment files for a creature are named using a formula which describes the body part, gender, stage of life and variant. The table below shows the values:

LXYZ . extension
L: Body Part	X: Gender	Y: Stage of Life	Z: Variant	.extension: s16, c16 or ATT

Body Part	Gender	Stage of Life	Norn Variants
A: Head	0: Male Norn	0: Baby	A: Bruin
B: Body	1: Male Grendel	1: Child	B: Bengal
C: Left thigh	2: Male Ettin	2: Adolescent	C: Civet
D: Left shin	3: Male Geat	3: Youth
E: Left foot	4: Female Norn	4: Adult
F: Right thigh	5: Female Grendel	5: Old
G: Right shin	6: Female Ettin	6: Senile
H: Right foot	7: Female Geat
I: Left humerus
J: Left radius
K: Right humerus
L: Right radius
M: Tail root
N: Tail tip

Sprite File Arrangement
Each sprite file for each body part needs to be arranged in a consistent order to allow the correct facial expressions, for example, to be displayed.

The ordering that is used can be summed up by describing it as having each body part arranged in the following order:
Face Left - 4 poses
Face Right - 4 poses
Face Front - 4 poses
Face Back - 4 poses.

But this doesn't describe the specifics of, for example, how the four poses for each direction are arranged - or mention how the head graphics use the previous ordering per facial expression. The easiest way to explain is to illustrate it, so each body part in the table above is linked to an example image showing the ordering of the parts of the sprite file. Click on the Body Part name for the image in a pop-up window.

Pose Genes
Pose Genes are made up of a 15 character string, the ordering of each element is as follows: Direction, Head, Body, Left Thigh, Left Shin, Left Foot, Right Thigh, Right Shin, Right Foot, Left Humerus, Left Radius, Right Humerus, Right Radius, Tail Root, Tail Tip.

The meaning of each pose gene element is explained below:

Direction - 0: Face away from screen
Direction - 1: Face out of screen
Direction - 2: Face right
Direction - 3: Face left
Direction: - ?: Face towards _IT_
Direction - !: Face away from _IT_
Head - ?: Look towards _IT_

For all Parts - 0, 1, 2, 3: Furthest down/back pose to furthest up/forward pose. Each body part has 4 degrees of rotation on it to the left and right, forward and backwards.

For all Parts - X: No change in part arrangement

The Seven Stages of Norn

Each creature has 7 life stages that they pass through, these are:

Stage of Life	Number
Baby	0
Child	1
Adolescent	2
Youth	3
Adult	4
Old	5
Senile	6

These numbers are used for sprite/attachment naming (as mentioned above), but also come into play during genome creation - switch on times, for example. Not all life stages need a graphical representation - and as shipped C3/DS does not use them all. Instead the creature will use graphics for the previous life stage, if it can not find ones specifically for the stage it is in now.

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Topic Keywords: creatures3 dockingstation fileformat genetics system