Here it is - Empeg logo support in the Gimp!

It's pretty simple for now - bells and whistles depend on the level of other distractions.

This package will allow you to create, save and load Empeg boot logos, in a suitable format to send to the player with "upload logo.empg a000". It requires Gimp 1.2 and a suitable development environment (I use Debian "woody", other platforms may or may not work).

Also included: some examples, including a couple of completed boot logos composed of pictures of some of the Empeg team (shamelessly stolen from online photos - naughty!) including Tux, and the half-completed Gimp images from which they were built. It's more obvious if you just browse the examples/ directory. (If someone is willing to upload these to the boot-logo directory in my name, please go ahead)

I'd like to hear reports of whether anybody uses it, whether the install was painless, and any hints to improve the code or Makefile. Post them in this thread or by email to me < [email protected] >.

Sorry, no binary - it's over the BBS attachment size limit.


Here's the README:

Gimp-Empeg: Empeg logo handling for the Gimp.

This package will allow you to create, save and load Empeg boot logos.

INSTALLATION
============

Ensure you have a suitable development environment for Gimp 1.2. On
Debian systems, install libgimp1.2-dev, gcc, and your own choice of
editor. In order to actually use gimp-empeg, you'll also need the
Gimp itself, of course (Debian package gimp1.2).

Create a new directory and untar the archive into it. Edit the
Makefile as necessary; the user configurable option is $(install)
which determines the destination directory.

"make install" will build the binary and install it into the Gimp.


USAGE
=====

To create a new boot logo, use "Xtns/Script-Fu/Empeg/New Logo" menu
item. This creates an image with two layers, "home" and "car", with
the right size and colormap.

To load a boot logo, select "Empeg Logo" in the File Type choice when
loading. Alternatively, "Automatic" will work if the filename ends in
".empg" or ".empeg".

To save a boot logo, first ensure that the height, width, and colour
depth are suitable (128x32, max 4 colours). Then save in the normal
way, selecting "Empeg Logo" in the File Type choice, or selecting
"Automatic" if the filename ends in ".empg" or ".empeg". You will be
asked to specify whether the logo is for a Rio Car or Empeg Car player
(the boot logo determines the player's personality). If the image has
only one layer, it will be used for both AC (home) and DC (car) modes;
if it has two layers, one will be used for each. You can select which
is which by naming the layers "home" and "car".


EXAMPLES
========

The examples/ directory contains some example boot logos and useful
components.

Three files (empeg.xcf, tux.xcf and rio.xcf) provide layers from the
last frame of the animation before the boot logo appears. These are
useful in creating images where you want the background to change
behind the company logo.

To demonstrate the use of these layer files, I made the-gang-tux.empg
and the-gang-rio.empg using images of some Empeg employees. See the
corresponding XCF (Gimp native format) files to see how the images
were constructed from many layers.

To turn the multilayer greyscale image from the XCF file into an
Empeg boot logo, I first used "Merge Visible Layers" in the Layers
dialog, then changed the greyscale image to indexed, targeting the
"empeg" palette and with no dithering. This step must be done last,
because Gimp doesn't seem to support a full range of alpha with a
small palette.