SpriteTracer v4.1

By Grim (neuropod@gmail.com) - http://spritedatabase.net

SpriteTracer is an app that can help automate the process of ripping video game sprites from screenshots. You need the .NET framework, and it's for Windows only.

This guide will walk you through the process of using the program to edit several screenshots into a single sprite animation as seen on a typical sprite sheet. This program is fairly complicated and really only useful for this one specific purpose, but it will save you a lot of time if you use it properly. As for the guide, I've done the best I could to explain everything - hopefully the pictures will help but if not, just try it out for yourself!

Loading a Source Image

The first thing SpriteTracer needs is a source image. The source is an image that will tell the program what colors to keep when editing screenshots. Basically it should just be a single sprite. To select a source image, you have a few options:

In this example, we'll just open one from a file. These images are included with the app download, so you can follow along if you want.



Notice how the source image now shows in the Source panel, and the color count is displayed as well. Most sprites should have 16 or fewer colors, including background.

Loading Target Images

Now we're ready to load some target images. The target is the image, or images, that will be edited by the program. In other words, unedited screenshots are your target images. Like the source, there are a few ways to load them in:

Again, we'll just open them from files this time. Remember, you can open multiple files at once, including AnimGet or ScreenGet screenshots. Handy!

All the target images are now loaded. You can switch between them with the list box on the right, and since the images are bigger than the panel area you can use the scrollbars to move them around.

Erasing the Background

This step is easy. All you have to do is click the Delete Background icon or use the shortcut key [Ctrl+X] and the program will take care of the rest.

As promised, every color not found in the source image has been deleted in the target images. This includes the character we're focusing on, and some other pixels that just happened to be the same color. But we can get rid of those in the next step.

Cropping the Screenshots

In order to cut down on excess space, we can crop our target images down to a more reasonable size. See for yourself how it works:

So what's happening here?

  1. First, we click the Set Area to Crop icon. At the top right of the window you will see the instruction "click the top-left cropping coordinates".

  2. Then, inside the target panel, we click in a spot to the upper left of the character. At this point, the instruction changes to "click the bottom-right cropping coordinates".

  3. Click in a spot over to the character's lower right. At this point, you will see a rectangle indicating the cropping area.

  4. You can scroll through all of your target images to make sure they fit safely inside the rectangle, as in the animation above. If any of them don't fit, simply click and start again.

  5. If you are satisfied with the rectangle you've chosen, you can now click the Crop Selected Area icon. This will crop all target images to just the area you've chosen. Again, in the animation above you can see that all five images have been cropped the same way.
    • Here's a time-saving hint: instead of clicking the icon, you can crop faster by holding the CTRL key during your second click. This will automatically crop all the images, but be careful - if your box is too small there's no going back.

You can crop your images more than once if necessary. Also note that you can actually crop images BEFORE erasing the background, and doing so will actually make the process a little faster. When you're done cropping, we can move onto the next step.

Also note that if you don't like the selection you made or you decided not to crop after all, you can cancel by clicking the icon again until it changes into the Cancel Selection icon; click that and the process will be cancelled and any selection you made previously will disappear.

Eliminating Empty Space

This part is super simple. Click the Eliminate Whitespace icon or use the shortcut key [Ctrl+W]. This process will get rid of all the extra space around each sprite. Basically, it does this:



To every target image. In other words, it gets rid of all the excess space around each individual image. Next comes the final step, where we will combine everything from the previous steps into a finished product.

Assemble the Sprites!

Here's where it all comes together. In this final step, we'll take the fully cropped, de-whitespaced images from the previous steps and combine them together.
Click the Combine Frames icon and bask in the glory. Following the above example, here's what the program will give us.

A final version of the animation, ready to add to your sprite sheet! Each frame is aligned along the bottom, and they are spaced at the default of 5 pixels apart. Both the alignment and the spacing can be changed, however.

To change the alignment, go to Settings in the menu bar and choose one of the three options.

To change the spacing, simply use the spacing box located to the upper right of the target panel.

Export Your Results

Now that we have a completed animation, there are a few ways to export them.

Creating a Source Image

If you don't have a source image to start with, you can actually create one inside SpriteTracer.
  1. In SpriteTracer, click Create New Source or use the keyboard shortcut [CTRL + N].

  2. A file open window will appear; browse to the image file you want to use to create the Source and click "Open". If you accidentally hit cancel or choose the wrong file, you can open a new one by clicking Open, or using the keyboard shortcut [CTRL+O].

  3. The selected image will appear in both the left and right panels of the Create Source Image window. The left panel will contain the original, while the right contains a preview of the changes you will be making. At first they will look the same.

  4. You can interact with the left panel in a few ways.

    • Click the Zoom In and Zoom Out button to change the image size, or use the keyboard shortcuts [CTRL +] and [CTRL -]. Note that you cannot zoom out smaller than the image's original size.

    • Click and drag with the mouse to pan the image back and forth. If you lose track of the image simply zoom in, then out, to reset its position.

    • You can also use the scrollbars built into the panel to look around the image.

  5. To begin selecting colors to use in the final Source image, hold the CTRL key and click the colors you want on the image in the left panel. When holding the CTRL key, your mouse cursor will change to a color dropper () and the color your mouse cursor is currently pointed at will appear in the toolbar. Without letting go of CTRL, click to add that color to the new source image. As you click additional colors, the right panel image will update to include only the colors you have picked. If you are having trouble selecting the right colors, use the Zoom In tool to get a better view.



    • If you make a mistake, you can undo by clicking the Undo button, or use the keyboard shortcut [CTRL+Z]. You can also redo; click the Redo button or use [CTRL+ALT+Z]. Note that if you use undo, then make new changes, you won't be able to redo what you undid.

    • Also note that as you click on more colors, the toolbar will show how many you have selected. This does not include the background color.

  6. When you are done, the right panel should only contain the sprite you will be using as the source. At this point you can save the image for future use - click Save or use [CTRL+S]. When you are done, click OK to return to the main SpriteTracer window, where the new source image will already be loaded. If you want to return to SpriteTracer without using the image you've created, click Cancel instead.

Other Features

Notes

Version History