French Kiss 2.2.0

http://www.komkon.org/~stiles/kiss/

* What is it?

French Kiss is graphics software that lets you work with graphics in a whole new way. Instead of viewing a static picture, you can decide what you like and create your own drag-and-drop, roll-your-own graphics! In a nutshell, you can dress up cute anime girls in a variety of scenes, which can even include sound and animation, and pick and choose what you enjoy.

* How do I use it?

To try out French Kiss for the first time, you'll need to have a French Kiss graphic to view. If you don't have any yet, you'll need to find one online-read ahead to find a link to Kiss pages on the Internet.

Once you've found a graphic online, use the Import command in the File menu. Most graphics online come in a compressed format, "lzh," which French Kiss can decode. After selecting the file, it will be decompressed, and you will be allowed to pick a file inside the folder to import. Choose one, and your computer will briefly convert it into a Macintosh file, which you can save and use in the future, bypassing all these conversion hassles.

Now, try exploring! Experiment by dragging items around-try some mix-and-matching. See what moves and what doesn't. (Try clicking more than once on stubborn objects-a few might be be convinced to move!) As you'll soon see, Kiss is a combination of electronic "Colorforms" and digital paper dolls.

If you're lucky, that's only half of the fun. Many Kiss images offer multiple pages (known as "sets"), which can contain different graphics setups and different items not available on the other screens. Examine a few sets to see if there are any differences between them. Also, another item of interest is the Palette menu. Although not all Kiss graphics take advantage of multiple palettes, some allow you to change the colors of the onscreen items to suit your preferences. The graphical interface of the Palette menu will allow you to quickly determine if the Kiss image supports multiple palettes. These options are also easy to choose via the floating toolbar.

You can save the changes you make to Kiss sets by using Save from the File menu. If you want to get the original set back, you should use Remove Changes from the Edit menu. To remove changes from all sets in the Kiss file, hold the option key while selecting Remove Changes, which will change to Remove All Changes.

If you want to save the current screen as a PICT resource, select Take Snapshot from the File menu. A picture of the current set is saved as an Adobe Photoshop file. (Coincidentally, you can also use the resultant file as a startup screen if you rename it to StartupScreen and put it in your System folder.)

* Okay, that was fun. What now?

If you're starting to enjoy French Kiss, and want to see some graphics, you're going to need to find some Kiss data! If you have access to the World Wide Web, try my French Kiss home page:

http://www.komkon.org/~stiles/kiss/

From there, you should find extra French Kiss data, links to other French Kiss archives, and plenty of other miscellanea, like information on building your own Kiss data (experts only!).

If you find a file with an extension of .lzh or .lha, it is a compressed archive. Choosing the Import option will extract the contents of the archive into a folder. A separate extraction program is not required.

Most Kiss data comes from other computer platforms that use a large amount of separate files, all stored together in one folder. If left in this format, this would use too much of your hard drive space, because even very small files are stored in a minumum several kilobytes, which wastes large amounts of disk space. Not only that, but having an entire folder dedicated to one Kiss file reeks of Windows to me, especially considering that the absence of one tiny file could prevent the entire Kiss from loading at all. To keep the file sizes in Kiss small, and to minimize the chance of problems, I have developed a Kiss file format for the Macintosh that will result in significantly less disk space consumed than the unconverted versions. To use a folder full of Kiss data that was taken from some other platform, like a Windows PC, you'll have to use Import from the file menu. If you want to give Kiss data to someone using another platform, use Export to change the files back to their original format. In fact, some exported KISS data will be smaller than the original set of files, because many of French Kiss' optimizations remain in the exported data.

* Hints and Keyboard Shortcuts

A few keyboard shortcuts are available for Kiss fans. The first, full-screen mode, is accessible by pressing the Return key. This mode expands the window to a full-screen view. For Kiss graphics even larger than the screen, the arrow keys allow you to navigate around the picture to view all of it.

The other key is a quick WindowShade toggle, to allow you to easily hide and show your graphic. Press the space bar to make your Kiss graphic roll up into a title bar, or to bring it back to full-screen. It's handy if you're playing with Kiss when you should be working, or you're in a computer lab... if someone walks by, just tap the space bar.

* So, what's this Advanced menu?

The Advanced options really are for budding hackers only. If you're intimidated by strange PC-like filenames, or don't want to know how French Kiss really works, stay out!

The Advanced menu will have a tendency to transmogrify itself from version to version as I decide on new items to add. For now, there are a few options.

Modify Cel allows you to go through a Kiss file's cels, one by one. You can view them, export or import their cel graphic as a PICT file (which allows basic KISS cel editing), or alter their lock value, palette group, or visibility within sets.

Modify Palette should allow you to edit the palette of the current Kiss file. Unfortunately, it's not complete yet. Currently, you can view the palette, but not edit it yet.

Move All Cels Within Border fixes sets with cels jumbled all over the edges of the window on import. This can happen if you're using a set designed only under Wkiss, which doesn't allow cels outside the window and automatically pushes them inside if they touch the edge. French Kiss, being more versatile, allows cels to partially extend outside the borders. Some lazy Kiss designers have stuck objects past the edge of the window, depending on Wkiss to force them back inside. This option simulates the Wkiss stuck-inside-the-border requirement.

Author's Comments lets you view the read-me files that were included with a Kiss file. Unfortunately, many Kiss files originated in Japan; the read-me files will be illegible without special decoding software. If you try to view a Japanese file, it will appear as random blocks, characters and shapes. If you can read Japanese, pick up Apple's Japanese Language Kit to read these files.

Freeze Changes allows you to permanently save any changes that you've made to a Kiss file. This is important if you've made modifications that cause the standard layout of a Kiss file to be unusable. It's also good for saving changes that you prefer to the default layout. Although similar to the Save command, it differs in one primary regard. The Save command can be undone via the Remove Changes command, while Freeze Changes is completely permanent and irreversible. Changes that have been Frozen will even be exported. Use it with caution!

* Acknowledgements

This list was taken from Ito Takayuki's list of frequently asked questions about Kiss, version 0.52. Special thanks go to:
* MIO.H (the original developer of Kiss)
* ITO Takayuki <yuki@is.s.u-tokyo.ac.jp>
* yav <UHD98984@pcvan.or.jp>
* Hitoshi Doi <doi@jrd.dec.com>
* Geir Friestad <geir-f@hsr.no>
* Mughi <mughi@netcom.com>
* Ken Stone <kens@webnet.com.au>
* Matthew E. Curley
...and all the people who participate in Kiss.

Personal thanks go to:
* Phil Stroffolino <phil@maya.com>... a great guy and a great programmer.
* Robbie Veith ... his ideas, comments, and help with the readme were invaluable, not to mention his innumerable hours spent beta-testing.
* Tyson Boucher <boucher@engr.orst.edu> ... his bug testing helped me track down many problems in the 680x0 version.
* Mark Lincoln <MarkLinc@aol.com> ... generally, good ideas all around from this guy.
* Jean-Michel Decombe <Xelph@aol.com> ... another big contributor who can always find one more bug. ;-)
* Yoshiaki Yav <UHD98984@pcvan.or.jp> ... he has provided me with over three hundred Kiss archives direct from Japan. He is one of the nicest people that I've ever encountered in my experiences over the Internet.
* Makoto Hanaguri <hanaguri@pop.da2.so-net.or.jp> ... provided me with the LHA extraction routines. Again, an extremely gracious and thoughtful person.
* Quinn <quinn@cs.uwa.edu.au> ... without his EatAU source code (in Pascal, unfortunately for me), French Kiss wouldn't have AU sound support.
* Craig A. Marciniak <TemplarDev@aol.com> ... his Balthazar project allowed WAV files to peacefully coexist with French Kiss.
* Hitoshi Ozawa <h_ozawa@bekkoame.or.jp> ... his critiques have kept my distribution policies in line. Thanks for keeping me up-to-date with legal issues!
* Dov Sherman <DS5877@conrad.appstate.edu> ... the new head of Kiss operations in North America. Also, author of the Big KISS Page, the definitive guide to Kiss on the Web.
* Joe Zobkiw ... his Scanning Module (published in Ultimate Mac Programming) has allowed French Kiss to save extra Kiss data like the author's comments, a widely desired feature.
* Tomoyoshi Murai ... the Japanese translator! He has singlehandedly translated every menu item, message and dialog box contained within French Kiss. (Ç+ÇËÇ(TM)ÇDÇ$Ç<=ÇYenÇcÇ<ÇSÅIThank you very much!)
* Everyone at comp.sys.mac.programmer.*.

Special thanks to all the graphic artists whose work is distributed with French Kiss:
* Dov Sherman <DS5877@conrad.appstate.edu> ... author of the Fkiss preliminary documentation, and artist of some great Kiss graphics as well!
* Sunami <GCA01210@niftyserve.or.jp> ... graciously provided me with permission to distribute his graphics with Kiss.
* Ken Stone <kens@webnet.com.au> ... a longtime Kiss fan who I've had the pleasure of dealing with.

* One last comment...

Please keep in mind that I did not develop any of the Kiss graphics that can be viewed with this software. Although I feel that the Kiss standard is lots of fun, some developers have used the 'drag-and-drop' concept for less than virtuous purposes. However, I feel that Kiss is a great system and should be explored. Remember, I am not responsible for the content of any Kiss files you might find!

Also, the Advanced menu should be used with caution. The Modify Cel option, by its very nature, requires the user to view each cel separately. If you don't want the advanced features, they can be disabled within ResEdit. Also, advanced users should check my French Kiss page for Cel Maker, a cel development application that allows Mac developers to design their own Kiss cels from scratch.

* Future

Fkiss support has finally been laid in place. If you've seen a few of these new types of files, you know how cool this new technology is. In a few months, many Fkiss graphics will be created-I can't wait! I can't really predict what will happen in the future with French Kiss. Perhaps more complex editing options will be the next step for me to take.

JOHN STILES E-MAIL:
8800 ST. CLOUD LN. jstiles@uclink4.berkeley.edu
BAKERSFIELD, CA 93311

WORLD WIDE WEB: http://www.komkon.org/~stiles/kiss/

This software is not in the public domain. You may freely copy and distribute this software, provided that you do not charge for it. This software MAY be included in any disk or CD-ROM library of public domain and shareware software sold by a NON-PROFIT organization WITH THE WRITTEN CONSENT OF THE AUTHOR. This software MAY NOT be included in any disk or CD-ROM library of software collection sold for profit, nor may it be bundled with any commercial software, hardware, books, or other media, without the prior written consent of the author. All magazines and publications such as MacFormat and CD-ROM Today must contact the author prior to publishing the software on any compilation CD. This software is not guaranteed in any area. Although I believe that this software will function without any problems, I will not be responsible for any damage caused by this program, for any reason, even if I have been informed of these problems. You bear all risks of using this program. If distributed, all included documentation and supplementary files must be included with this software.

Please don't write snail-mail and expect a reply. I really don't have enough time to write a formal reply to each person that sends me a snail-mail. However, if you send me something I enjoy or appreciate, you might get lucky. On the other hand, I try to respond to all e-mail I receive. Caveat emptor.

No riders under 4'0", or persons with heart conditions. You must be free from injury. Please keep your hands in the car at all times.


Original file name: French Kiss Read Me - converted on Wednesday, 22 September 1999, 18:44

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