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Welcome!
W3IR ReadMe v1.3.2 Contact BlackDoom by PM On THW or on WC3C Project Contact: w3ir_bd@yahoo.com |
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Welcome!
W3IR ReadMe v1.3.2 Contact BlackDoom by PM On THW or on WC3C Project Contact: w3ir_bd@yahoo.com |
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 Table of Contents
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Here you will find the main chapters this document covers, along with a brief description concerning the content of each chapter. |
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W3IR v1.3.2 ReadMe currently contains 10 chapters, at a document size of 225.335 bytes (220,05 KB).
01. Information concerning legal aspects, contact info & error reporting. 02. Information regarding reading this document. 03. First tutorial, covering the windows available in W3IR. 04. Second tutorial, on how to rename files included in a basic Icon package and how to manipulate and make use of the naming masks. 05. Third tutorial, on how to border an image, in order to obtain all the images required for a basic Icon package. 06. Information on how settings affect the output W3IR generates. 07. Here you will find the version history of this tool, along with info about the current version, known bugs and system requirements of W3IR. 08. In this chapter you will find some of the features next releases of W3IR will present. 09. This chapter contains the results of some tests I ran on W3IR on the current release. 10. This chapter features a small overview of W3IR, specifying the purpose of W3IR and other ideas I want to mention. Here you will find information concerning download-page and screenshots locations on the web. Please, when you read a section of this document, move your mouse cursor above the images inserted, in order to find the hint text. This text presents the specific subject treated in that section or subsection. Some images also have attached additional URLs. Links pointing to locations external to this document will launch a new window. Installation: Just extract the contents of the archive you downloaded from any of these locations.
Developped over 8 months, from o9/o7/2oo6 to o5/13/2oo7 in Borland Delphi 6 Personal. Licensed under GNU GPL Version 2, June 1991. Source code available on request, according to respective code section owner license.
All names of software solutions found in this document are registered trademarks and of their authors / owners. Color scheme taken from Argus theme by Daelin, based on his acknowledgement. |
 Chapter 1
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Warranty & License information. Complete license & Icon-posting rules directions. Contact info. |
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Warcraft 3 Image Renamer - Fast icon images name & border processing
© 2006 Octavian Cucuta a.k.a. BlackDoom"This tool took 5 days out of my lifespan. 2 days for the renaming algorithm and 3 days for figuring out how to make the packing algorithm work... :D :) o9/o7/2oo6 - o9/11/2oo6" The quoted text was written when version 1.0.1 was finalized... That makes over 8 months now...
If you do not take a few moments to read these lines, I am not liable for any damage you might suffer,
nor am I liable for any damaged caused even if you did fully read this document. 
This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License  License.txt for more details.
You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
You are allowed to send a request and receive a copy of the complete source code of this program. Warcraft3 Image Renamer was written and is developed in Delphi6 Personal. For requests, please see emailing details below.
The author cannot be held liable for any damage brought to your system by either direct or indirect use of this program. You are using it at your own risk.
You are not allowed to receive any financial revenue, directly or indirectly connected to the distribution/use/selling of results obtained while using this program. The only financial revenue you can receive must be according to the content of the license file, which you can read opening this file: License.txt.
Please, in order to limit / prevent potential data loss, please always make at least one backup copy of your files before processing them with this program! Such cases are not supposed to appear, but for your own comfort, please make a backup!
Please carefully read the rest of this chapter before sending your e-mail message!
Please, do so in order to send relevant information concerning your troubles with W3IR!
Please make sure that your subject respects the formats below:
 Technical Support / Bugs purpose:"TechSupport: Warcraft 3 Image Renamer - (Your name enclosed here)" - for  Suggestions purpose:"Suggestions: Warcraft 3 Image Renamer - (Your name enclosed here)" - for  Feedback purpose:"Feedback: Warcraft 3 Image Renamer - (Your name enclosed here)" - for  Source Code Requests purpose:"SC Request: Warcraft 3 Image Renamer - (Your name enclosed here)" Please, use the format above in order to have your message delivered to the appropriate message folder. E-mail messages analyzing order: TechSupport Suggestions Feedback SC RequestProject contact:  w3ir_bd@yahoo.comResponse delay (max): 2 weeks / 15 days. For messages related to W3IR not respecting the above described format, maximum delay is 1 month (30 days).
Do not send e-mails to my personal e-mail address.For this purpose you should use instead the e-mail address of the project. I will not reply to e-mails sent to my personal e-mail address concerning W3IR.
Do not e-mail me if your data got deleted.If this did happen, it means you did not fully read this document or that you continued with the process on your responsibility. Before any potential data-loss-hazard operation described in this document you will receive a WARNING message.
If you have troubles using W3IR, use this e-mail address after you have entirely read this document, the file(s) mentioned below and its comments:
If errors do occur, a report file containing all error messages can be saved for later viewing, if that specific error was handled by the routines of W3IR. Based on that information, you can manually remove the faulty temporary data from the temporary folders.
Errors caused by the bordering routines will either produce a warning or should simply result in no action being taken, if they were successfully handled by the routines of W3IR. There is only 1 case presenting a data-loss hazard, yet you will be prompted before the data removal is performed.
The temporary folders are created in the same folder where W3IR is located. Their naming convention:"prc_pk$yyyymmddhhnnss", where "yyyymmddhhnnss" represent (in that order) the digits of:
"mm" = Month "dd" = Day "hh" = Hours "nn" = Minutes and "ss" = Seconds.
A backup copy of the errors report will be spawned in the "Error Reports" folder, within the folder where the "W3IR.exe" file is located. The naming convention of the backup error report files is this: "yyyy.mm.dd hh-nn-ss.txt" (digits have the same significance as shown above).
When you have encountered a situation that lead to the creation of an Error Report in the "Error Reports" folder, please do not forget to attach them to your e-mail message.
Please include a description as comprehensive as possible regarding the circumstances of the invalid behaviour of W3IR.
In order to increase the chances of success of the bug-tracing process, please try to remember information such as (but not limited to):
- file extensions - what type of files were you working wiht (BMP, TGA, PSD, BLP, JPG etc.) - file formats - what image format the input files were possessing (24/32 bpp, (un)compressed BMP/TGA files, single/multi-layered PSD documents etc.) - file pathing - where were your input files stored and where were they going to be output - operating system - what OS you were using at that moment and what version - data amount - how many files were you trying to process with W3IR 
If any of the documents mentioned below this paragraph are missing from the folder where the program is located, the program will create them the first time when it will be run, on condition that "zip32.dll" exists in the same folder with W3IR or in a folder in the "PATH" variable of your operating system. IconRules.txt License.txt Info-ZIP_License.txt ZipContent.txt will not be respawned if not found in the location folder of W3IR.
Please note that the "ReadMe.htm" document and its dependencies cannot be spawned by W3IR!
Please read all the documents, as they contain important information regarding either usage information and warranty and directions regarding icon posting rules on the W3-related websites I am registered to. |
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Chapter 2
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Viewing note. Document browser-optimization info. |
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This document was created using one page of The HiveWorkshop saved on my PC then manually edited by myself.
While editing and tweaking the HTML and CSS code, these were the conditions I have used:
Browser #2: Internet Explorer 7.0.5730.11 Screen resolution: 1280x960 I hope that the PNG images I have used in this document will be shown correctly by your browser. Both Firefox and Internet Explorer (starting with the versions above specified) correctly shown the PNG files used by this document. |
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Chapter 3
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Tutorial #1: Windows available in W3IR. Information about W3IR windows and dialogs. | |||
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In this chapter, the elements of the windows available in the current version of W3IR are described. For most of them, you can find here whether they are or not available by default or under what conditions, what effect do they have and what other elements do they determine. Though it may not represent a tutorial by the book, it has this significance as it shows all the aspects that may interest you, in a very detailed manner. Note that you may have 2 windows of W3IR one next to the other, so you can easily Copy-Paste the suffixes from the bordering window to the main window.
Reading the rules (which I strongly recommend), one may conclude that the recolouring and Copy+Paste processes are not denied as techniques involved in the process of icon production. However, icons resulted by pure recolouring OR Copy+Paste processes are not allowed. In order to prevent this (or at least make it difficult), I have only implemented support for RGB scrambling on single BMP files. This way, you may inspect what color variations are feasible and show potential, but you may not mass-produce such icons. This type of icons could represent a starting point for an icon, but in no case the final icon. It is not my intention, the Author, to promote recolours. Though they are usable and, up to one given limit, they look great, keep in mind that, in fact, a purely recoloured icon is a stolen one. Read the IconRules.txt document! Please, read it and follow the most recent set of rules available online!
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Chapter 4
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Tutorial #2: Renaming files; manipulating and making use of the naming masks. | ||||||||
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Before proceeding to the actual renaming tutorial, let us explain some frequently used notions in this document. What is a suffix?
Concerning W3IR, a suffix is a user-defined string (array of characters) used for file recognition. I found as optimum the direct relationship between one distinct string (user defined) and each icon format (by Blizzard standards, e.g. a BTN image is one of the formats that an icon may have) so, in order to ensure a fair simplicity or the tool, I chose to implement the following algorithm based on that unique relationship.
Analyzing the way Blizzard named their icons in the original MPQs, one can reach the following conclusion: each icon format (that is, most of them) has a specific marker at the beginning of its name. Thus, a standard command button (or icon of an item) is called "BTN" at the beginning (e.g. BTNAcorn.blp). In order to maximize the amount of control a user can have over W3IR, the suffixes used by W3IR are user-defined. That is, you can specify your own set of strings, according to your tastes. W3IR analyzes the name of the input files (that you have specified) and decides, according to the suffixes you specified, how to rename the files. Example: The suffixes you have specified in the main window of W3IR are the following:
If there is an input file called "Ambush_0.bmp" in the input folder, W3IR will rename it to "BTNAmbush.bmp". If there is an input file called "Ambush_1.bmp" in the input folder, W3IR will rename it to "DISBTNAmbush.bmp". If there is an input file called "Ambush_2.bmp" in the input folder, W3IR will rename it to "PASBTNAmbush.bmp". If there is an input file called "Ambush_3.bmp" in the input folder, W3IR will rename it to "DISPASBTNAmbush.bmp". For instance, considering the above set of suffixes, if a files bears the "_0" marker, that file will not be renamed to "DISPASBTN". That, thanks to the unique relationship defined by you (the user of W3IR) in the main window of W3IR. This way, you can rename files based on your own set of suffixes. If you keep the same suffix set for multiple icons, the time needed to manually rename the files according to the rules of the site you are going to upload the icons to is reduced to a fraction. If, instead, you specify "_0" for, let's say, "BTN" and "PASBTN", W3IR will not be able to rename your files in a proper way. First of all, because this would mean that you only have 1 file (containing a single icon format) meant to be used for 2 distinct icon formats (as you cannot 2 files bearing identical full names - on Windows, extensions are a critical section of the name of a file, allowing shell file-type format registration). What is a naming convention or naming mask?
Concerning W3IR, mask is used in its technical meaning, that of an array of symbols used to determine a specific set of symbols contained in a set / array of symbols, based on a position-related significance. From the above definition, we will only use this part: "a cover, or partial cover, for the face", by "the face" one understanding "an object" => "a cover, or partial cover, for an object". In the real world, nearly every mask / helm has a set of orifices to allow the bearer to view and breathe. This is a position-related significance - if the orifices would be placed somewhere else, the bearer would be unabled to view and breathe. Following this exact relationship - looking for information in specific places - I have implemented a renaming algorithm based on naming masks. For instance, in the Internet, one could obtain some valuable information analyzing, let's say, an URL. w3ir_bd@yahoo.com is a good example: the mask is ID@PROVIDER.DOMAIN. Based on this mask, one can identify the ID as w3ir_bd, the PROVIDER as yahoo and the web-DOMAIN as com. This is the purpose of a mask, for us.
Analyzing the way Blizzard named their icons in the original MPQs, one can reach the following conclusion: each icon format (that is, most of them) has a specific marker at the beginning of its name. Thus, what matters most is how does the name of a file begins. Of course, the name of that icon (e.g. "Ambush") is critical related to the purpose of that file, but for submission, rules are set concerning the layout, not the purpose of the name of the uploaded resource. Please note that I am now analyzing the point of view of an automatic system, not the human perspective. "Ambush" has more relevance for a human being (user or moderator) rather than to the uploading system. In order to maximize the amount of control a user can have over W3IR, the naming mask used by W3IR is user-defined. That is, you can specify a naming mask of your choice, according to your tastes and needs. W3IR analyzes the name of the input files (that you have specified) and decides, according to the naming mask and suffixes you specified, how to extract the information from the names of the input files and, in the end, how to rename the files for output. Example: The suffixes you have specified in the main window of W3IR are, just like the other example above, the following:
Please, notice how the coloured strings below are kept in the final name. If there is an input file called "Ambush_0.bmp" in the input folder, W3IR will rename it to "BTNAmbush.bmp". If there is an input file called "Ambush_1.bmp" in the input folder, W3IR will rename it to "DISBTNAmbush.bmp". If there is an input file called "Ambush_2.bmp" in the input folder, W3IR will rename it to "PASBTNAmbush.bmp". If there is an input file called "Ambush_3.bmp" in the input folder, W3IR will rename it to "DISPASBTNAmbush.bmp". Notice that we can also apply the colour scheme of the input file names to the naming mask. Thus, this is what we obtain: "$$$$$$%%". On a closer inspection, you can see that the name of our icon is "Ambush". This name has a length of 6 characters. You can also see that the names of our input files have a set of 2 characters at the end of each input-file name - e.g. "_0". In order to make it clear to W3IR which characters contain the name of the icon that is currently processed and which characters contain the format of our icon, I had to set a rule concerning the characters you may use. Therefore, here are the characters you may use in a mask and what is their designed purpose (just as holes in a real mask are designed to allow the air to enter so one could breathe and to allow the light to enter so one could see):
How to obtain a mask, in a minimum time? Basically, you must copy the longest name from the names of the input files then replace the characters based on their meaning. Why? Here: Say you have "Ambush_0.bmp" and "Ambush_1234.bmp" in the input folder. You cannot use "$$$$$$%%" as naming mask as the other file would not be correctly analyzed. However, you can use this mask: "$$$$$$%%%%%". This is possible due to the way W3IR parses the input file names. W3IR will first ignore the extension of the analyzed file. The string obtained ("Ambush_0") will then be checked if having the same length as the naming mask (Length($$$$$$%%%%%) versus Length(Ambush_0) => 11 versus 8). If the naming mask exceeds the length of the analyzed string, W3IR completes it with temporary characters that will be removed later on. Then the suffix is extracted from the input string ("_0"). In the following step, W3IR extracts the icon name ("Ambush") and removes any discardable characters, as well as illegal characters. In the following step, W3IR matches the obtained suffix with those specified by you ("BTN") and computes the output name ("BTN" + "Ambush" + ".bmp"). If the generated suffix does not match any of the 4 suffixes specified in the main window, W3IR will issue you a notice (stored as an error message, for faster processing). If your files are distinct by characters occupying the same position as a "#" character in the naming mask string (thus sharing the icon name of each other), only the last files encountered having this icon name will be renamed; this way no files will be overwrote, thus protecting your work from being lost; you should however make sure this case does not occur, in order to prevent any unhandled errors or undesired dataloss from occurring. This is why you should always choose the longest name from a set of files with the same length in the name of the icon and having the same set of suffixes attached. What about the #? Say you have "My_New_Version_of_Ambush_0.bmp" and "My_New_Version_of_Ambush_1234.bmp" in the input folder. You cannot use "$$$$$$%%" as naming mask anymore, obviously. Renaming them - in this case it's feasible - would be too time-consuming (if you had 15 icons with 2-4 formats each). In this case, the best option is a new naming mask. How? Copy "My_New_Version_of_Ambush_1234.bmp" (the longest of the 2) and replace each character with the character having a proper meaning. We do not intend to use "My_New_Version_of_", so we'll replace it with the same number (18) of "#" => "##################". The rest of the naming mask, corresponding to what is left from the longest name ("Ambush_1234.bmp") will become "$$$$$$%%%%%" after we have discarded the extension. Concatenating the 2 strings will provide us a nice and efficient new naming mask -> "##################$$$$$$%%%%%". This new mask will ensure correct results both on "My_New_Version_of_Ambush_1234.bmp" and on "My_New_Version_of_Ambush_0.bmp". What if I have some unwanted characters stuck in the icon name? Well... Say you have "My_New_Version_of_XAmbXush_0X.bmp" and "My_New_Version_of_XAmbXush_1X2R3K4.bmp" in the input folder. You cannot use "##################$$$$$$%%%%%" as naming mask anymore, obviously why. Therefore, we'll make a new one. "Yeah?" you may say... "How?"... Just as we did before, that's how! Copy the longest name ("My_New_Version_of_XAmbXush_1X2R3K4.bmp") and discard the extension. Replace each character with the character having the meaning you need. W3IR is all about what you need. So you now have morphed "My_New_Version_of_XAmbXush_1X2R3K4" into "###################$$$#$$$%%#%#%#%". This is why W3IR is just as versatile as it is static (static by rules, versatile by effect). With a good naming mask, you can extract the information you need from nearly any file name. And if I have icons with different icon names? Consider this example: Let us say you have "NoExAmbush_0.bmp" and "JokeAmbush1_x3n.bmp". In the same folder you put "FreeTemper1@2.bmp" and "GetXTempera-2bc.bmp". You can use a single mask to process both sets of files, because "Ambush" and "Temper" have the same length (6) and they both use the same set of suffixes. Again, taking the longest input filename (""NoExAmbush1_x3n.bmp" or GetXTempera-2bc.bmp"), discarding the extension and replacing the characters with the proper ones, we obtain "####$$$$$$%%%%%". After W3IR will have finalized processing them, the output files will be named "BTNAmbush.bmp", "DISPASBTNAmbush.bmp", "DISBTNTemper.bmp" and "PASBTNTemper.bmp". More on input characters Consider the same set of suffixes. If you'd have "NoExAmbush_0.bmp", "JokeAmbush1_x3n.bmp", "FreeTorture1@2.bmp" and "GetXTorturea-2bc.bmp" in the input folder, you could not use "####$$$$$$%%%%%" to process them. That, because "Torture" has that "e" and is 7 characters long, over "Ambush", 6 characters long. Your choices now are these: either rename the "Ambush" files, or insert a new character that would be later ignored my W3IR and the output would still be "Ambush".
You must know that characters considered legal by W3IR are these: "A" to "Z", "a" to "z" and "0" to "9". Blizzard used mostly letters in the names of the original files. However, "!" can be clearly found in "BTNYouDirtyRat!.blp". It is your responsibility to check the rules of the site you intend to upload your work to, in order to learn what rules on file names they have (or not) specified. W3IR will replace any illegal character with "_" when processing the input file names. Later in the process, W3IR will remove any "_". Therefore, any illegal character you may insert in the names of your files will be removed. Back to our example. In order to allow the "Ambush" files to be processed along with the "Torture" files, without making a new mask, you can insert a "=" in their name, so they would have them same icon-name length as the other files (7). The position where you insert the "=" in the names of the "Ambush" files has no relevance to W3IR - that character will be discarded, as it is not legal. Thus, these are the potential new names: These new names have a length of 7, just as "Torture". Use any position to insert the "=". For this example, I'll consider you chose "Amb=ush" to rename your "Ambush" files. So, now you have "NoExAmb=ush_0.bmp", "JokeAmb=ush1_x3n.bmp", "FreeTorture1@2.bmp" and "GetXTorturea-2bc.bmp" in the input folder. The mask is produced using the same steps as before - copy the name, delete the extension (if you need to), replace the characters. This is the resulted mask: "####$$$$$$$%%%%%". Processing the 4 files with this mask, W3IR will output these names: "BTNAmbush.bmp", "DISPASBTNAmbush.bmp", "DISBTNTorture.bmp" and "PASBTNTorture.bmp". More on input characters My suggestion is that you store your files in different folders, in each folder having files with equal icon-name length (e.g.: Folder 1: "Torture", "Panther"; Folder 2: "Ambush", "Poison"), and all sharing the set of attached suffixes (e.g.: Folder 1: "Torture_0", "Panther_1"; Folder 2: "Ambush_2", "Poison_3"). When you will instruct W3IR to process these files, specify the input folder for each set and update the naming mask for each folder ("$$$$$$$%%" for "Torture", "$$$$$$%%" for "Ambush"). This will allow you to rename loads of files with a minimal effort. Also, to reduce the complexity of the masks, keep the names of your files simple and clean (icon-name, then suffix, without any other characters). Please note that you may use a void suffix, but you cannot specify 2 void suffixes. Yes, it is a bit tricky until you get the idea, but it will do the job just fine. If you want, try the examples I specified above on real files and see if they work. Post your results and suggestions on any thread of W3IR (see here). Renaming a set of files
Step 2: Select the output folder. Step 3: Select the type of the input images (  ).Step 4: Specify the naming mask corresponding to your input files (  ).Step 5: Type your set of distinct suffixes (e.g.: "_0" for "BTN" etc.). Step 6: You may choose other operations to be executed on the inout files, after they have been processed or operations to be executed on BLP files (it's recommended that you keep your original files for backup purpose). Step 7: Click the  button (may have the "Rename + Pack" text in certain conditions).If you have respected all the restrictions detailed in through Chapter 3 and Chapter 4, you should now be done with the renaming of your files! |
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Chapter 5
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Tutorial #3: Bordering images; standard icon formats; required icon formats. | ||||||||||||||
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Some quick Q&A relative to W3IR. What does bordering mean?
What does an icon represent?
The bordering feature of W3IR is particulary useful to icon designers and map creators, as it gives them the ability to create resources respecting Blizzard standards without the need of a major dedicated software solution, as Adobe Photoshop. Agreed, if you want to be a designer, you need a dedicated software solution for graphic editing, such as Adobe Photoshop, The GIMP, Corel Draw or Jasc PaintShop Pro. W3IR comes to supply you with the resources to automatically add a number of borders to your images, featuring specially designed routines for this task. Available border types in this version of W3IR
Bordering a set of input images
Bordering a set of 64x64 input images When working with 64x64 images, you may add them these borders: BTN, DISBTN, PASBTN, DISPASBTN or AutoCast. Why? Read here. This restriction was set as these borders have a visible area around 56x56 pixels (the BTN border), while the others have a visible area around 48x48 pixles. Step 1: Select the input folder. Step 2: Select the output folder. Step 3: Select the dimensions category of the input images (  ).Step 4: Select the type of the input images (  ).
If you chose PSD, also select an output format for the bordered files (  ).Also select a compression percentage for JPEG output, if you chose JPEG type for your PSD input files (  ).Step 5: Select the borders you want W3IR to add to your input files. Step 6: Type your set of distinct suffixes (e.g.: "_0" for "BTN" etc.). Step 7: You may choose to add a distinctive string marker to the end of the names of the output files (e.g.: concatenate "ByBlackDoom" at their end => "Ambush_0ByBlackDoom.bmp"). You may as well select to erase the original files after they have been bordered (it's recommended that you keep them for backup purpose). Step 8: Click the  button (should be enabled if you have correctly input all required data; more details here).Done with bordering of 64x64 images! Tip: after bordering, for an easier renaming, copy the suffixes from the bordering window to the main window (except the suffix of "AutoCast")! Bordering a set of 48x48 input images When working with 48x48 images, you may add them these borders: Upgrade or AttackType. Why? Read here. This restriction was set as these borders have a visible area around 48x48 pixles (the Upgrade border), while the others have a visible area around 56x56 pixels. Step 1: Select the input folder. Step 2: Select the output folder. Step 3: Select the dimensions category of the input images (  ).Step 4: Select the type of the input images ( ).
If you chose PSD, also select an output format for the bordered files ( ).Also select a compression percentage for JPEG output, if you chose JPEG type for your PSD input files ( ).Step 5: Select the borders you want W3IR to add to your input files. Step 6: Type your set of distinct suffixes (e.g.: "_5" for "Upgrade" etc.). Step 7: You may choose to add a distinctive string marker to the end of the names of the output files (e.g.: concatenate "ByBlackDoom" at their end => "Ambush_5ByBlackDoom.bmp"). You may as well select to erase the original files after they have been bordered (it's recommended that you keep them for backup purpose). Step 8: Click the button (should be enabled if you have correctly input all required data; more details here).Done with bordering of 48x48 images! |
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Chapter 6
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Combinations of settings and their effects. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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You have within the main window 3 checkboxes. Each one leads to a given effect, checked as well as unchecked. The effects vary according to the input and output folders. In some cases, you will be allowed to select both of them, in other cases you will only be allowed to select the input folder, depending on what options you choose (which checkboxes you check). Abbreviations
When ZP is unchecked, the result will be files of the type selected in the "Please select the target image type/extension" listbox. These are the operations while ZP is checked.
ZipPack only applies to BLP files. When ZP is checked, the result will be one or more ZIP archives containing the renamed input files. "Individual packs?" checkbox defines whether the user does or does not wish to pack the BLP files to individual icon sets of 1 up to 4 files in each Zip package. This way, you can make a single zip package with as many icon sets as you like. For example, you can have 1 zip archive with 20 BLP files composing 5 icon sets if you have not checked the "Individual packs?" checkbox instead of 5 zip files with 4 BLP files each, if you did check the checkbox. The name of the ZIP archive, provided you did not check the "Individual packs?" checkbox, will be the icon name of the first icon set processed by W3IR. |
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Chapter 7
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Version history, info about free components used to develop W3IR, info about this version and system requirements. | |||||
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Known bugs and limitations
WARNING! DO NOT INPUT BITMAP FILES SAVED BY PHOTOSHOP!
W3IR will collapse with a "Stream read error!". Please use the Batch Convert feature of IrfanView in order to easily convert a large number of files! How to do that? Check the documentation provided by IrfanView regarding the command line parameters or create a *.BAT file containing the following line: i_view32.exe C:\WC3Actions\Conv\*.bmp /resample=(64,64) /aspectratio /convert=C:\WC3Actions\Conv\BMP Done\*.bmp Have your input files placed in the "C:\WC3Actions\Conv\" folder. The converted, "fixed" bitmap files will be saved to this folder: "C:\WC3Actions\Conv\BMP Done\". Save the BAT file (a MS-DOS batch file) to the folder you have installed IrfanView. I was unable to detect why this error occurs, yet this is the only solution I managed to come up with.
GUI glitchWhen processing a large number of files, the GUI of W3IR will hang. Please, do not terminate it, as W3IR is still working, only that its GUI does not refresh properly. The reason for this issue is that W3IR is implemented as a single-thread application. When the main thread is busy processing your files, the GUI will fail to update normally, and the application will seem to hang. Wait for it to finalize its routines, then continue your work with W3IR.
System requirements for W3IR
Memory: 10 MB Disk space: 563 KB I am not sure what minimum CPU speed you should have... Given the fact that W3IR does not use algorithms of major complexity, it should work fine on nearly any PC. Note that W3IR may also be run of Linux. Use an emulator to be able to run it. 
About this version
Warcraft 3 Image Renamer, as is, can create a complete set of icons with a little support from IrfanView (resampling from 64x64 to 48x48 for AttackType and Upgrade resources). It is your choice if you will use W3IR for bordering or the Photoshop materials I included in the download. If you use the correct strings as suffixes, you can finalize any W3 valid icon only with freeware software - W3IR and IrfanView.
This version of the tool has implemented algorithms that allow reading of BMP, TGA and PSD files as well as writing of BMP, TGA and JPG files. Routines involved in reading input files and those routines involved in the saving TGA files are implementations found in GraphicEx Convert Delphi demo project.
This version of the tool does not feature a recursive searching algorithm. The input files are only searched throughout the Input Folder only, not through its subfolders.
This version of the tool does not feature a complex renaming algorithm, such as wildcards. Therefore, renaming icon sets with variable icon name length will prove troublesome, if not destructive regarding data loss. Please carefully read this document in order to prevent any loss.
This version of the tool does not allow using void names for icon images. Cases such as "BTN.tga", "DISBTN.bmp", "PASBTN.psd" or "DISPASBTN.blp" are not allowed, regardless of the type of image. An error will be delivered instead of the desired result.
This version of the tool is only able to output 24bit resources. In order to obtain quality valid Icon resources, please add the Alpha channel using Warcraft 3 Viewer designed by TheProphet. This tool adds a correct mask to the input images, ensuring a quality output ready to be used in Warcraft 3 as a BLP resource.
This version of the tool has no JPEG reading routines implemented. Use any other format with a lossless compression type, if you want quality resources and provide 24bit or 32bit input images. If you do not, W3IR may simply crash providing a Delphi-implemented error message or create an unusable image.
This program uses the tsqInfoZipPkg component for Delphi. The ZIP compression is up to equal to that used by WinRAR v3.51.
This program uses the GFX_LIB 1.5 collection of graphic tools. It uses only the color-conversion routines involving RGB and HSV/HSB color spaces.
This tool uses a derived version of the "wc3 icon layer" for Photoshop once found in the "Tools" section of http://www.wc3sear.ch . The layers have been selectively chosen from all the others to provide an easier and faster access to the layer used for every icon image.
You can find links if you want learn more about the free components used by W3IR here:
Use the "Search" feature at the bottom of the main page; search for "Tsq".
http://tsq.united.net.kg/ Homepage of Siqing Tang, author/manager of TtsqZip component.
http://www.hiveworkshop.com http://www.wc3campaigns.net depending on which URL is working at the moment. If WC2Sear.ch is still working, check the Tools section. The original "wc3 icon layer.zip" package is included in the ZIP archive of W3IR.
Use the "Search" feature found at http://www.torry.net; search for "GFX_lib".
Homepage of Mike Lischke, author/manager of GraphicEx project.
Homepage of Info-ZIP; the "zip32.dll" file is used by tsqInfoZipPkg Delphi component, thus implicitly by Warcraft3 Image Renamer.
Warcraft3 Image Renamer is developped unrelated to the owners or authors of the above mentioned websites and/or software. If you do have any question that was not answered to in the documentation of W3IR, please first contact the author of W3IR by sending an e-mail message to w3ir_bd@yahoo.com in concordance to the specified formats. For any further information, please use the above mentioned e-mail address!
Do not directly contact any of the above mentioned websites and/or software owners/authors unless your question/interest is unrelated to W3IR. They cannot provide you any support regarding W3IR.
A few glimpses on previous versions of W3IR. Move your cursor over the icons to identify the modification type.
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Chapter 8
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Some features I want to implement in upcoming W3IR releases. |
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Support for more languages ( Romanian and  French)
Support for user-defined interface and error-message strings (and a tool for those)
Support for BLP conversion
Support for 32bit images output
Support for "one-click" processing - just by specifying I/O file settings (locations, formats), conversion options (images to BLP) and border types
Support for recursive file search
Support for variable icon name length renaming algorithm
Support for suffix settings transfer from the bordering window to the renaming window
Support for settings loading from INI file (registry entries in the following update)
Support for user-defined custom borders as TGAs
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Chapter 9
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Performance aspects concerning this version of W3IR, while testing its behaviour on BMP files. | ||||||||||||||||||||
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System configuration used for performance tests:
512MB DDR-RAM (2x256MB) Gigabyte GA 7VRX mainboard nVidia GeForce2 MX/MX 400 64MB VRAM graphic card Seagate Barracuda ATA IV 7200rpm 2MB Cache 40GB hard drive
W3IR version in test: v1.3.2
Average: (17,50 + 17,46)/2 = 17,48ms According to the results of the above presented tests, working with 24bpp BMP files leads to a required time of 17,48ms per output file in W3IR v1.3.2.
W3IR version in test: v1.3.1
According to the results of the above presented tests, working with 24bpp BMP files leads to a required time of 23,45ms per output file in W3IR v1.3.1. 
Switched from Delphi time measuring routines to SysInternals Process Explorer as it offers more reliable results compared to Delphi routines. Also switched to Sysinternals Process Explorer as it offers a more detailed array of info about memory usage then the Microsoft TaskManager.
Time intervals measured using Delphi routines. Memory levels measured using Sysinternals Process Explorer.
Specified values are approximate to the speed and efficiency of the test system. Effective times on your computer may vary. |
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Chapter 10
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Conclusions and perspectives on W3IR. |
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Perspectives of W3IR It was my intention to create W3IR as a tool for personal use. I first tried to create some icons for W3 and I found myself in the annoying position of being bound to a ridiculous task in order to achieve something I sought. That is, I had to go through the process of adding specific borders rending visible or not the layers in the original border-layers package (included in the download of W3IR). W3IR will never be released as "pre-aplpha"/"alpha"/"beta" software, unless this is expressly requested. I do my own beta-testing and various conditions check, as through-going as feasible. All in all, this is still not subjected to the "real world" - user control. Feedback assures a better product in coming versions.
Data loss scenario suggestion
If, in a NightmareMode worst case scenario - you do end up with your data lost, stop any actions that may lead to data-write operations on the partition/drive your (now lost) data was! Install a data recovery software (if you do not have one already installed) on a different partition/drive and attempt to recover the lost data (a freeware example is PCI File recovery).
I do not intend this tip to be considered an ad to that tool - feel free to scour the web with Google in search of free data recovery software!
Note that this tip does not refer to Windows XP's System Restore feature!!
When you only have one of the active formats of an icon in 64x64 category (BTN, PAS, Autocast) and need other formats of it, produce a PAS format of it, then use that image to obtain the others! You can then use the same image (PAS) in order to obtain the 48x48 category of formats, by resampling it down to 48x48 from 64x64!
If you did not already named your original files in an easy to process manner, it may be less time consuming to manually rename the files to the final names, though this will be boring and tiresome.
I recommend you to only create one image, 64x64 pixels, having no border at all, for each icon design you intend to finalize.From this point, you can either make use of the Photoshop actions provided within the download archive, using them along with Photoshop and Bridge, or you could stick to W3IR.
As I failed to successfully find and implement an efficient resampling algorithm, I had to enforce the following option restrinction: in order to add borders according to the AttackType and Upgrade resources, you will only be allowed to provide images reduced to 48x48 pixels. The reason I chose to do so is related only to the final quality of the output image. None of the algorithms I found and tested were not even close to what IrfanView and Photoshop created after I resized (scaled down) a 64x64 image to 48x48. These being said, I hope you will find useful the batch resize feature in the "Add borders" dialogue. Please note that this feature is available and functional ONLY if you have IrfanView installed on your system. If you like Photoshop better, you can use Adobe Bridge instead (Tools / Photoshop / Image processor).
Before proceeding with the use of the batch resampling feature, please copy your files (64x64 BMP, TGA or PSD) to "C:\WC3Actions\Conv". Within this folder, IrfanView will create a folder called "48x48 Done". Here you will find all your input files from "C:\WC3Actions\Conv" saved as:
- *.tga if your input files were TARGA files - *.bmp if your input files were PSD files -> PLEASE BE CAREFUL NOT TO OVERWRITE EXISTING FILES!
Please also note that, in case you provide an image of X x Y, where either X or Y is lower than the specified size (64 or 48), the exceeding space will be filled with white.
Please, take a minute and think about these tips, so that your productivity could enhance and your efforts as artist/designer/fan :) could decrease!
I apologize for the dimensions of the documentation of W3IR. It’s easy for me to use this tool, yet I tried to be as explicit as possible so that any user could use it to its full potential. |
 Download Details
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URLs to W3IR download pages available online, thanks to The HiveWorkshop and Warcraft III Campaigns; details about other W3IR download resources. |
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In this section you will find URLs to online download locations that you might want to check every once in a while, in order to update to a newer version of W3IR, patches, bug notices and work-arounds. You may also contribute yourself, either by simply posting your share of the feedback of W3IR, by posting a suggestion or by highlighting a flaw of W3IR. Latest stable version: 1.3.2 Online download locations Standard package: promotional W3IR banner by BlackDoom not included in the release package.  Download W3IR
Hosted by: The HiveWorkshop Download W3IR
Hosted by: Warcraft III Campaigns
 Download W3IR
Hosted by: FileXoom
Size: 0,98 MB RAR archive Download W3IR
Hosted by: FileXoom
Size: 843,6 KB RAR archive
 View image
Version: 1.3.2 - 1024x768 (0,75 MP) 357,2 KB JPEG image View image
Version: 1.3.1 - 1024x768 (0,75 MP) 291,6 KB JPEG image
Versions prior to 1.3.1 are not available for download. |
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Author Details
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URLs to BlackDoom's public profiles on THW, WC3C; URLs to artwork created by BlackDoom. |
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Author Info Author Profiles Author Posts
 Author Artwork
 on The HiveWorkshop on WC3Campaigns.netNon-related to Warcraft 3:  on ThemeXP.org on Customize.org W3IR online comments:
Thank you for using W3IR and for showing interest in its development!
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<-BTN
<-DISBTN
<-PASBTN
<-DISPASBTN
<-AutoCast
<-Upgrade
<-AttackType
Here the input image you chose will be shown.
Status: Unchecked
Status: Unchecked
Status: Unchecked
Status: Unchecked
Status: Unchecked
Status: Unchecked
Status: Unchecked
Status: Unchecked
Status: Unchecked
Status: Unchecked
Status: Unchecked
Status: Unchecked
Status: Unchecked
Status: Unchecked
Status: Unchecked
Enabled: By default
Enabled: By default
GUI - all windows now have a "Cancel" or "Exit" button
the "ReadMe.htm" and dependencies to increase the friendliness of the documentation of W3IR
a restriction against faulty bordering - you may not input files of other dimensions than selected