Creating the working folder.

 
Create a working folder for your new KiSS project.  I suggest right-clicking on your desktop and selecting "New"->"Folder".

The folder name used in this example is "mydoll".

Creating the project.

Open PlayFKiSS.  Select the "Tools" -> "Create New" menu option.  This option is only available when two conditions are met.  The user level is set to "Editor".  And there are no open sets.

Use the save dialog to move to your desktop and the "mydoll" folder.  Enter "kiss.cnf" as the filename.  The ".cnf" part of the name is VERY important, as PlayFKiSS will not automatically append it for you.

Creating the KiSS palette (KCF) 

Use your paint program's color editor to create a standard palette for all your cels.  In this example, I used PhotoPaint, and selected "Internet Explorer".  This palette has most colors you would need for a set, although it lacks in flesh colors.  Keep it simple for your first few sets!  Save a bitmap as "Palette.bmp".  Make sure that the file is a standard 256 color bitmap using the palette you just created.

Go to "Tools"->"Color Editor".

Use the Color Editor dialog's menu to select "Load..."

Select the BMP file you saved from your paint program.

 

Verify that the palette loaded correctly.  Make sure that pen 0 is the same color.

Save the palette using the color dialog's Save menu.  Type in "Palette.kcf".  PlayFKiSS will not automatically append the KCF to the filename.

At this point, you will need to close your project.  Open the KISS.CNF file in your favorite text editor.  Add "%palette.kcf" near the top of the file and save.  Reopen the file in PlayFKiSS.

Creating some cels.

Create a few sample cels in your paint program. Make sure you are in 256 color mode, and that the palette is the same you created for you KCF. Mark a cel and copy it to the clipboard.

Use the "Edit"->"Paste" option in PlayFKiSS to import the cel from the clipboard.  The format must be 256 color paletted.  PlayFKiSS will warn you if it is not.

 

The imported cel.  You can adjust how PlayFKiSS imports by changing the various controls.  The diagonal lines indicate transparent portions or the cel.  Usually this is color 0.  But if for some reason it is not, you can use the "Transparent" control to change this.  Adjust until the diagonal lines appear in the correct spot.  You can also change the object number this cel belongs to.  Turn on remap if the colors don't look correct.


 

Now is the tricky part.  You need to change the various properties of the new cel.  As most new-born cels are invisible, open the "KiSS Cel List" dialog from the "Tools" menu.  Double click on the cel you just imported.  Now open the properties window using the "View"->"Properties" menu.

Follow these steps:

  1. Change the name of the cel file to reflect what the new cel should be called.  Make sure to keep the ".cnf" extension.
  2. Give a comment if you wish.
  3. Adjust the cel offset if this cel is part of a multi-cel object.
  4. Adjust the object number if neccessary.
  5. Select the sets in which the cel will be visible.
  6. Move the cel forwards or backwards (Z-Order).
  7. Save the cel file.  This is IMPORTANT.  The only items stored in the cel file are the actual graphic data, and the cel offsets (C).  The remaining settings will be stored in your CNF.

 Now, save the CNF.  You may overwrite the existing file, or make a new file.  It is advisable to create new CNFs for each step of the process. (mydoll1.cnf, mydoll2.cnf, etc.)  This way, you can go back to older work that you may have inadvertantly destroyed.  Remember to place the "cnf" after your filename!

This shows a sample of what we've created so far.  The file extensions will only appear if you have them turned on in Explorer.  They are turneed off by default.  cb0000.cel is our "KiSS Tutorial" cel.    "kiss" is our CNF file.*  palette.BMP is the bitmap palette we created in our paint program.  palette.kcf is the KiSS palette created from palette.bmp.   *Microsoft's NetMeeting uses the same file extension as KiSS.  It also hacks the registry to eliminate the file extension.  If you don't have NetMeeting installed, you would see "kiss.cnf".