ASE Files (.ASE) Format description Copyright (C) 2001-2015 by David Capello ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. References 2. Introduction 3. Header 4. Frames 5. New chunk types 6. File Format Changes ======================================== 1. References ======================================== ASE files use Intel (little-endian) byte order. BYTE An 8-bit unsigned integer value WORD A 16-bit unsigned integer value DWORD A 32-bit unsigned integer value LONG A 32-bit signed integer value BYTE[n] "n" bytes. RECT Four LONGs (in the order: x-pos, y-pos, width, heigth) STRING length=WORD (how many characters to read next) string=BYTE[length] The \0 character isn't included. PIXEL Pixel format: - In RGB images, each pixel have 4 bytes in this order Red, Green, Blue, Alpha. - In Grayscale images, each pixel have 2 bytes in the order Value, Alpha. - In Indexed images, each pixel uses 1 byte (the index). ======================================== 2. Introduction ======================================== The format is much like FLI/FLC files, but with different magic number and differents chunks. Also, the color depth can be 8, 16 or 32 for Indexed, Grayscale and RGB respectively, and images are compressed images with zlib. Color palettes are in FLI color chunks (it could be type=11 or type=4). For color depths more than 8bpp, palettes are optional. See fli.txt for details. To read the sprite: * Read the ASE header (section 3) * For each frame do (how many frames? the ASE header has that information): + Read the frame header (section 4) + For each chunk in this frame (how many chunks? the frame header has that information) - Read the chunk (it should be layer information, a cel or a palette) ======================================== 3. Header ======================================== A 128-byte header (same as FLC/FLI header, but with other magic number): DWORD File size WORD Magic number (0xA5E0) WORD Frames WORD Width in pixels WORD Height in pixels WORD Color depth (bits per pixel) 32 bpp = RGBA 16 bpp = Grayscale 8 bpp = Indexed DWORD Flags: 1 = Layer opacity has valid value WORD Speed (milliseconds between frame, like in FLC files) DEPRECATED: You should use the frame duration field from each frame header DWORD Set be 0 DWORD Set be 0 BYTE Palette entry (index) which represent transparent color in all non-background layers (only for Indexed sprites). BYTE[3] Ignore these bytes WORD Number of colors (0 means 256 for old sprites) BYTE[94] For future (set to zero) ======================================== 4. Frames ======================================== After the header come the "frames" data. Each frame has this little header of 16 bytes: DWORD Bytes in this frame WORD Magic number (always 0xF1FA) WORD Number of "chunks" in this frame WORD Frame duration (in milliseconds) BYTE[6] For future (set to zero) Then each chunk format is: DWORD Chunk size WORD Chunk type BYTE[] Chunk data ======================================== 5. Chunk types ======================================== Old palette chunk (0x0004) ---------------------------------------- Ignore this chunk if you find the new palette chunk (0x2019) Aseprite v1.1 saves both chunks 0x0004 and 0x2019 just for backward compatibility. WORD Number of packets + For each packet BYTE Number of palette entries to skip from the last packet (start from 0) BYTE Number of colors in the packet (0 means 256) + For each color in the packet BYTE Red (0-255) BYTE Green (0-255) BYTE Blue (0-255) Old palette chunk (0x0011) ---------------------------------------- Ignore this chunk if you find the new palette chunk (0x2019) WORD Number of packets + For each packet BYTE Number of palette entries to skip from the last packet (start from 0) BYTE Number of colors in the packet (0 means 256) + For each color in the packet BYTE Red (0-63) BYTE Green (0-63) BYTE Blue (0-63) Layer Chunk (0x2004) ---------------------------------------- In the first frame should be a set of layer chunks to determine the entire layers layout: WORD Flags: 1 = Visible 2 = Editable 4 = Lock movement 8 = Background 16 = Prefer linked cels WORD Layer type (0=normal (image) layer, 1=layer set) WORD Layer child level (see NOTE.1) WORD Default layer width in pixels (ignored) WORD Default layer height in pixels (ignored) WORD Blend mode (always 0 for layer set) Normal = 0 Multiply = 1 Screen = 2 Overlay = 3 Darken = 4 Lighten = 5 Color Dodge = 6 Color Burn = 7 Hard Light = 8 Soft Light = 9 Difference = 10 Exclusion = 11 Hue = 12 Saturation = 13 Color = 14 Luminosity = 15 BYTE Opacity Note: valid only if file header flags field has bit 1 set BYTE[3] For future (set to zero) STRING Layer name Cel Chunk (0x2005) ---------------------------------------- This chunk determine where to put a cel in the specified layer/frame. WORD Layer index (see NOTE.2) WORD X position WORD Y position BYTE Opacity level WORD Cel type BYTE[7] For future (set to zero) + For cel type = 0 (Raw Cel): WORD Width in pixels WORD Height in pixels PIXEL[] Raw pixel data: row by row from top to bottom, for each scanline read pixels from left to right. + For cel type = 1 (Linked Cel): WORD Frame position to link with + For cel type = 2 (compressed image): WORD Width in pixels WORD Height in pixels BYTE[] Compressed "Raw Cel" data. Details about the compression method: http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc1951.txt Mask Chunk (0x2016) DEPRECATED ---------------------------------------- WORD X position WORD Y position WORD Width WORD Height BYTE[8] For future (set to zero) STRING Mask name BYTE[] Bit map data (size = height*((width+7)/8)) Each byte contains 8 pixels (the leftmost pixels are packed into the high order bits) Path Chunk (0x2017) ---------------------------------------- Never used. Frame Tags Chunk (0x2018) ---------------------------------------- WORD Number of tags BYTE[8] For future (set to zero) + For each tag WORD From frame WORD To frame BYTE Loop animation direction 0 - Forward 1 - Reverse 2 - Ping-pong BYTE[8] For future (set to zero) BYTE[3] RGB values of the tag color BYTE Extra byte (zero) STRING Tag name Palette Chunk (0x2019) ---------------------------------------- DWORD New palette size (total number of entries) DWORD First color index to change DWORD Last color index to change BYTE[8] For future (set to zero) + For each palette entry in [from,to] range (to-from+1 entries) WORD Entry flags: 1 = Has name BYTE Red (0-255) BYTE Green (0-255) BYTE Blue (0-255) BYTE Alpha (0-255) + If has name bit in entry flags STRING Color name User Data Chunk (0x2020) ---------------------------------------- Insert this user data in the last read chunk. E.g. If we've read a layer, this user data belongs to that layer, if we've read a cel, it belongs to that cel, etc. DWORD Flags 1 = Has text 2 = Has color + If flags has bit 1: STRING Text + If flags has bit 2: BYTE Color Red (0-255) BYTE Color Green (0-255) BYTE Color Blue (0-255) BYTE Color Alpha (0-255) Notes ---------------------------------------- NOTE.1: The child level is used to show the relationship of this layer with the last one read, for example: Layer name and hierarchy Child Level ----------------------------------------------- - Background 0 `- Layer1 1 - Foreground 0 |- My set1 1 | `- Layer2 2 `- Layer3 1 NOTE.2: The layer index is a number to identify any layer in the sprite, for example: Layer name and hierarchy Layer index ----------------------------------------------- - Background 0 `- Layer1 1 - Foreground 2 |- My set1 3 | `- Layer2 4 `- Layer3 5 ======================================== File Format Changes ======================================== 1) The first change from the first release of the new .ase format, is the new frame duration field. This is because now each frame can have different duration. How to read both formats (old and new one)? You should set all frames durations to the "speed" field read from the main ASE header. Then, if you found a frame with the frame-duration field > 0, you should update the duration of the frame with that value.