If you want to edit several frames of an animated cursor, to create an entire cursor from scratch, or to modify the structure of a cursor with a text editor, you can export your animated cursor to an AniTuner disassembly file.

AniTuner disassemblies are made up of a text file (the disassembly file) that is given the .atd extension and a series of PNG image files that contain the frames of the animated cursor. When AniTuner exports a disassembly, it first saves all frames as PNG files and creates the disassembly text file containing all relevant information that allows AniTuner to generate the animated cursor again when you load it.

PNG image files may be then edited with any image editor that supports the PNG format. AniTuner always creates 24-bit PNG files even if the original animated cursor has another format; in case of 32-bit animated cursors, the alpha channel is also embedded into the PNG image file (partial transparency) so it can be edited too.

For other formats than 32-bit, AniTuner will use the background color to determine transparent areas. You can select this color when exporting the disassembly file.

When creating the animated cursor back from PNG image files, AniTuner will automatically convert images to the color format of the animated cursor if necessary. You do not need consequently to use 8-bit PNG files.

About AniTuner Disassembly format

If you want to edit the disassembly file manually (text format), open it with any text editor like Notepad. The disassembly has the same structure as the old Windows configuration .ini files. Here is a complete disassembly file:

[MainInfo]
Generator=AniTuner
Title=Open Folder
Author=No author
HotspotX=1
HotspotY=0
Height=32
Width=32
PixelFormat=2
FrameCount=4
TransparentColor=clFuchsia

[Frame0]
PNGFile=folder0.png
Length=20

[Frame1]
PNGFile=folder1.png
Length=8

[Frame2]
PNGFile=folder2.png
Length=8

[Frame3]
PNGFile=folder3.png
Length=8

Each disassembly features a [MainInfo] section that contains general settings about the animated cursor such as width, height, hotspot, color depth (pixel format), etc...
This section is followed by several frame sections that contain settings related to a given frame. There is as many frame sections as frames.

Description of the MainInfo section

The [MainInfo] section is followed by some properties in the following format:
Property=Value
All of the properties are required by AniTuner!

• Generator: should always be "AniTuner". Leave it unchanged.
• Title: the title of the animated cursor.
• Author: the author of the animated cursor.
• HotspotX: horizontal coordinate of the hotspot point. Integer.
• HotspotY: vertical coordinate of the hotspot point. Integer.
• Height: height of the animated cursor's images. Integer.
• Width: width of the animated cursor's images. Integer.
• PixelFormat: indicates the color format of the animated cursor.

  Possible values:

  • 0: pfDevice - not used.
  • 1: pf1bit: 1-bit (2 colors).
  • 2: pf4bit: 4-bit (16 colors).
  • 3: pf8bit: 8-bit (256 colors).
  • 4,5: pf15bit, pf16bit - not used.
  • 6: pf24bit: 24-bit (high colors).
  • 7: pf32bit: 32-bit (true colors - 24-bit with 8-bit alpha channel).

  For example, PixelFormat=2 indicates a 16-color animated cursor.
  

• FrameCount: number of frames in the animated cursor. It must match the number of frame sections in the disassembly!
  Note that N given frames are indexed from 0 to N-1.
• TransparentColor: CodeGear® Delphi/Borland C++ Builder color identifier (clWhite, clBlack, clFuchsia....) or the color specified in the hexadecimal format preceded by $, such as: $00F7F7F7.
  

Description of a frame section

A frame section must always be named "Frame" and immediately followed by the index of the frame such as [Frame0] or [Frame4].

It always contains two properties:

• PNGFile: the filename of the PNG image file associated to the frame. Note that the PNG file must be in the same folder as the disassembly .atd file (AniTuner does not support absolute paths).
• Length: indicates the length of the frame (in jiffies).

Creating an animated cursor from a disassembly

In AniTuner, select "Load new animation..." in the Tools panel or "Open an existing animation file" on the Welcome page. You will be prompted to select the .atd disassembly file. AniTuner will then read the disassembly and generate the new animated cursor. The animated cursor will be then opened and you can save it by clicking "Save animated cursor..." in the Tools panel.