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__Q__uiKiss

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__Q__uiKiss is a Qt port of the Gnome KiSS system
Supports fKiss 3.0 standard

From wikipedia

History

KiSS originated in Japan in 1991 with 'dolls' based on girls' manga characters.

The original dolls were a series of simple, static images that could be moved about and layered on top of one another to look as if the doll image was wearing the clothing. Using computer graphics had the advantage over traditional paper dolls in allowing multiple layers to move in unison, including visually separate pieces, giving an illusion of depth not possible with physical paper.

The initial viewer software was designed for (then current) EGA video cards using a palette of 16 colours to display the doll. Shortly after, an enhanced standard was put forward ('''General Specification 2''' known as 'KiSS/GS2') which included support for VGA cards and 256 or multiple 16 colour palettes. This standard is still the basis of KiSS, but several additional specifications have been incorporated into viewers since then, in particular "French KiSS", generally called FKiSS, for controlling interactivity and animation and "Cherry KiSS" (ie. CKiSS) for 32-bit "true" colour support.

By the late 1990s KiSS had spread from the Japanese BBS communities internationally via the internet with artists creating "dolls", programmers creating support tools, and fans appearing worldwide.

Note that although KiSS sets are often referred to generically as 'dolls' they are not confined to dress-up — in fact they can be anything and there are 'build-your-own' faces, wedding cakes, dollhouses, battleships, as well as puzzles, games and much more. Nonetheless such "unusual" sets are sometimes referred to as ''aberrant'' KiSS.

Format

A KiSS set consists of many files of a number of different formats. These are packaged for distribution as a single set or 'doll' in [[LZH]] format (a preferred archive format in Japan) which viewer programs can read as a whole to obtain the individual files.

Most files are 'cel' files which are raw, uncompressed graphics data analogous to animation cells. KiSS/GS2 specification cels also require a KCF (KiSS Colour File) as a palette, but CKiSS specification cels do not. A KCF also can control background colour and contain multiple palettes that can be swapped for lighting and colour change effects. All KiSS binary files (KCF, standard and CKiSS cels) since KiSS/GS2 share a common 32 byte binary header record identifying the size, type and format of KiSS data they contain.

A configuration file is also required to control field size, layering, cel position, use of palettes, and interaction and animation events.

In addition [[Musical Instrument Digital Interface|Midi]] files for music and WAV files for sound clips may be used, and generally some form of text documentation is included by the artist.

Expansions

KiSS sets are allowed to acquire resources from other KiSS sets by a process called 'Expansion'. This allows new versions of a doll without incorporating the original cells into the new set, meaning that earlier versions did not have to be replaced, and different artists could add to the doll without confusion as to who the original artist was. This dates from some of the earliest viewers, but the details of loading an expansion set remain somewhat viewer dependent.

Extensions

A number of features have been added to KiSS but never formally incorporated into the main KiSS format. For compatibility and to hide them from viewers that don't support them they are disguised as comments in the configuration file. Each type of extension (except user grouping) was initially introduced in Japan, however all (except Cherry KiSS) have later been extended by international viewers.