This is a program for generating comics from chat text, inspired by Microsoft Comic Chat and Jerkcity.

Installation

1. Install Python 3.6 or newer.
2. Install dependencies (listed in requirements.txt).

• You can do this by installing pip and navigating to this directory in the command line and doing the command: pip3 install -r requirement.txt

3. Copy one of the preset config files in the configs/ folder to config.cfg in the root folder of this project and make any changes you'd like.

N.B. If typing python or pip in the command line gives an error even after installing and you're using Windows, you might have to add them to the path. Look up 'how add to windows path'.

Usage

1. Copy IRC text. Lines should be formatted like <Username> Comments are here or * Username does a thing
2. Run generateComic.py

The comic should now be the new comic.jpg and should also be uploaded to Imgur. The Imgur link replaces the text in your clipboard.

When run from the command line you can specify a file containing IRC text instead with -f, specify the title with -t, and specify the background image file to use with -b.

Technical Notes

• Images in the backgrounds folder really don't need to be any larger than 500px in any dimension. Install ImageMagick and use convert <imagename> -resize "500^>" <newname> to scale the images down a bit. Further optimisation may be used with the jpegoptim and optipng commands.
• Symlinks do work in the backgrounds folder. Please don't send in a PR containing symlinks.
• Options for shuffle_mode:
  • 0: pony is procedurally-chosen from the username, except for the ones defined in the config file
  • 1: users without a defined pony will have their pony procedurally-chosen based a seed other than their username
  • 2: all users receive a procedurally-chosen pony
• closeup_zoom affects both the characters and the background
• In the Backgrounds section of the config file, you may use subfolders, such as Custom/Test12. Put all the backgrounds that you like into the custom folder if you don't want them to be committed back to the repository.
• If you are having problems with "Not a real JPEG" on symlinked files, make sure they are real soft links and not Mac aliases. This automator workflow lets you select all your aliased files in Finder and then batch-convert them in a right-click menu.
• generateComic.py is the driver for the comic generation, the actual heavy lifting is done in makeComic.py
• If you use emoji in your output, please use Symbolia for the best results

Future Plans

See roadmap.md