PC Archery Home

	Free Trial Version
	Product Reviews Contact US Home

Order FAQ Support Updates Playing Simulator Targets Feedback Links

Instructions for adding your own Bow Image to PC Archery

Requirements
In order to add new bow images to PC Archery you will need the following:

Digital Camera or Scanner.
Image editing software that will allow you to crop images and to generate (draw) images.

Overview
There are 4 steps to adding your additional bow images to PC Archery.

Take a digital picture of your bow.
Create a mask image for the bow image.
Create a property file to provide PC Archery information about the bow image.
Copy the images and property file to the correct folder.

Step 1:

The first step is to get a picture of your bow. The easiest way to get started is to look at an example. The image on the right is a smaller version of what you are after. With a image editor (or Internet Explorer) look at the file:
C:\Program Files\PC Archery\bows\ultratec.jpg
(this path assumes you installed PC Archery in the default location on your harddisk)

You want to take a picture and then crop it to look like this image. The actual size and aspect ratio do not have to be exact, however the image must NOT be wider that 400 pixels or higher that 900 pixels.

Save the image as xxx.jpg
xxx can be any name you want to use as long as it does not already exist in the folder C:\Program Files\PC Archery\bows\

small version of ultratec.jpg

Step 2:

Next you need to create a GIF image that PC Archery uses to determine what part of the bow image will be visible and which part will be hidden. White is hidden and black is visible. Look at:
C:\Program Files\PC Archery\bows\ultratec_mask.gif

This can be done using an imaging editing software called PaintShop Pro or other image editing software. You can get a trial version of PaintShop Pro at www.jasc.com

Using PaintShop Pro open the Bow image and crop it to size if needed. Next add a layer to the image. Color all the pixels on this layer white or black. Use the brush tool to outline the bow and then use the fill tool to color it in.
Once done, save the black and white image as a GIF.
Name the image xxx_mask.gif where xxx is that name you used in Step 1.

If you want to be able to adjust your pins in PC Archery hide your sight pins.

If you want to use your actual sight pins and pin guard leave them visible. In PC Archery's bow setup you will set the pin to None and the pin guard to none, and move the pin locators to match the pins on your bow.

small version of ultratec_mask.jpg

Step 3:

Now you need to tell PC Archery about your bow image. You do this by creating a text file like the one at the right.
Again look at
C:\Program Files\PC Archery\bows\ultratec.prp with a text editor

The first two lines are comments
The name can be anything. It is the name that will be displayed in the bow list.
xOffset and yOffset are the x and y coordinates of your arrow point in the image.
ppi is the Pixels Per Inch of the image. To calculate ppi find two points on your bow image and measure the number of pixels between them. Then measure the distance between these same two points on your bow in inches.
ppi= (pixel difference)/inches.
ppi MUST be larger that 66. If it is not, make the bow larger relative to the image size. (The image has to stay the same size but the bow needs to get bigger)

Save the file as xxx.prp where xxx is that name you used in Step 1.

contents of ultratec.prp

# Bow Properties for UltraTec
#
name = UltraTec
xOffset = 195
yOffset = 606
ppi = 71.4

Step 4:

Copy these 3 files to the folder
C:\Program Files\PC Archery\bows\

Run PC Archery, go to Bow Setup and select the new bow image.