leake

Converts images, animated GIFs, and videos into texture files for Source Engine sprays. It writes a Valve Texture Format (.vtf) file and, by default, a matching Valve Material Type (.vmt) file.

This is a reimplementation of Mishcatt/VTF-Editor, and thus inherits its behaviour to a fault. Please use VTFEdit for more advanced creation.

External Requirements

• ffmpeg and ffprobe

Still images and GIFs do not need FFmpeg. Supported image formats include PNG, JPEG, GIF, BMP, TIFF, TGA, WebP, DDS, EXR, Farbfeld, HDR, ICO, PNM, and QOI.

Usage

Convert one image using automatic sizing:

leake image.png

This writes spray.vtf and spray.vmt in the current directory.

To choose an output name and directory:

leake --output image --output-dir output image.png

Several still images become animation frames in the order given:

leake -w 128 frame-01.png frame-02.png frame-03.png

An animated GIF or video is treated as one animation. Any additional input paths are ignored. GIFs are sampled at the spray playback rate by default. Use --all-frames to retain every GIF frame:

leake --all-frames animation.gif
leake --start 2 --end 8 clip.mp4

A single tall still image can be split into equally sized frames:

leake --strip strip.png

Inspect the selected dimensions, frame count, mipmaps, and estimated size without writing files:

leake --dry-run -w 256 animation.gif

Options

Option	Description
-o, --output NAME	Base name for the output files. Default: spray.
-d, --output-dir DIR	Directory for output files. Default: current directory.
-f, --format FORMAT	VTF format: RGBA8888, RGB888, RGB565, BGRA4444, BGRA5551, DXT1, or DXT5. Default: DXT1.
-q, --quality LEVEL	DXT compression effort: FAST, NORMAL, SLOW, or VERY_SLOW. Default: SLOW.
-w, --width PIXELS	Texture width. If height is omitted, the height uses the same value.
--height PIXELS	Texture height. If width is omitted, the width uses the same value.
--mipmaps, --no-mipmaps	Enable or disable mipmap levels. Default: enabled where useful.
--mip LEVEL=FILES	Replace one mipmap level with one or more images. Repeat the option for more levels.
--dither, --no-dither	Enable or disable dithering when reducing colours. Default: enabled.
-s, --sampling METHOD	Sampling mode: DEFAULT, POINT, TRILINEAR, or ANISOTROPIC. Default: DEFAULT.
--strip	Split one tall still image into animation frames.
--rescale, --no-rescale	Fit each source frame into its output slot. Default: enabled.
--speed FACTOR	Playback speed factor for imported animations. Default: 1.
--start SECONDS	First video second or GIF frame to import. Default: 0.
--end SECONDS	Last video second or GIF frame to import.
--all-frames	Keep every GIF frame instead of sampling at spray playback rate.
--vmt, --no-vmt	Write or suppress the matching material file. Default: enabled.
-j, --jobs COUNT	Number of encoding threads. Default: available processors.
--gpu	Encode with the GPU. Falls back to the CPU when no usable adapter is present.
--progress, --no-progress	Show or suppress encoding progress on stderr. Default: enabled in a terminal.
--dry-run	Report the planned layout without writing output files.

Mipmap replacements

Mipmap levels are numbered from 1, with level 1 being the first level below the base texture. A replacement can contain several images. They are used in order and repeated if the animation has more frames than the replacement set:

leake -w 256 --mip 1=small-a.png,small-b.png source.png

GPU encoding

--gpu encodes on the GPU. DXT compression may produce slightly different bytes from the CPU encoder. --jobs only affects the CPU encoder.