Sunday, July 12, 2015

Compiling (or Downloading) aseprite V1.1-dev on Mac OS

Hi folks,

lately I've found some time (hu?) and get back to my nerdy roots. So I decided to build some retro-style point-and-click adventure (lucas-style) for my (retina) kids. ;)

I found out that asperite seems to be a nice and open-source sprite editor and animator.


Building this one from the sources at github.com/aseprite/aseprite is relatively easy (just read INSTALL.md). Doing the trick at a recent MacOS needs some extra-thinking.

Prerequisites

You need a recent Xcode (I used Xcode 6.1.1). Get it from the Appstore. Additionally you need MacOSX10.4.Universal.pkg from folder "Packages" of Xcode 3.1.4 (you need a free developer account at Apple).

Install cmake. I prefer cmake from the homebrew distribution. If you got brew already installed, just type:

brew install cmake

Step-By-Step Guide

Install MacOSX10.4.Universal.pkg by holding down Ctrl while opening the file. It goes to "/SDKs". You can move it to wherever you like. I assume it's at "SDKs".

Clone github repo:

git clone --recursive https://github.com/aseprite/aseprite

Create a build directory and make it the current directory:
cd aseprite
mkdir build
cd build
Then create the build files:
cmake -DCMAKE_OSX_ARCHITECTURES:STRING=i386 -DCMAKE_OSX_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET:STRING=10.4 -DCMAKE_OSX_SYSROOT:STRING=/SDKs/MacOSX10.4u.sdk/ ../
If everything went through just type:
make all
The build process takes some time. After it's finished you'll find a new directory "bin". So type
 cd bin
./aseprite
And here we go. If you need a fancy app-bundle you can get the trial of the commercial version at www.aseprite.org/trial. In the bundle replace "aseprite" in "Contents/MacOS" and the folder "data" at "Contents/Ressources".

If you like you may download my compiled app here.