[Tutorial] Extremely Basic Sprites

Dr. Trowel

11 Aug., 2004: Ive just done quite a bit of revision on this post. Some later posts in this tread may make less sense as a result.

This is something intended for beginners. I'd like comments on it from experienced plug-writers, and also from any newbies who try it out; as a Mac-based guy, I'd especially like to know if anything conflicts with how EVNEW works. Hopefully this will give some people some fun and also inspire some entries into the Silly Plug Contest that I'm runninghere.

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How To Make:
The Simplest Ship Sprite Imaginable

This tutorial is intended to help beginning EVN plugmeisters create their first flying objects. As much as possible, all pain will be deferred until after this lesson! Starting with a Mac or a PC, zero knowledge about EVN plug-making, and just the slightest acquaintance with an image editor, you'll learn how to replace the graphic for one of Nova's own ships with another image -- a photo cutout, scanned sketch, stock clip-art image, or other unanimated, non-rotating picture.

The result is an inexplicable flying object (IFO?) which can be a hoot to meet and fight against, though difficult to control when it is your own ship (tip: fire your guns to figure out which way you're facing). Once you've seen how easy it can be to make this sort of crude start, you can go on to learn how to produce more polished and complicated ships and plugs. Note: Numbers between asterisks (e.g. 3) refer to footnotes at the end of the tutorial. you can complete the tutorial without reading these.

Register EVN!
No plug you build is going to work with your copy of EVN until you pony up your shareware fee.
Find a victim.
Select a photo, cartoon, sketch, or other image that shows an object that you believe belongs in space. Here, I plan to use John Kerry's head. When we are done, we'll have made this plug, which is all of 6 K (stuffed). Here's an excerpt from the source image1:

Posted Image

Cut it out.
Use an image editor (I use both Photoshop and GraphicConverter, a great Mac shareware program) to trim the image down to a rectangular area centered on the object you want, leaving at least one pixel of background image on all sides:

Posted Image

Save the trimmed sprite as a PICT file (PICT is usually ".pct" on PCs; saving as .tiff or .bmp should work OK, too. Avoid .jpg or .gif.) . You'll have the least trouble down the road if before saving you make sure that the image is set to a resolution of 72 dpi or ppi (dots or pixels per inch; in Photoshop this is adjusted under "Image > Image Size" -- don't resample the image when you change the resolution!).2

Note that here I've filled the background with pure white. This can make the next step a little easier, but isn't necessary (heck, the background can be plaid if you prefer). I've also reduced the size to make it somewhat more in line with other ship sizes in the game. My image is 53 X 80 pixels. For comparison, an EVN shuttle is 24 X 24 pixels and an Auroran carrier is 184 X 184 pixels. Be sure to write down the dimensions of your image -- you'll need the info later.

Mask it.
To tell Nova where the ship is and where it isn't, you need a PICT that is pure white where your image will appear, and pure black outside. For example:

Posted Image

There are various ways of making this mask. One quick-n'-dirty way is to make a copy of your image, select its white background, invert the selection, use a "Fill" command to fill the shape with black, then invert the whole mask image. However you make it, it is important that the mask also be 72 dpi and that it be saved as a "bitmap" or "one bit" PICT (just black and white, no shades of gray in the palette; In Photoshop, use the "Image > Mode" sub-menu).

Get the right tool.
To put your sprite in a plug, you need a plug-making program. On Windows, you need EVNEW. Go download it. If you use Macs (as I do) you have some choice, but for this tutorial I'll recommend NovaTools. NovaTools is an add-on program for Apple's ResEdit application for OS 8, OS 9, or the OS X Classic environment (direct download link, 465K), so you'll need to download that, too, and then follow the install instructions that come with NovaTools. (In a nutshell, you use ResEdit to copy all the contents of the "NovaTools 1.0.0" file and then to paste them into the "ResEdit Preferences" file in the "Preferences" folder. Then you increase ResEdit's memory allocation to at least 6 MB.)3
Start with an empty plug file.
EVNEW probably can create this with an easy menu option. On a Mac,
you have to use a file with the type code set to "Npďf" and the creator set to "Növä." If that means nothing to you, just make a copy of my KerryShuttle plug (or any other EVN plug), rename it, and use ResEdit to open it and delete all its contents (highlight each of the resource type icons and press delete). Save the blank file.
Put your stuff in.
Insert your images into your plug file. In EVNEW, you do this with the File>Import command at the top of the PICT resource input box. In NovaTools, open your PICT sprite in your image editor and do "Select All" followed by "Copy." Switch to your plug-making program and do "paste." Repeat this for your mask.4
Renumber your PICTs.
Every item you paste into ResEdit gets an ID number. Your graphics won't display if your PICTs have numbers that conflict with ones used for ship graphics that are already in Nova (in rlë8 & rlëD resources -- but don't worry about what those are for now5). For your sprite PICT, choose a number that Nova doesn't use; an even number between 2320 and 3998 or between 4030 and 4998, for example. For your mask, use this number plus one. In ResEdit/NovaTools, to apply these numbers you double-click on the PICT icon, select the resource whose number you want to change, do cmd-I, and then enter the number:

Posted Image

Make a new shän.
If you are in ResEdit/NovaTools, you do this by clicking to highlight the main window for the plug (the one that usually has an icon for each resource type), typing cmd-K, and scrolling down to select (highlight) "shän" from the list on the left side of this dialog:

Posted Image

When you click "OK," two windows will automatically open. The first is a list of the shäns in the plug (there's only one right now). The second window lets you edit the shän you just created, and should look like this5.5:

Posted Image

EVNEW should give you something functionally similar. We can ignore most of this screen for this tutorial; everything outside of the red circle can just be left with the values that NovaTools enters automatically. For "BaseImageID" and "BaseMaskID," enter the ID numbers for your PICTs. "FramesPerSet" and "BaseSetCount" are both 1.6 "BaseXSize" is the width of our PICT (in pixels), and "BaseYSize" is the height. If the shän window doesnt now show your sprite image and the black of the mask, close the window and reopen it. If you've done everything correctly, it should show up.

If you don't see your sprite image and the black of the mask in the shän window after you've filled out the circled fields, close the window and reopen it. If you've done everything correctly, it should show up.

Pick your secret identity.
Now you need to know the shän ID numbers for the ship sprites that your plug will replace. Most ships in Nova have several shäns, since they need one for each variant (Starbridge Class A, Starbridge Class B, used Starbridge...). Here are the shän numbers for a few Nova ships you may want to try:

Shuttle: 128, 188, 361, 362, 391
Starbridge: 133, 195, 196, 197, 198, 199, 367, 368, 398
Fed. Destroyer: 141, 211, 212, 213, 214
Pirate Viper: 166, 333. 332. 404
Manta: 161, 314, 315
Pirate Carrier: 147, 285, 286, 287 (+ Unrelenting: 374)
Kestrel: 378

If you want to find shän ID numbers for other ships, make a copy of the "Nova Data 1" file in your "Nova Files" folder. Move the copy out of the "Nova Files" folder (so you don't risk messing up the game) and use your plug-making program to look at the list of the "shďp" resources that the file contains. Sorting the shďps by name instead of by ID Number can help; in NovaTools, do this with the "View > by Name" command. For each shďp resource for a variant of the ship you are changing, you will need to make a shän with the same ID number. Since these shäns all point to the same sprite graphics, they can be identical.7

Copy -- Copy -- Copy.
Make copies of the shän you made in step #9 until you have one for each shän/shďp ID number (in NovaTools, highlight your first shän and use cmd-D to duplicate). Change the shän ID numbers using the same method you used in step #8 to replace the PICT ID numbers, and save your plug.

Posted Image

You're done!
Move your plug to your "Nova Plug-ins" folder, start up the game, and go look for your sprite! You don't need to start a new pilot for this plug to work.
Chase perfection.
Once you've seen your crude IFO in flight, you may want to make adjustments to your image or mask.8 Quit Nova, delete the offending image(s) from your plug, and then paste in new versions using the same ID number(s) you used before.
You're ready to get fancy.
Now that you are able to make the most basic of sprites, your next step can be in any of a large number of directions: master rlë graphics, add animation (& glows, lights, weapons, banks), make a graphic that rotates or includes a pointer to indicate facing (try studying my TrueAbomination plug, for example), add a new shďp to the game, learn a 3D graphics program....9

Thanks to: orcaloverbri9, CaptAceHarddrive, SpacePirate, what_is_the_matrix, noba man

Notes You Don't Need to Read (At First)
1: By sending John Kerry into space, I mean no disrespect to his political views. In fact, I agree with a great many of them. This, however, does not shake my belief that he's got a funny-lookin' head. The source image for this tutorial is from his U.S. presidential campaign web site. It is by Sharon Farmer, and was explicitly provided for re-use. You should at least briefly consider the moral and legal issues of using copyrighted materials before putting them in plugs. My non-expert understanding, however, is that non-commercial use enjoys some protection. Humorous intent may actually strengthen your position, since in the US the First Amendment protects satire and parody as free speech. So be funny!
2: It is not essential, but good (it makes for a smaller file), to set your PICT sprite image to a palette of "thousands of colors" (AKA 8 bits per channel, 32768 colors, or 16-bit color), rather than "millions of colors."
3: The NovaToolsUpdate 1.0.1, which modifies NovaTools once you've installed it, is recommended. I didn't mention this in the main text because you can complete your first sprite without it.
4: You can delete any RECT resources that ResEdit creates when you paste in the PICTs. They do no harm, though.
5: If you continue making more complicated ships, before long you'll need to learn how to translate your PICT sprites into rlë8 and rlëD ones. EVNEW can do this by itself; on a Mac, you need to master EnRLE, another program available from w00tware's NovaTools page.
5.5: If the shän window doesnt look similar to the one with all the check-boxes and blanks shown here (for example, if it shows a column of 6-digit numbers down the left side of an otherwise all-white window), this may mean that NovaTools is not installed correctly. This is also true if "shän" does not appear in the scrolling list in the "Select Type" dialog.
6: "FramesPerSet" is 1 because our image doesn't change as the ship changes the direction in which it is facing; "BaseSetCount" is 1 because we have no special images for banking or animation.
7: Nova stores the shäns for all its ship sprites in six of the numbered "Nova Ships" files. However, since every shän ID number matches one of the ID numbers for a shďp resource in Nova Data 1, it is easier to just collect all the numbers you need from Nova Data 1. You don't have to copy or modify any shďp resources for this tutorial. (If you take a peek inside them, though, you may start to get ideas for your next game-modding project!)
8: If you find that your sprite has an unsightly halo of white (or another color) around it, you probably need to add some carefully placed black pixels to your mask to "tighten" how closely it follows the edge of your object. This is pretty common in beginners' sprites.
9: Here are three places to start your search for more tutorials and guides:
SpacPirate's Plugin Guides
NovaLightbringer's list of tutorials
Development Guides discussion

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Dr. Trowel's E.S.W.P. -- Cold Fusion graphics for EVN Override, EVN:O bug fixes, 'n more.
Very Good Stuff: EVula NovaTools EVPlugSearcher Play FAQs: N N O C Dev FAQs: A B
Interests: The Good, The Bad, and The Loopy.

(This message has been edited by Dr. Trowel (edited 07-26-2004).)

(This message has been edited by Dr. Trowel (edited 08-11-2004).)

This post has been edited by Dr. Trowel : 07 January 2006 - 08:05 PM

what_is_the_matrix

You know, that's so basic, I'm not entirely sure how useful it will be. Almost no sprite in Nova will be a picture clipping. I suppose you could use John Kerry's head as a planet, but that's about the only use of a non-rotating sprite that I can think of offhand. Ships, asteroids, and weapons all utilize rotating sprites. Even planets can use animated sprites (hypergates and wormholes). Granted, it is simple to make a single image-sprite, but is it really useful? You should at least include examples of making a 36 sprite ship spread and a 108 sprite banking ship spread. But at least use good examples (not the Pegasus please) - ones where it's obvious the ship is rotating and/or banking (the shuttle is a bad example - the Starbridge is better).

Matrix

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"Interestingly, according to modern astronomers, space is finite. This is a very comforting thought -- particularly for people who can never remember where they have left things." - Woody Allen

(url="http://"http://htf.mondominishows.com/valentine/main.asp?seed=7375&serial;=214877")The funniest valentine I've ever gotten.(/url)

dorrus

thanks. now i have flying kerry's head for krypt pod.

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My parents died in Roswell incident.

Dr. Trowel

dorrus: Krypt pod! Excellent choice, what with its freaky flight patterns and all! I wish I'd thought of that.

Quote

Originally posted by what_is_the_matrix:
**I suppose you could use John Kerry's head as a planet, but that's about the only use of a non-rotating sprite that I can think of offhand. Ships, asteroids, and weapons all utilize rotating sprites....
**

Ah, but you're not thinking outside the box. OK, the inside of the box is a high-tech den full of snazzy home theater equipment and black leather furniture, while the outside is a world of tacky billboards and cheaply-produced Saturday morning cartoons, but still....

You can use a static photo of John Kerry's head as a ship sprite. Or your own head. Or a cartoon of a hamburger. Or the word "fear" in gothic type. I'm suggesting that this sort of admittedly inane behavior can be a useful place for someone to start -- it's a quick way to gain both experience with the programs and confidence in one's ability to affect the game. In other words, it's a method of "learning through play."

A static image is also an extraordinarily easy thing to which to add weapon effects and lights and, by using Photoshop's "Define Pattern" and "Fill" (with pattern) commands, you can copy it into a 6 X 6 (or 8 X 8, etc.) grid and modify the frames to indicate the direction the ship is facing. I'll try to get more tutorial stuff up next weekend (if anyone is interested); meanwhile, my (url="http://"http://home.comcast.net/~drtrowel//misc/TrueAbomination.sit")TrueAbomination(/url) plug uses some of these tricks and anyone who wants can look under its hood.

Yes, the best and most life-like ship sprites are probably always going to come out of 3D graphics programs. I'm hoping, though, that a few people will find that they can have fun along the way, before they fully master such programs.

(This message has been edited by Dr. Trowel (edited 07-27-2004).)

Modesty Blaise

Hmm..very useful if you´re a completely new to resedit.

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And then there were silence.................

SpacePirate

As much fun as it may bring some people (shifty glance around the room) to shoot Kerry in the head repeatedly, I was more expecting you to use a sprite downloaded from a shipyard of sorts. (/me points at (url="http://"http://www.evula.com/shipyard/")EVula's(/url)) That would probably be more useful that a non-rotating sprite, as Matrix pointed out.

Even a "simple" ship should have at least 8 frames. Using a freely available shipyard pict would also reduce the number of steps in your guide. Remember, n00bs don't like reading.

~ SP

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Fear the SpacePirate,
He made a (url="http://"http://www.evula.org/infernostudios/search.html")plug-in search page(/url)...
And he'll board your ship! -mrxak
*** (url="http://"http://www.evula.org/infernostudios/")InfernoStudios(/url) was last updated 06 June, 2004. ***

Zacha Pedro

Yeah, but I think it is an extremely good introduction to the concept of mask, and all the host of other things one has to do just to put a sprite in Nova, regarless of complexity. It's a good starting point to have another tutorial afterwards about adding an animated sprite (that you'll write, won't you Dr. Trowel?)

------------------
The (url="http://"https://secure.ambrosiasw.com/cgi-bin/store/hazel.cgi?action=serve&item;=breakdown.html&BREAKDOWN;_SKUID=1480")Ambrosia Mac CD(/url) with other registrations - 5$. Paying for (url="http://"http://www.ambrosiasw.com/games/evn/")EV Nova(/url) as it's such a great game - 30$.
The (url="http://"http://www.ambrosiasw.com/games/evn/tshirts.html")1337 EV Nova T-shirt(/url)(url="http://"http://www.ambrosiasw.com/webboard/Forum25/HTML/000003.html#ZachaPedro05-18-200409:42AM") (/url) - 22$. The (url="http://"http://w00tware.ev-nova.net/")NovaTools(/url) by wOOtWare to tinker with your Nova - FREE!
The feeling you're a Nova geek - priceless.
There are things money can't buy or that are free, for everything else, there's indeed Mastercard.

Dr. Trowel

Yes, I will be following up this tutorial with more 'where to go from here" text, though I won't be able to do too much for the next few days. As SP pointed out, there definitely needs to be a mention of shipyard sites, for instance. I've been a big champion of them in the past. (Newbies: look for pre-made ship sprites in (url="http://"http://www.evula.com/shipyard/")Evula's empire(/url), at (url="http://"http://modenstudios.com/evodev")Meowx's site(/url) (under "Resource Freighter 3"), and at (url="http://"http://www.pacifier.com/~kkey/shipyard/index.html")Onyx's Shipyard.(/url)

ZP brought up animation. I hope to cover that, too. (Another heads-up to newbies: if you can get the frames of something like an animated .gif to display next to each other so that they form what looks like a comic strip, you can get Nova to cycle through the images. Details and pictures in 4-7 days, unless somebody beats me to it and posts the steps....)

P.S.: Free pictures of cookies to anyone who inserts an animated smilie into the game and enters it into my (url="http://"http://www.AmbrosiaSW.com/cgi-bin/ubb/postdisplay.cgi?forum=Forum9&topic;=005565")silly plug contest(/url). I'd probably use your PICTs in the tutorial.

(This message has been edited by Dr. Trowel (edited 07-27-2004).)

Mazer Rackham

Dr. Trowel, that TrueAbomination is a true abomination.

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To quote a pillar of American society: D'OH!

Dr. Trowel

Quote

Originally posted by Mazer Rackham:
**Dr. Trowel, that TrueAbomination is a true abomination.
**

Why, thank you!

Didja spot the fusion pulse battery firing animation, then?

orcaloverbri9

(url="http://"http://www.geocities.com/orcaloverbri9/tongue_shuttle.bin.zip")Here you go(/url), Dr. Trowel. I want my cookies now.

I haven't gotten around to testing it myself, but start a new pilot and you'll see the difference.

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The programmer's code of entomology: there's always another bug.
There are 10 types of people in the world: those who understand binary and those who have friends.
Windows users: stop asking for plugins. (url="http://"http://www.aznt.com/EVN/EVNEW/")Make one yourself.(/url)
(url="http://"http://www.cwssoftware.com")Sephil Saga Website(/url) | (url="http://"http://www.evula.org/infernostudios/search.html")Add-ons Search Engine(/url)

Dr. Trowel

Quote

Originally posted by orcaloverbri9:
**Here you go, Dr. Trowel. I want my cookies now.:p

I haven't gotten around to testing it myself, but start a new pilot and you'll see the difference.

**

Excellent! I had expected a ship that used the "extra frames in sequence" option, but getting razzed by my own escort as I prepared to enter hyperspace was (almost) subtle.

But.... Hmmm.... OK, here's what you earned:

Posted Image

That's Chips Ahoy Reduced Fat Cookies, in a 16oz bag. Edible and sweet, but not the food of the gods. :frown:

Now, if you want to earn the really good cookies -- the Oreo Double-Stuffs or something big and fresh from a bakery, for example -- just set your type and creator code to "Npďf" and "Növä" so others can use your plug without fiddling, and then submit it in the thread for the contest itself. Easy as pie. (Anyone want to animate some pie?)

What's your preferred method for going from .gif to pict sprite? I've used GraphicConverter's "Convert & Modify" to turn gifs into series of PICTs, then assembled them into sprite grids using w00tware's p2s utility. It's too much of a mac-specific method to stand alone in a tutorial.

orcaloverbri9

Quote

Originally posted by Dr. Trowel:
What's your preferred method for going from .gif to pict sprite? I've used GraphicConverter's "Convert & Modify" to turn gifs into series of PICTs, then assembled them into sprite grids using w00tware's p2s utility. It's too much of a mac-specific method to stand alone in a tutorial.

I opened it with Preview and copied/pasted each frame (a total of 3 :)) into Photoshop, then saved them as PICT images, to be converted to sprites with p2s.

------------------
The programmer's code of entomology: there's always another bug.
There are 10 types of people in the world: those who understand binary and those who have friends.
Windows users: stop asking for plugins. (url="http://"http://www.aznt.com/EVN/EVNEW/")Make one yourself.(/url)
(url="http://"http://www.cwssoftware.com")Sephil Saga Website(/url) | (url="http://"http://www.evula.org/infernostudios/search.html")Add-ons Search Engine(/url)

CaptAceHarddrive

Well, I d/l orcaloverbri9's plug, but all I'm told is that the "resource fork is empty." I'm on a PC and use Stuffit and MindExpander to get to the file. I even tried right-clicking and choosing "Explore."

~Tim ^_^

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"Hanging is too good for a man who makes puns; he should be drawn and quoted." --Fred Allen

Dr. Trowel

Quote

Originally posted by CaptAceHarddrive:
**Well, I d/l orcaloverbri9's plug, but all I'm told is that the "resource fork is empty." I'm on a PC and use Stuffit and MindExpander to get to the file. I even tried right-clicking and choosing "Explore."

~Tim ^_^

**

Did you run the plug through the Mac-to-PC converter that is in your Nova folder? Despite not working on Macs (because of the type & creator thing I mentioned earlier), I think it should work on PC. (Is there a Win-feller out there who can confirm this?)

CaptAceHarddrive

I haven't even gotten to the plug! I "unbinned" using MindExpander, and got a folder with nothing in it. I tried to unzip using stuffit, but got the "empty resource fork" message.

~Tim ^_-

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"Hanging is too good for a man who makes puns; he should be drawn and quoted." --Fred Allen

SpacePirate

Tsk. You shouldn't unbin at all. First, unzip the file using winZip. Next, drop the resulting .bin file into the converter. The resulting .rez file is what you need.

Best!
~ SP

------------------
Fear the SpacePirate,
He made a (url="http://"http://www.evula.org/infernostudios/search.html")plug-in search page(/url)...
And he'll board your ship! -mrxak
*** (url="http://"http://www.evula.org/infernostudios/")InfernoStudios(/url) was last updated 06 June, 2004. ***

CaptAceHarddrive

Thanks for the tip, SP! Very "interesting" looking shuttle!

~Tim ^_-

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"Hanging is too good for a man who makes puns; he should be drawn and quoted." --Fred Allen

orcaloverbri9

Is it just my copy of Nova or do the AI Shuttles still have engine glows? Also, you might not have noticed, but the weapon exit points are the eyes and corners of the mouth.

And by the way, Dr. Trowel, I would've used the "in sequence" flag, but it would go way too fast, because you can't specify a framerate like they did with the animated GIF on this webboard.

------------------
The programmer's code of entomology: there's always another bug.
There are 10 types of people in the world: those who understand binary and those who have friends.
Windows users: stop asking for plugins. (url="http://"http://www.aznt.com/EVN/EVNEW/")Make one yourself.(/url)
(url="http://"http://www.cwssoftware.com")Sephil Saga Website(/url) | (url="http://"http://www.evula.org/infernostudios/search.html")Add-ons Search Engine(/url)

CaptAceHarddrive

Okay, boss! Here's mine!
(url="http://"http://us.f2.yahoofs.com/bc/3fbd948a_1115d/bc/My+Documents/ERASERHEAD.zip?bfDZUEBByyvRvhyK")ERASERHEAD(/url)
If ya can't tell, it's a "Pink Pearl" type of eraser replacing the Fed Carrier. I would have preferred it to replace the RAGE Gunboat, but when it was resized, it would have been too thin.

~Tim ^_-

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"Hanging is too good for a man who makes puns; he should be drawn and quoted." --Fred Allen

(This message has been edited by CaptAceHarddrive (edited 07-29-2004).)

(This message has been edited by CaptAceHarddrive (edited 08-03-2004).)

(This message has been edited by CaptAceHarddrive (edited 08-04-2004).)

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[Tutorial] Extremely Basic Sprites