wertandrew

No worries, thanks for taking time to reply in detail. I will try to observe the issues more carefully from now on and if something comes up I ll write a repro ticket. I will also download the latest version and check if the z-order issue happens (I read the patch notes and was excited to see something like that mentioned, but I didn't download because of the misinformation I mentioned above). Thanks again and keep up the good work.

Thanks for the reply. As much as I value your opinion, the point I was trying to make is that more testing is needed, I just gave some examples in order not to sound negative but constructive. I know that the current approach to testing is cheap and efficient, but I would advise proper testing sessions, mainly on usability and user experience. Hire 4 testers with different skill levels on Spriter (minimum for a limited budget, testers usually take 50$/hour), and observe how they approach the product. Ask questions, like "Do they get it?", ask them to perform key tasks and watch how they work. I think this will not only reveal bugs, but even usability issues. Personally I don't have the time to test right now, even though I want to help improve Spriter. I am using Win 10. Regarding Ctrl+D, that's a functionality for copying an object into all frames: https://puu.sh/tb1Y4/fe40ba978f.png Regarding the trial version, there was a video that mentioned that and I was surprised and I didn't download the latest patch thinking that I would lose access. If I find the video I ll link it as an edit.

Disclaimer: I 've read all tutorials and I ve used the free version for quite some time now. I love the software, but everytime I try to animate, I keep on bumping on new issues. So first of all, sorry for being abstract, but I can't take this anymore. Everytime I start making something in Spriter I keep on bumping on issues and frustration ensues. For example, I press Ctrl+D on a selected object and suddenly all other objects move in z-order. I delete an object in a specific frame, then it gets deleted a frame before too. I press B to join a sprite with a bone then the sprite will lose position in other frames even if the bone doesn't move in them. I also saw that there is no longer a free version (I guess its a time limited one now?). I would expect this change to be done once the software is stable, because now you are just limiting your audience in a time that you need more testers. My advice would be to set up test sessions and observe what users do, because my feeling is that Spriter has limited functionality if not used the way its supposed to. I wish that this product succeeds because its awesome and has a lot of potential, but right now I am in the verge of moving on another animation software because of the bulk of issues that I encounter every time I want to animate something. Edit: Also when exporting, it would be cool if the view captured properly, I got the mouse inside the export:

I tested again with new projects, knowing that extra info about curves and I still can't properly work. The thing is, as long as you add an animation with keys to certain body parts, if you want to add something afterwards (like vfx particles for example), you just cant. It ll mess the existing animation so the only way is to be proactive and keep things invisible and when needed make them visible. For example, think of this: You have a mole that goes into his hole and leaves dust clouds behind. You make the mole go down, you make the dust cloud, replace sprites to make it look like it dissolves, then you realise you want two extra mini clouds on the sides to go left and right. That's where the issues start. I add the extra sprites at the key I want, then in all other frames they disappear. I understand though that this is core functionality. Then, I copy the frame which i created the mini cloud, and paste on an empty keyframe. That will freeze the rest of the animation which is something that doesnt make sense. I am coming from a flash animation BG and I ve used keyframes and modular animations and the way I am used to things working makes it really difficult to do even the simplest of animations here,even though its an amazing software that has a lot of potential. This is probably another topic, but when adding a new sprite in the scene, all frames from the one that the sprite was added and onwards should contain the sprite. Also, only the data inside the key should be copied when copying the keyframe, not everything. If I wanted everything, I would have "key all" first. Also, the timeline copy/paste functions should not be affected to whether I have selected something in the viewport, that also doesnt make sense (even though it can be a nice feature), because with complex animations, you may need to keep a sprite selected (because its hard to select with everything that is going on), while copying/pasting keys around. Imo, the timeline needs to be tweaked to be independent (selection-wise) from the viewport and you can add/remove stuff without affecting the rest (even at bone hierarchy level). Also some clear indications of whether something exists in the timeline would be great (or the ability to set which properties you want to see displayed in the timeline, like width, opacity, etc.) Check FL Studio's automation for more insight on this. Since I mentioned everything I want from Spriter, I might as well mention this too: if Spriter implements Grouped animations (think sprites in flash animations) and masks, I ll happily buy it for my team.

Sry, I was busy and couldn't reply. I understand your solution Mike and it makes much sense. The only caveat is that this issue may come a lot in the future by other users as this is not expected behavior. I also had problems trying to set curves for keys, but seeing that curves are different for objects and keys it makes a lot of sense. The Ctrl thing I mentioned was a one time thing, I used Ctrl to clone an object that had an animation and then flipped its X. When I played the animation both objects moved and the flipped moved opposite to the original, so I thought that was intended so I didnt investigate more, I just deleted it and moved on.

I just recently realised that using Ctrl and cloning, makes sprites follow the same animation of the parent. However, there is a really annoying issue that affects non-cloned sprites where I add a keyframe to a specific bone, and some other sprite that is not part of that skeleton is affected. For example, say I have two independent bones (that are not connected through a parent bone) and a sprite attached on them. Then, I add a keyframe to one bone to move to position B. After that, I add a keyframe that is between the previous keyframe and 0 and move the second bone to position C. When I do that and play, bone A will behave as if I added a keyframe to its animation, even though I didn't (extended timeline and there is nothing there), yet it stops and then continues. To make it work, I have to delete the affected sprites and start again and its annoying when there is previous animations that take time to remake. If there is any info on what is happening, please drop a comment because this is happening a lot and its very time consuming. Thanks