Mike at BrashMonkey
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Posts posted by Mike at BrashMonkey
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Hey,
I didn't see anyone having this Problem, so here I go. I wanted to add something to an animation I created with spriter, but the file won't load correctly. Only one entitiy is loaded correctly. Everything else is empty and the hierarchy only shows 5 Objects (literally Objects, they are called "Object_001" etc and all have the same weird koords like x = 680000,00000). It shows 5 of them, which is the number of bones I used. Nothing shows on the canvas though.
This happend to me before so this time I saved a lot of increments but every file doesnt load correctly.
So I opened the .scml in an Editor and it seems fine. Everything has it's name and so on, so I guess something is wrong with the loading process (?). Also I hope I don't have to redo all my animations :D.
If this is a known issue I'm sorry.
Hi faybe (I'm sending you an email as well).. sorry for the delayed reply... can you please email your Spriter project and scml to lucid@brashmonkey.com so Edgar can take a look at it and see what the issue is?
cheers,
Mike at BrashMonkey
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Haven't seen anything in a couple of weeks, figured I would check if there has been any progress on the Copy/Paste issues?
Hi BluePhaze,
You'll be seeing a new build very soon with great improvements to copy paste which of course will drastically improve workflow.
-Mike at BrashMonkey
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Hi cucurucu,
Are your images getting "distorted" or just filtered? Eventually, Spriter Pro will offer a pixel-art friendly mode, where filtering will be turned off, so no "blurring" will take place.
cheers,
Mike at BrashMonkey
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Ease In & Ease Out of Animations
Hi Bonestorm,
Ease in and Ease out will be in Spriter by the first release of version 1.0.
cheers,
Mike at BrashMonkey
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The things I would like are
Tooltips, ease of use things, clear labels : I had to watch the video to figure out how to do things. Messaging to communicate how to do things would be very helpful.
True IK that adjusts all bones necessary, not just one bone back
On that note, the ability to set acceptable angles for bones to bend, so shoulders automatically don't pop out of sockets
Skew/stretch, just a really important animation thing. Check out #1 on this list for details. http://art-eater.com/2010/07/test-1-darkstalkers/
Good product so far, needs a bit more to be great though!
Hi ChrisAlgoo,
Thanks for the kind words, great suggestions and feedback,
The videos are the only thing we have time to create at the moment, as new Spriter builds appear, to clearly show all Spriter features and how they are meant to be used. In the near future we'll begin working on the actual manual as well as tooltips, lables, pop-ups ect built into Spriter to make things as obvious and easy to learn as possible. Thanks for your patience.
Skew is something we will definately support, but will likely appear some time after the first official release of version 1.0. More advanced IK features will also most likely appear some time after 1.0 is released and rock-solid.
cheers,
Mike at BrashMonkey
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Gotta say, B2 release is looking real good. Though, there're two things I'd like to ask about.
First one isn't a new feature, but rather a feature that was promised in the original version of Spriter. Hitboxes.
It was that feature which I really was interested in and wanted when I bought my license.
Is it still a planned feature, or has it been dropped?
The second thing is an optional mode for putting down keyframes. I really don't like that the program puts down a keyframe
whenever I do anything. If I could have the program only put down a keyframe when I press a button in the GUI or key on the keyboard
that would be great.
Hi InkBot,
Hitboxes will definately appear before 1.0 is released, as will many other features/ Don't worry, no planned feature has been dropped, we were simply delayed for a while. Thanks for your patience. Also, A key frame makign button is back in the next build.
Cheers,
Mike at BrashMonkey
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Hey, thank you for developing this awesome tool :D I bought a copy and can't wait for the pro version.
Feature suggestions?
+ One thing that I have always found tedious with editing files is having to navigate to them with my file manager. When having millions of body parts all in one folder, it can get bothersome finding the one I want to edit or iterate.
A small, but very useful feature would be the ability to set an external image editor in the options and the ability to open body parts with it from within sprite's object list.Then all one has to do to edit a body part is to double click it on the list or left click-edit externally.
+a little filter search box above the list would compliment that nicely.
+ Just middle click to pan, instead of having to hold spacebar. Blender, inkscape and gimp do that design and it's beautiful.
+Ability to import an image sequence for reference. For example say I made an animation pencil test in some app that gives me the ability to go with the traditional way of doing it- with a pencil brush. I am personally interested in doing my animations in http://www.pencil-animation.org/ and turning them to polished character sprites in spriter. If spriter had something like a grease pencil layer to write notes and make pencil tests that would completely remove the need to use pencil.All I use in pencil2d really is the pencil brush and the eraser,combined with the layers. It's time line is not as advanced as spriter as it lacks basic features and is no good for storing multiple animation clips.
hi blurymind,
Great suggestions,
As for middle-click to scroll, that now works. We also plan on adding the ability to load in images as reference and to load in sequential images as animations for Spriter 1.0.
keep the great suggestions comming everyone!
Mike at BrashMonkey
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1). Ease in \ Ease Out + Graph editor
2). IK\FK switch for the whole character (holding shift does only "half" IK for example a human leg does not move the top part of it only the two lower)
3). MS\FPS indicator (since most animators works on fps systems)
4). Smooth zooming and panning (could be nice)
5). maybe a skew ? (like in flash)
6). good onion skin
Hi bobo,
Ease in and out will appear in Spriter 1.0. The other features you mention are things we plan to add some time after 1.0, except for "good onion skin", as we'd need to know exactly what you mean. I can say Edgar is currently finishing tweaks and optimizations to onion-skin, but there's no way for us to know if that is what you mean by good. If there's a specific aspect to onion-skin that you're after, please let us know.
Also, smooth zooming and especially panning are very low priority, as they add nothing in the way of actual functionality and are also a matter of taste. (For example I personally hate it when the canvas drifts to a stop after I let go of the mouse button in an art program. I like absolute percision and immediacy when scrolling and zooming in on my art.) We still might add it, but definately after 1.0, and as a feature that can be toggled on or off.
cheers,
Mike at BrashMonkey
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Hi,
I've read the boards and ther shortcut but I'm quite new to Spriter, so I'm sorry if I missed a feature which is already there.
Simply put, I would like a 'add keyframe' shortcut/button which adds a keyframe in the current frame which freezes the exact position of the objects at that point in time.
It would often be easier than copy and paste, and it would also speed up other manipulations (beside tiny adjustments, another fancy use could be to add some keyframes at irregular intervals in the middle of an interpolated animation and then set them all to linear as to simulate stop motion).
As an advanced feature it could also be interesting to have a tool which generates a keyframe in the entire timeline at every decided interval (i.e. every 100ms).
Cheers,
ele
Hi EleBriscoe,
Add keyframe buttons are back in the next build. Stay tuned, and thanks for your patience. Thanks for the suggestion about the keyframe at time intervals. I think its a cool idea, but can't promise you'll be seeing that before 1.0 is released.
cheers,
Mike at BrashMonkey
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Hi All,
I've only just picked up Spriter and i'm still getting to grips with it. So far it seems to offer me exactly the kind of features i'm after without the bloat that you get in other packages.
One thing I was wondering about is whether you had any plans to support vector graphics in future? That way I could scale the components of my character without losing image quality. I currently create base images in Inkscape. Then, to use in Spriter, I export as png. Finally I export the animation frames as png from Spriter. Perhaps not the best workflow but i'm pretty new to all of this.
Just to be clear, i'm not suggesting you include the drawing tools in spriter to create the images. I actually quite like the split between tools.
Anyway I haven't bought in yet, most likely will soon, keep up the good work.
Hi Hosepha,
it's not impossible Spriter will some day be able to load and animate vector files, but this would definately be some time after 1.0 is released and rock solid. In the mean time, if you plan to use Spriter simply to export sequential images instead of using the actual Spriter file in your games, then I suggest you simply export high resolution (maybe 3 or 4 times the final size you need) images to use, then simply scale down your animations while exporting them from Spriter.
cheers,
Mike at BrashMonkey
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I haven't checked this whole thread, but...
What about sub-animations? What I mean by this, is animations that occur without interrupting a 'main' animation, such as swinging a sword while in the middle of a walk cycle. The walk cycle continues as normal, but the upper body performs an attack sub-animation. The Mega Man Zero series does this with Zero's walking sword slash.
Hi Candescence,
We plan on a flexible Spriter animation within a Spriter animation features, but these will likely not appear until after the first release of 1.0. we simply must finish all critical features first.
What you're mentioning though is even more sophisticated, because the time that the upper body animation needs to begin depends completely on player input within the game engine....the easist way to do this anytime soon is to animate the upper and lower bodies as seperate objects, then anchor one to the other in the game engine. This is the way it would be done for most games...
We'll see if we can figure out a more "automatic" solution for Spriter users who need this type of functionality some time after we release version 1.0.
cheers,
Mike at BrashMonkey
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The ability to load background images as guides and several other useful features of this type are planned for Spriter 1.0.
cheers,
Mike at BrashMonkey
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Thanks for the bug report Allan, We'll try and take care of that asap. Full support for Game Make Studio and all other popular authoring systems is only a matter of time..if the communities don't get it done by the time we release 1.0 we'll then focus efforts on helping get full Spriter support implemented asap.
cheers,
Mike at BrashMonkey
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Hi Everyone,
Here's a new video demonstrating the first Pro-only features to make it into Spriter B2. Namely IK, IK locking, and Rotation/Scale Inheritance toggling for child sprites or bones.
cheers,
Mike at BrashMonkey
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Hi HardcoreBadger,
This new vid explains it and the other currently implemented pro features thoroughly:
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I assume you mean to adjust the z-order of a specific sprite for all keyframes simultaneously..is this correct? As in the cases where you start animating and then realize the z-order is not right, but don't want to take the time to fix the z-order manuall in all frames?
This feature does not yet exist, so certianly for now its important to test your z-orders carefully before creating any additional frames.. I do this simply by playing with the character once I've set it up...trying all kings of extreme positions to make sure there are no z-order issues.
Adjusting z-order of a specific sprite across all frames might in fact be tricky to program, as each key frame might or might not have an instance of that particular sprite, end even if so, it might be in a diferent z-order (along with all other sprites) in all frames. There might also be a totally diferent number of sprites per keyframe....
cheers,
Mike at BrashMonkey
PS. If I understand correctly, bones have no effect on z-order...which is a great feature...becuase any sprites, no mater what z-order can be a child of any bone. This allows for fantastic flexibility, with some sprites on one bone going below things, while other sprites on the same bone can go above.
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Thanks so much for the kind words and support dravenx!
cheers,
Mike at BrashMonkey
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Hi everyone,
I've taken the time to make a rough video explaining the general workflow and demonstrating the majority of features in this latest build of Spriter. Of course we'll be creating actual documentation along the way to the official release of 1.0, but until then, I hope this is helpful, especially to Spriter newcomers. Sorry for all the "um's" ;)
1) Starting from Scratch : http://youtu.be/Y5PBw4aCVNQ?t=30s
2) Adding Sprites(images) to the canvas: http://youtu.be/Y5PBw4aCVNQ?t=2m19s
3) Changing pivot point of a sprite in the canvas: http://youtu.be/Y5PBw4aCVNQ?t=3m1s
4) Animating boneless sprites: http://youtu.be/Y5PBw4aCVNQ?t=3m19s
5) Scaling a sprite and changing its opacity: http://youtu.be/Y5PBw4aCVNQ?t=3m32s
6) Changing images in a sprite: http://youtu.be/Y5PBw4aCVNQ?t=4m39s
7) Change z order of Sprites : http://youtu.be/Y5PBw4aCVNQ?t=8m7s
8) Changing properties/timespan of an animation: http://youtu.be/Y5PBw4aCVNQ?t=8m51s
9) zoom in or out of timeline: http://youtu.be/Y5PBw4aCVNQ?t=9m40s
10) expland timeline to edit per object keyframes: http://youtu.be/Y5PBw4aCVNQ?t=9m56s
11) Zooming and panning in the canvas (frame editing window): http://youtu.be/Y5PBw4aCVNQ?t=10m45s
12) Adding new or persistant sprites to a keyframe: http://youtu.be/Y5PBw4aCVNQ?t=11m38s
13) OnionSkin : http://youtu.be/Y5PBw4aCVNQ?t=13m42s
14) moving and setting pivotpoints: http://youtu.be/Y5PBw4aCVNQ?t=14m20s
15) Creating a character before adding bones: http://youtu.be/Y5PBw4aCVNQ?t=15m32s
16) Creating bones: http://youtu.be/Y5PBw4aCVNQ?t=17m32s
17) Assigning sprites to bones: http://youtu.be/Y5PBw4aCVNQ?t=20m34s
18) Animating using bones: http://youtu.be/Y5PBw4aCVNQ?t=21m44s
19) Animating child sprite independantly to it's parent bone: http://youtu.be/Y5PBw4aCVNQ?t=22m41s
20) Change position of bone relative to parent at any time: http://youtu.be/Y5PBw4aCVNQ?t=23m30s
21) Scaling child sprites with their parent bone: http://youtu.be/Y5PBw4aCVNQ?t=24m19s
cheers,
Mike at BrashMonkey
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Hi simmon,
Until Edgar has a chance to reply, have you tried doubleclicking on images in the File Palette? This brings up the default pivot point associated with any given image, and allows you to place the pivotpoint by hand or via typing numbers... Then every time you drag that image onto the canvas, it will have this exact pivotpoint unless you manually change it in the canvas.
cheers,
Mike at BrashMonkey
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Hi roid100,
The communities of many popular game authoring systems have already begun creating plug-ins for Spriter support, but due to the past delay in Spriter's development have not yet finished them.
After all key features have been added to Spriter for it's 1.0 release, we'll be taking the necessary steps to help the communities finish plug-ins with full Spriter support as quickly as possible. In fact, within the next few days, Edgar will be finishing the documentation explaining the current Spriter features to facilitate easier plug-in development in the short term.
We are determinded and will take the necessary actions to make sure Spriter is fully supported in Unity and many other authoring packages around the time of Spriter 1.0's official release or shortly thereafter.
cheers,
Mike at BrashMonkey
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Hi everyone,
We had hoped to have a new build availible for April 30th but it looks like it wont be ready until tomorrow night (if things go smoothly). Edgar has just finished adding back in the IK Locking feature but there are still a couple of small bugs and general testing we need to take care of before releaseing this build. We also recieved reports of a couple new bugs just today which whe will fix while we're at it.
thanks for your patience,
Mike at BrashMonkey
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Edgar is trying to wrap up IK locking first and is almost there... We hope to get the new build out some time today. Sorry for the slight deadline slip everyone.
cheers,
Mike at BrashMonkey
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Hi josempans,
Are you using the Spriter version downloaded directly from the brashmonkey website, or the new pre-beta "daily" build from here in the forums?
The version on our website has a known performance issue, causing severe slow-down once you've got more than a couple animations with bones... This issue is fixed wit hthe new pre-beta...which, if it keeps progressing smoothly will be replacing the current build soon.
Is that what you were talking about, actual performance of Spriter or were you simply asking how to set a framerate for a given animation in Spriter?
cheers,
Mike at BrashMonkey
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@ monsterzerozero
I think you misunderstood. To rephrase, we have every intention of supporting skew and other forms of sprite distortion some time after Spriter 1.0 is released. It's just a matter of time.
As a side note, I'm sure there are more than a few authoring systems that can't support sprite-skewing, which is part of why we didn't consider this to be an absolute must for the first release of Spriter 1.0 (even though we love the feature and realize its usefulness)...we first wanted to add as many features as possible which all game engines will be able to support.
Lastly, As a professional animator and one who appreciates the gorgeous games by Vanillaware and many past 2d masterpieces which use modular animation with no sprite skewing in their character animations, I'd say many pro animators might disagree with your statement...but again, we know its a great and useful feature and have every intention of supporting it and more forms of sprite distortion after 1.0 is released...and this might be one of the first features to come with a warning that “some game engines or authoring systems might not be able to reproduce animations created with this feature.â€
Cheers,
Mike at BrashMonkey
version B2 bug/crash report thread (and daily Win32 builds)
in Spriter
Posted
Hi threonin,
Edgar is looking into this issue and will get back to you with a build to test as soon as he can.
cheers,
Mike at BrashMonkey