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Please post feature suggestions here.


Mike at BrashMonkey

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Hey guys,

Great work on the tool so far, very impressive. My only feature suggestion/request is to be able to export to JSON instead of XML. I saw one other request for this, but thought I would mention it again. JSON would be fantastic.

+1 for JSON.

Also it's my understanding that it is usually quicker to use spritesheets over loads of single images.

So how about exporting all the images of one character into a larger spritesheet and changing the files accordingly?

why no just use external tools like texturepacker? animate with single sprites and once your done and want to deploy into your engine/game/whatever.. optimize into a spritesheet and load that instead of the single sprites.

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Hi guys i red old messages (2010-2011) in this topic about bone animations. For my game i really need this feature. No offense guys but i think that bones must be â„–1 in your task list because ability to connect sprites is ultimate. Without it is very hard to make natural look animation.

bones are coming next version

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  • 2 weeks later...

Here is a suggestion to slim down the time line even more. I wrote about it on the kickstarter page but thought it would be better here :)

To make the animation repeat/pingpong = right click on play-button and choose it.

Scrubbing with middle mouse button or similar in the animation area to be able to iterate faster. Ex. hold down middle mouse button + move left/rigt to move in the timeline.

pic on a slimmer timeline:

J8BvK.png

What do you think?

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I have a suggestion, tho it might be a bit detached from what the point of Spriter is.

Perhaps it could be nice to have the option to set a frame around your animation and then using this frame, being able to export PNG sprite sheets, in case you want to go the oldschool way. Right now it works pretty well with the sequential images, that can be arranged in a sprite sheet, but having this as an automated option could be very convenient.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi guys !

I am a Technical Artist working for one of the biggest game companies in the world and I just want to say great work !

I love old school platformers and right now I am working with an indie game at home using Unity3D =)

I have tried your software and this is just what I need as the sprite creation is really tedious =P

Here are my current recommendations for features / bugs.

Prio 1

* Working Undo (this is hard todo late in the pipeline so try to get it in as soon as possible), this might already be working in the non alpha build but just in case =P

* The ability to animate each part separate/ the ability to add or remove keys on a single part.

* Hierarchy based animations, when moving the shoulder the rest of the arm should follow etc.

Currently you muist ctrl+click to multi select and if you have several layer / components this is extremely

time consuming. For a simple usability just add a ctrl, shift or alt combo to your regular transform tools.

You can use the "Objects in frame" order all you need todo is to add a string flag, that the user can write him/her self

like a tag. Example: Three objects are tagged "left_arm": upper_arm, lower_arm and hand. By alt+rotate upper_arm the system will look for any "left_arm" tagged objects

in the "Objects in" frame hierarchy that sits UNDER this upper_arm object and rotate this in the same fashion the multi-select works now.

Prio 2

* hold shift to scale uniform (photoshop)

* a curve editor for easier work with longer animations

* the possibility to tint parts (a simple inputcolor.rgb*texture.rgb would get you a long way)

Prio 3

* a way of exporting the movement as actual skeletal aniamtion (I recommend fbx format as all autodesk softwares can read it)

Thanks

Krister Larsson

Senior Technical Artist

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I haven't read this thread or know what's in the pipeline, these are just my immediate brainstorm ideas :)

Frame

* Being able to make certain objects un-selectable.

Interface

* Optional using MMB to pan the canvas.

Animation

* A curve editor. *EDIT* Come to think of it, all you need is to be able to set EASE IN / EASE OUT on a keyframe.

* A lightbox environment (for example, 3d animation overlay for tracing).

* Being able to import a sequence of files, placing key of each frame on a define increment of frames. (related to previous idea)

Keep it strong, very solid progress!

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I got a few suggestions that comes from someone inexperienced who just tried out the newest build. I haven't created anything yet but I'm waiting until it's fully released.


  • [*:2kxc3a58]Holding Shift while rotating rotates in 15° increments.
    [*:2kxc3a58]A button on the tool bar that does the same thing that the Alt function (Create bone) does, as a shortcut key being the only way to access the program's primary feature is quite obtuse for a new user.

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in the menu where you set sprite hierarchy, it would be great if you could select, apply changes to, or change the heirchy of multiple sprites at a time by holding shift and clicking.

also, it would be helpful if there were "tiers" or groups of sprites that were in relatively similar places that you could hit a number key and assign the sprite to that group. for instance, if there was a 2d character facing east, the parts of the left arm/left leg could be tier 1, body tier 2, and right limbs tier 3. With a feature like this, you could jump straight to a tier to save scroll time, could apply toggles to levels (visible/invisible/outline) which would greatly improve accuracy when placing sprites that are behind others

finally, to make the editor on the sprite hierarchy screen more useful, it would be helpful if you could press a key and have the expanded palette for that sprite appear on the left, the focus of the leftmost panel.

-Lodger

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Thanks for the suggestions lodger.

I do want to add grouping a view options like that lodger, and will most likely come after the remaining pro features: http://www.brashmonkey.com/spriter%20features.htm

As far as the sprite info appearing to the left, I was actually wondering what everyone thought about an idea we were tossing around. Instead of using the drop down information for each sprite, which is more performance intensive than it should be for one thing, we could have one unified info box (like the bone hierarachy view has), and this single box would work for bones, sprites, and at some point, a selection of multiple sprites(basically adjusting the controls of the transform box that appears for the multiselection). This would solve the problem of having to search for a dropdown box, and would make it easy to select something in the canvas view and adjust it without having to hunt for it.

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New post again, since I think editing my first post would have easily been overlooked. I've gotten a few more ideas. They are inspired by other programs I use so take this with a grain of salt, however they are good at what they do.


  • [*:3gfiuvd0]Change mouse cursor appearance depending on what tool you're using. Photoshop standard fare really, but very much required for the Alt-shortcut.
    [*:3gfiuvd0]Consider changing how you move objects. Rotating objects should be simple and quick, having to click the little white dot is not good workflow. I think Blender has gotten it right since there's zero chance that you're going to missclick another underlying object when manipulating something. So what I'm suggesting: Pressing "R" for rotate instantly makes the object rotate, and another click (RMB or LMB, your call) confirms the new position. Same could be done with "T" for translate or "S" for scale, since there may be times when the sprite/object is so small (or you're zoomed out far) that it might be difficult to grab the object repeatedly. This is just one way of doing it.
    [*:3gfiuvd0]For moving along horizontal/vertical axis I suggest the Photoshop route where Shift locks it into the first axis you drag the object in.
    [*:3gfiuvd0]Consider using a modifier key to set a new pivot point by clicking somewhere (Alt is what Photoshop uses when using Free Transform (CTRL+T)). Again, I think clicking on small points on the screen should be avoided in order to help power users who know how to use shortcuts. Maybe the Alt-shortcut for Bone Tool is only available if no other sprite is selected, and if a sprite is selected Alt will move pivot point to where you click?
    [*:3gfiuvd0]One goal which is very hard to achieve but might provoke some new ideas, is how can we make the program function perfectly when the viewport takes up the entire screen? What elements can we be rid of? What shortcuts must we create? Can we make this modifier+RMB bring up a list? I really know my way around Photoshop and Maya, and the one thing I love about them is that they allow me work with maximum screen space, making it easier on the eyes and more pleasant to work with. Photoshop can bring up one list related to the current tool you've got, so for example Brush Tool brings up the brush Modes when pressing Shift+RMB, while the Eraser tool Shift+RMB allows you to switch to pixel-eraser if you so desire. Stuff like this makes it possible for me to work in complete full screen while I draw. It's a difficult thing to achieve for sure, but that's what I would like to see from professional-grade user interfaces.

Just a few ideas on what you could do:

RMB - Keep it as it is now

Shift+LMB - Rotate: Snap by 15, Translate: Snap to horizontal/vertical axis, Scale: Scale uniformly

Shift+RMB - Tool specific dropdown menu (E.g. Rotate: "Flip horizontally", "Flip vertically")

Alt+LMB - If sprite: Set pivot point on click, If no selection: Create bone

Alt+RMB - If sprite: Pivot point dropdown ("Set pivot to center", "Set pivot to overlapping bone" etc), If no selection: Set create object dropdown menu ("Set Alt+LMB to... Create Bone", "Set Alt+LMB to... Create Ruler")

Ctr+LMB - Quick-parent connection (drag from sprite to bone)

Ctr+RMB - Parent connection dropdown menu ("Disconnect parent/child", "Disconnect all children" etc)

It goes without saying that I love what you're doing and I can't wait to use this in the future for my project. Thanks for reading!

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Here are a few fixes that would help a dilemma i'm facing with spriter now. Imagine you put together a running animation that has 12 keyframes once you are done making coarse edits. everything now works fine, but imagine you still want to add an object such as a weapon to the animation. you now have to paste it into each of the key frames, as it will disappear when the new one is added. here are a few ideas that could make this process easier.

Keyframe resampling: how about a feature that takes "snapshots" every specified interval of all parts and converts that to keyframes, replacing the old ones. this would make it easier to do recursive animation and simply complex animations.

also, along the lines of my earlier post, if you do have groups (i.e. front, middle, back, etc.) it would be amazing to have keyframes specific to them....this would also do TONS to speed up recursive animation.

Finally, what about having an option on sprites in a frame that signifies that it is persistent in all subsequent keyframes until it is deleted? this would make it WAAAY easier to introduce items, etc into animations with many keyframes.

Thanks for getting back to me so promptly on my early feedback- your team deserves kudos for really being in tune with what people need and incorporating feedback whenever possible.

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Keep all these awesome suggestions coming everyone! We're reading them all and giving every potential feature a lot of thought to make sure Spriter becomes an absolute joy to use.

Please keep in mind though, many of these features will necessarily have to wait until all the features we've already promised are present and accounted for, and Spriter in general is very stable.

thanks,

Mike at BrashMonkey

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to make tweening easier, it would be great if there was a way to pre identify or save data for the center, rotation points, etc of the sprites being swapped out. it can be an issue swapping in sprites that have a different size/shape than what had previously been there.

Also, for the long haul, a "someday, maybe" feature could be adding lumination to models or features to make palette swapping easier.

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Nice to hear that you're considering our feedback!

I got another idea.

Simulate gravity.

For example a character has segmented cloth draping down, or a boss shatters into smaller pieces that fall onto the ground. By simulating gravity you can save quite a lot of time and the engine doesn't need to have built-in physics in order to get this effect, since Spriter can make it an animation instead. By setting stuff like mass, bouncyness, collision geometry used in the simulation and applied force (burst or constant) you can probably do a lot of neat stuff. For example I have a character wearing a long cowl that should be flowing behind him as he jumps and moves around, using this I could set it to low gravity and apply a force in the appropriate direction as he runs, jumps or falls.

It's a process used in Maya for doing things a human couldn't do, like draping cloth, but for Spriter it could be used as a tool to simplify the animation process.

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Hey guys, great program from what i've seen so far. But just a few suggestions in terms of functionality.

* The ability to delete/set/copy individual movement keys (scale, position, rotate). This would save a lot of re-keying when you want to keep the rotation and position of an object, but completely remove the scale for example.

* Zoom in/out time slider by hotkey-mouse button dragging instead of using the mousewheel. Even at 800 frames it can be a bit of a long process to keep scrolling the mousewheel in order to scale in/out the timeslider. Even just being able to use the mousewheel but hold down shift to make it scroll faster would be a perfect solution.

* Ability to change timeslider to seconds. Animating on milliseconds is a bit of a pain and can get messy, so being able to lock it to seconds would be great.

* Squash/stretch scale hotkey. Being able to hold down a key and scale an object whilst automatically applying squash would be a big time saver (and help avoid losing the volume of objects)

* When scaling objects, make objects scale from their center instead of from the opposing edge. At the moment you need to scale, reposition, scale, reposition, etc…

* Need hotkeys for forward/backwards a frame, play/pause.

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