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Usability on the Mac


mobileben

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So I've been trying to use Spriter today. Both the beta and A4.1. I'm on a rMBP running OSX 10.8.3. Not sure if other people on Macs are running into the same problem, but the builds are incredibly unstable. Beta is actually a bit unusable based on the features that got removed (is. object information).

On A4, it crashes consistently after a few minutes. Particularly when trying to make changes to the object info in Objects IN Frame. The scrolling of the object info doesn't work right and when you have too many sprites, you can't enter in any more information since the entry fields cannot be scrolled on screen. And of course the crashes. I added this on the bug report system.

My apologies as I do realize this is an Alpha and I don't want to sound too negative. I'm hoping this app becomes an ultra usable tool. But before I commit the time to build an exporter, I want to make sure it will have a usable workflow. This is hard to determine when I can't get beyond building a character.

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Hi mobileben. Working as quickly as I can to catch up the beta to the previous featureset. I knew about the Mac bug with scrolling, and there was another issue with the expandable objectinfo, which is just that the ui elements were taking way more resources than they were worth. When the object info editting features return it'll be one single widget for any selected items. Please report any actual stability issues in the bug and crash thread stickied at the top of this forum. A new Mac build will be out later this week, including several bug fixes for bugs that the community found/reported in the beta build. It probably won't have the object info widget back just yet, but releases will continue to come regularly, and the we'll catch up on the previous featureset. So far all reproduceable bugs have been fixed, and I'm working on some refactoring that may fix the bugs I haven't been able to reproduce. We're rapidly approaching full stability and a very solid 1.0.

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I've only been able to try Spriter for a few minutes at a time on my Mac, but it crashes like crazy. I had a sprite that was supposed to be about 20 pieces and three times in a row I only got to place and rig a few of them before Spriter just crashed unexpectedly. I haven't really gone back to it after that, as it seems like a waste of time until stability fixes are in place.

I also learned that apparently the Unity API isn't really usable, it seems, and it doesn't look like anyone is working on another one (or one that works with a toolkit that isn't going to cost even more money) right now. With that in mind, it kind of feels like, "Well, what's the point in testing or learning how to use this program if 1) it crashes constantly right now and 2) it isn't even usable with Unity?"

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Was this with version b1? If you downloaded from the Brashmonkey.com front page, please download the latest version from the b1 release thread stickied at the top of this forum. If you're already using that version, which os are you using, and what were you doing when it crashed?

Well, what's the point in testing

10 bugs were fixed in the previous version (about a bug a day), aside from the features that were added in this latest version. I believe every single one of those (including a crash or two) were found by users/testers, as opposed to Mike and I. All reported bugs, iirc, were fixed in time for release. The point in testing is specifically to find bugs and crashes, and then report them in as much detail as possible, so I can recreate them, and so they can be fixed and the next version will be free of them.

Everyone uses the program differently, and several users have reported to me that version b1 is extremely stable, as I have found myself. Though I have fixed a bug since release and am currently fixing a performance issue, I definitely can't get it to crash. This leaves you and testers like you in a unique position. If you can get it to crash consistently it means that there's something specific to your system or workflow that is causing the crash. If you're able to pinpoint exactly which action or circumstance causes the crash(or any other bug), it's very likely I will fix it before the next build.

it isn't even usable with Unity?

It isn't even usable with Unity, yet. We are currently focused on completing the program after a long delay, but we have no intention of leaving Unity or any other major authoring tool unsupported. As we approach, and surpass 1.0, we will put a greater focus on developer documentation and directly supporting the development of frameworks either through more active engagement with developers, directly coding myself, and as has already happened with a few other authoring tools - directly involving the creators of the tool in question. Getting to a stable and feature complete 1.0 is important for developers on all platforms, so there won't be any api's that are complete temporarily until another feature is added, and so developers don't have to deal with the frustrations of being a bug tester of Spriter while they're attempting to develop an api. On a side note, I've been approached by a developer or two who are using the Export to Png feature and beginning development using regular sprites, while waiting for their tool developer to implement directly loading Spriter animations, at which point they would replace those placeholder frame by frame animations with direct playback of the Spriter animation..

I understand you may not wish to beta test under the circumstances, but if you decide not to, I encourage you to check back at a later time.

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