Pixelation
General => General Discussion => Topic started by: Seiseki on July 17, 2011, 12:52:56 am
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So I have a few sprite sheets, but since I'm working in photoshop is too tedious to cut and paste them into layers just to test the animation.
Is there a program where you can import sprites and specify the size of the frames and then just easily select what frames you want to animate?
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Hi, there's Graphics Gale (http://www.humanbalance.net/gale/us/), the paid version can build .gif
Also you can play the anim while pixeling. Cool feature.
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It sounds a little bit like working backwards.
Normally I work on an animation in sequence so I get access to onion skinning and I can constantly tap hotkeys to jump back and forth between frames to check volume. Only after I'm happy with the animation do I turn it into a sheet.
Working from the beginning within a sheet seems illogical. The sheet is the end product, the animation is what you are working on, so it makes sense to have your workflow built around the animation, not the sheet.
So yes, I highly recommend GraphicsGale. The free edition will still preview animations, so you can work on them and then make a sheet out of them. You only need to pay for the ability to actually export animated gifs.
But if you're hell-bent on working from sheets and then previewing the animations from the sheet... no program comes to mind for me. It probably wouldn't be too hard to cook up a little script to do the job, though.
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Ah, well that makes sense :)
GraphicsGale it is then, thanks!
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Is there a program where you can import sprites and specify the size of the frames and then just easily select what frames you want to animate?
I belive this one can do that aswell but for free ;)
check this Simple Sprite Editor http://sourceforge.net/projects/simplespriteedi/ (http://sourceforge.net/projects/simplespriteedi/)
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You can also load the spritesheet into Promotion as an animation and it will read the frames.
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you can use some scripts to cut and put it in a new layer by pressing a hotkey
it will take few time (but i bet graphicgale will be better though)
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just found this simple program: http://rmrk.net/index.php?topic=41524.0 (http://rmrk.net/index.php?topic=41524.0)
but it doesnt seem to be able to adjust the frame rate.
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I've simply made a python script which assembles or dissembles spritesheets by dragging the image files onto the script file. Photoshop has no problem importing individual images as an animation automatically, so this has definitely been the easiest workflow.
You should look at the tool renderhjs made which does this and many other things: http://renderhjs.net/shoebox/
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I avoided posting in this topic when it was first bumped because it was like a year old, but since no one else seems to mind that: ASEPRITE (http://www.aseprite.org/) can also do this.
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I have had problems with Aseprite and importing sprite sheets. It tends to replace whatever background color I have with a color in the sprite after I save it.
I also found the program I posted above messed up some colors after saving too.
Ill have a look at the program indigo posted though.
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if you use gamemaker (only for testing) the sprite editor can do that
also I just found Alferd Spritesheet unpacker, very interesting program !! check a video of it
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I avoided posting in this topic when it was first bumped because it was like a year old, but since no one else seems to mind that: ASEPRITE (http://www.aseprite.org/) can also do this.
Yeah I wasnt sure if I should mention that, haha, I didnt because I thought they were on a roll. :D
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Check Google for scripts relating to Photoshop and Sprite Sheets. I don't remember which one I'm using, but it takes all of your layers and turns them into a sprite sheet. Very very handy. I use the Timeline feature when making sprites, and there's the option to turn them into layers. From there you just make your canvas size the proper size to contain the sprite.
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Since animating in PS is such a chore, I've written a program which loads my current sprite sheet and displays the animation. I run it in a separate window and just refresh when I've made some changes to the figures.
I suppose I could upload it, the problem is that all the values and file names are hard coded. Perhaps people could use it if I made a simple GUI for setting BG color, frame width and height, start and end frame, and frame delay.
But perhaps people require more features than that... such as chaining animations together so preview how a walk, run, jump looks.
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http://danfessler.com/abl/luckypreview/
This tool I made is pretty similar to what you're describing, Arne. It allows you to also recycle old frames rather than simply cycle in order by specifying a frame sequence. Developed it for past projects at work. Load the sprite sheet via browse, set the rows and columns in the two blank boxes, set the FPS, and lastly set the frame sequence in the large box as comma separated values (ie. "1,2,3,4,5,6")
Alternatively, I also packaged the sprite sheet sequencer into a neat clean little class if you prefer to code your own wrapper for it:
http://danfessler.com/luckyspace/js/spritesheet.js (http://danfessler.com/luckyspace/js/spritesheet.js)
Include that file in your <head>, then in the body, mark up an <img> tag with the following syntax in it's onload property:
new spritesheet(image,columns,rows,FPS,$frames)
Example: (IMG tag needs to be wrapped inside a DIV)
<div class="spritesheet"><img src="images/colosalexcavator_3x3_lvl3.png" onload="new spritesheet(this,7,5,30,'1,2,3,4,4,3,2,1')"/></div>
It's what I used to make this page:
http://danfessler.com/luckyspace/ (http://danfessler.com/luckyspace/)
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I started on my little thing. Screenshot of Arnimation V0.1 (http://androidarts.com/gamedev/Arnimation01.png)
Currently it just loads as many whole frames which fit on the source sheet. A static background can be loaded too. Images can be reloaded at any time. Character can be positioned with RMB.
Feature creep:
> RGB sliders for setting mask/alpha color.
> Display a list of all frames. Ability to drag-drop frames into 5 separate animation lists.
> A joystick/keyboard can be used to switch between these lists.
> Lists can be set to different movement modes (e.g. still, left, right, up, down, jump, fall) and speeds with flip option. It should cover the basic topdown and sidescroller stuff. However, the background is just an image there to provide immersion and can't be interacted with.
> File browser.
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Screenshot 2 (http://androidarts.com/gamedev/Arnimation02.png) - Worked on the GUI, error messages and stability/bugs. Implemented color sliders for the mask. I guess I could sample it from the top left pixel though.
Edit: Screenshot 3 (http://androidarts.com/gamedev/Arnimation03.png) - Implemented the mask color grab feature and got the animation set stuff halfway done. At the bottom I'll show a list of frames which can be plopped into the sets and played up using the linked controls. Not sure how to show the frames in the sets. Probably a string of numbers to save space. This thing needs to run at the side of PS so it can't be bulky. I should implement a CPU pause button so it doesn't eat CPU while I work in PS. Problematic with my Immediate Mode GUI so I'll just do a pause screen I guess.
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Just me again, reporting on my progress. Program is looking very complex now, but it sort of sets up a lot of stuff automatically.
Screenshot 4 (http://androidarts.com/gamedev/Arnimation04.png) - Frames lists can now added by clicking the frame list at the bottom. It got a vertical slider to save room. The images there are always scaled to 60px. The 5 set frame lists can be filled in automatically when loading. This function uses the rows on the sprite sheet. LMB mousing over the frame lists allows you to play the animation as if using a slider, which should be handy for checking frame-to-frame consistency. RMB red X'es a frame. The player will go back to the beginning of a list if it encounters a red X. I also added support for viewing up to 3 animations together. Added buttons for common frame widths and heights. Display panel now crops the stuff drawn inside. CPU pause/release done.
Support for movement and controls are next.
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I've been making some progress, and might upload a hopefully functional and stable version soon. After some GUI problems I had to abandon the idea of movement and physics, but changing animation set with the keyboard could be handy so I implemented that at least. With the free GUI space I added some frame editing controls. The sprites and BG image can be scaled 50%-200%. The background color can now be set for the general background and sprite list background at the bottom. I added some shadows to the GUI to help it separate, but certain colors can make it harder to read.
Screenshot of V0.65 (http://androidarts.com/gamedev/Arnimation065.png) - Here I'm fiddling with a 2 part sprite where the upper body is separate due to shooting/aiming etc.
This thing is immediate mode GUI, not the best choice perhaps since the widgets have to be constantly redrawn for their logic to work. It eats 27% of my 4 years old CPU. 0% when "CPU paused".
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Impressive, Arne. I hope that will be able to run in Linux ^_^.
A solid concurrent to my own "AnimEDS" (http://sylvainhb.blogspot.be/search/label/animeds) software ...
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http://androidarts.com/gamedev/Arnimation067.zip
Test release. Compiled on Windows. Should be virus free of course, but I only have MSE. I've only tested it on a NetBook with WinXP (aside from the native dev environment MacOS). If it runs poorly or something is confusing, let me know.
Also, I'm sorry if I insulted your ears with the little... excursion into my unknown.
Edit: Feel free to delete/merge my previous posts as they are now sort of obsolete.
Crummy video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpqC12YvZ3I)
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I guess the question has long since been answered but I figured I'd mention what I use too. I came across a plugin for Paint.NET (http://forums.getpaint.net/index.php?/topic/17516-sprite-animation-helper-v-089-updated-dec-12-2012/) that works fairly well, you just select a box on the canvas and select animation under effects and it brings up a window that animates however many frames you'd like after that box with the possibility of a border between frames, you can also export as a .gif but it's still under development and tends to compress the animation poorly.
Your program seems pretty useful Arne, I like the choice of name too. :lol: