Spriter question/ aligning

[RedRock911]

So I am working on a creature prefab that has a container component. I'm also giving him a custom container, for some flare. So as far animating all of the frames, is there a way to align them? Or is everything gauging it with your eyes with the previous frame?

 

 

[Mobbstar]

Did you watch a simple guide to spriter? The frames inbetween two marks on the timeline are automatically calculated.

 

If you mean alignment ingame, there's coding methods for that.

[RedRock911]

Did you watch a simple guide to spriter? The frames inbetween two marks on the timeline are automatically calculated.

If you mean alignment ingame, there's coding methods for that.

You would think. I made a container, based on the chester ui prefab. Renaming it kills the animations, so I redrew all the frames(that and I wanted some pizazz to the mod. So where the "missing frame, was for the animation, I just redid them. Problem is, by hand, there is some misalignment, not by much, but enough to notice.

Just some sort of progress to the mod I'm working on. to take a break from constant script errors (I've completely wrecked my creatures brains,stategraph, and prefab.)

Truth is, I think I officially went too deep, and I'm in the weeds.so I thought I could work on the creatures container art and animations.

All a part of learning something new.

 

--edited

Yes Mobbstar, I did, great guide. 

[Corrosive]

chester ui prefab

 

UIs and prefabs are two very different things =o  UI stands for User Interface and is used to describe graphical elements that the player directly interacts with.  In DS, UI elements are typically attached to Widgets..

 

I'm guessing you based your container UI on one of the ui_chest or ui_chester animation files?  Are your container UI elements misaligned with regard to the slots drawn on top of it?

[RedRock911]

UIs and prefabs are two very  ui_chester animation files different things =o  UI stands for User Interface and is used to describe graphical elements that the player directly interacts with.  In DS, UI elements are typically attached to Widgets..

 

I'm guessing you based your container UI on one of the ui_chest or ui_chester animation files?  Are your container UI elements misaligned with regard to the slots drawn on top of it?

 ui_chester animation files, sorry about the confusion. when I ran my mod, because I renamed the files, there where no animations for the chest to open up. Just an object place holder (with the "missing" warning sign on it) 

So I went ahead and fired up GIMP, and basically made a quick .png for it. 

Then went back into spriter, and where ever that missing animation art was, I just resized the new image. 

Only on one or two, I didn't get the alignment quite right.

It takes a bit of work and eye cordination, but I can go back in and square it up. I just wanted to know if there was an easier way. 

 

--edited about those slots, what are they? $10.00 says its something I dont know yet

[Corrosive]

Every 15 seconds or so my brain flips between thinking it understands exactly what you mean and realizing I only 85% grasp your problem.

When troubleshooting, specificity is everything. Can't help you load your ammunition without knowing if you're tying to operate a SAW or an M1 Abrams! And then you have to make sure that the right kind of ammo is being used, or if there's another problem like an improperly ejected casing stuck in the barrel. /end analogy

Presumably you used krane to convert ui_chester_shadow_3x4.zip into a spriter project, right? That should have left you with the following project (for example, lets say its all in a "ui_chester_shadow_3x4" folder):

ui_chester_shadow_3x4/ui_chester_shadow_3x4.scml
ui_chester_shadow_3x4/frame/frame-0.png  (frame in this sense is akin to picture frame, not animation frame)


frame-0.png is the only image you need to replace, which is why I was confused about what is being misaligned. You can't misalign something with itself!  I take it that you hand-drew multiple keyframes?  You can open up frame-0.png in GIMP, create a new layer, and draw your new ui frame on top of the old one, using the old dimensions as a guide.  Then hide or delete the layer with the old frame, and save the file, overwriting frame-0.png.  When you open up your spriter project, your new frame will be in place of the old one, with the animation intact.

[RedRock911]

Every 15 seconds or so my brain flips between thinking it understands exactly what you mean and realizing I only 85% grasp your problem.

When troubleshooting, specificity is everything. Can't help you load your ammunition without knowing if you're tying to operate a SAW or an M1 Abrams! And then you have to make sure that the right kind of ammo is being used, or if there's another problem like an improperly ejected casing stuck in the barrel. /end analogy

Presumably you used krane to convert ui_chester_shadow_3x4.zip into a spriter project, right? That should have left you with the following project (for example, lets say its all in a "ui_chester_shadow_3x4" folder):

ui_chester_shadow_3x4/ui_chester_shadow_3x4.scml

ui_chester_shadow_3x4/frame/frame-0.png  (frame in this sense is akin to picture frame, not animation frame)

frame-0.png is the only image you need to replace, which is why I was confused about what is being misaligned. You can't misalign something with itself!  I take it that you hand-drew multiple keyframes?  You can open up frame-0.png in GIMP, create a new layer, and draw your new ui frame on top of the old one, using the old dimensions as a guide.  Then hide or delete the layer with the old frame, and save the file, overwriting frame-0.png.  When you open up your spriter project, your new frame will be in place of the old one, with the animation intact.

 

YES! Thank you! I should have used the old dimensions! (forhead smack!)

 

I also figured out loosely, you can move things around in spriter, but you have to overwrite the default pivot point. Although you can change the Z order, it would never matter because Spriter doesn't set the layers for dont starve, dont starve does and would just put them back in their place. 

 

Oh I took your advice on attempting to learn a bit about lua. But as you see, I am clearly completely confused about definitions. Not that there isn't enough info out there. It's my learning curve is more like a square. 

 

So as per this tutorial Which I forgot to reference before posting, when dealing with animating in Spriter, you have to use the 1 and 2 keys and go back and forth the marked time frames and ensure they are aligned the way you want them aligned.

 

My god i like this part of modding so much more then scripting, which i've destroyed. Although scripting is absolutely where the magic happens. 

[Corrosive]

My god i like this part of modding so much more then scripting,

 

Once you get a handle on it, scripting is magic

 

 

YES! Thank you! I should have used the old dimensions! (forhead smack!)

 

You still can! Just open up the old frame in GIMP and paste in your new art on top, then resize it to fit the old frame.  Save the file and profit

[RedRock911]

Once you get a handle on it, scripting is magic

 

 

 

You still can! Just open up the old frame in GIMP and paste in your new art on top, then resize it to fit the old frame.  Save the file and profit

 honestly, as big as this "small mod" is turning out to be, I should be seeking people out who want to tag their name on it. I did go ahead and decide to use the walrus/pig animations for the body, which means going into spriter and aligning the arms, torso, and head parts. 

Thats the other part of the question, how to lock the frames in the loop, and move "all" the body parts at once, instead of each of the marked frames. 

I have two difficult mods that require some team work, after that, I can relax,  schedule some study time and redo all the tutorials, do a Spriter tutorial or two, and of course, read up on LUA and hopefully work out some practical workshops with it. 

 

The only reason I feel any of this is difficult is lack of experience. Which at a painstakingly slow rate, I'm obtaining! Slow progress is still progress!