The Bears Pit: JA2 Technical Department » How to animate own sprites

Messages:31
Registered:June 2007

Nope, didnt edit nothing actually, it includes running in all angles and there are 8 of those, so...

Im starting to understand the whole offset thing a bit better now, thanks, but as you can see the colors are all screwed up, why does it do that?

Re: How to animate own sprites[message #155550]

Mon, 03 September 2007 01:16

Messages:83
Registered:July 2007
Location: Moscow, RF

Aucune idee! No ideas! Never "played" so far! Try to save a copy, and use it in game - just to know if only colours on screen become wrong, or the file palette too? Hope, it,s the editor, not the palette.

Try to look at the STI-Edit.ini file - open with notepad and delete the MRUlist statements (recently used files). Then try again.

Re: How to animate own sprites[message #155551]

Mon, 03 September 2007 01:23

Messages:31
Registered:June 2007

How come you know so much about this, anyway? I thank you again for helping out so much.
Deleting the recently used files didnt fix it, I guess I either have to sack the whole animation or recolor the screwed up frames

Re: How to animate own sprites[message #155552]

Mon, 03 September 2007 01:29

Messages:83
Registered:July 2007
Location: Moscow, RF

But are them "wrong" in game, or not? Have You tried to place Your file in the Anims directory - that overcomes finding in anims.slf - and checked the new animation in Omerta?

One more idea - You can browse animations with STIview - it can show all the frames at once!

Re: How to animate own sprites[message #155554]

Mon, 03 September 2007 01:38

Messages:83
Registered:July 2007
Location: Moscow, RF

It seems the editor lose palette colours indexes - no remedies yet. Will try to see it myself.

Re: How to animate own sprites[message #155594]

Mon, 03 September 2007 17:43

Messages:31
Registered:June 2007

Also, I need some feedback on this, anything wrong?

http://img512.imageshack.us/img512/7025/runpiggyrunum4.jpg

My goal is to add as unique animations to every item in the game as I can plus attatchments, but I must know if this is something the community would want.

I'm also thinking about armors and such, gasmasks, headphones etc. I'll start small by stuff like this, then when I feel more comfortable with it I can start taking on making whole new animations.

Re: How to animate own sprites[message #155595]

Mon, 03 September 2007 18:06

Messages:1836
Registered:September 2004
Location: CH

looks good stupid drunkard, but watch out for your palette and the using-black-problem

i think you should use a palette from a different animation, a palette that has colors immediately following the first (transparent) color (not immediately followed by the black placeholders). for example mc_dblsh has a set of yellows following the transparent background color, it's safer to work with this to prevent black from turning to bright yellow in game.

the color fu*k-up is a problem that usually happens when you've worked a lot in sti-edit or scrolled about for a long time etc. it doesn't corrupt your file. as soon as you notice it, save the animation, close it, reopen it and re-insert the corrupted bitmap. only the frame(s) you looked at would be corrupted after you save. so no scrolling after the color screw up happens, just saving to save any changes and re-inserting the screwed up bitmap and saving again will fix it.

Re: How to animate own sprites[message #155596]

Mon, 03 September 2007 18:26

Buren

Messages:17
Registered:July 2007
Location: Budapest, Hungary

Looks nice, stupid_drunkard! Keep it up! I personnaly want to see something like this. Wink

Re: How to animate own sprites[message #155597]

Mon, 03 September 2007 18:26

Messages:31
Registered:June 2007

Will do! I'm gonna be working on this all day and late into the night, so I'm hoping for some progress.

Re: How to animate own sprites[message #155600]

Mon, 03 September 2007 19:54

Messages:1836
Registered:September 2004
Location: CH

Buren

Looks nice, stupid_drunkard! Keep it up! I personally want to see something like this.

so do i.

sent you a PM about this, s_d

Re: How to animate own sprites[message #155605]

Mon, 03 September 2007 22:08

Messages:31
Registered:June 2007

Allright, I've edited 27 frames of a 175 on the M_R_SWAT, I'm a slow worker, but I'm getting there.

And now I've cleaned them up, as good as I can, the work now in the beginning is rather slow as I havent really gotten into it yet.

[Updated on: Tue, 04 September 2007 00:56] by Moderator

Re: How to animate own sprites[message #155949]

Thu, 06 September 2007 11:30

Messages:31
Registered:June 2007

SCREW THIS, THIS IS TOO HARD, IM GIVING UP Sad

Juuuust kidding, I'm doing some progress actually, starting to get into a good groove.

Re: How to animate own sprites[message #155953]

Thu, 06 September 2007 12:24

Messages:1836
Registered:September 2004
Location: CH

glad to hear. just a short question, you started with M_R_Swat?

can you maybe give me a short explanation of how many animations you're planning to tackle and in what order? just curious...
thx

Re: How to animate own sprites[message #155983]

Thu, 06 September 2007 20:18

Messages:31
Registered:June 2007

Yeah, started with M_R_Swat by random, I'm gonna finnish it up and then take a better view of the situation, what order and such.
Right now I'm mostly into adding an AK in the mercs hands on all the required animations, afterwards I'll probably deal with some attatchments, maybe revolvers, I'm not sure. God damn I'm unorganized.

Re: How to animate own sprites[message #156001]

Thu, 06 September 2007 22:55

Messages:1836
Registered:September 2004
Location: CH

hehe. same here. always when testing new anims, you'll hit on other ones you'd need to do... then browsing for them in the .slf, you'll find a couple of others... never ending cycle.

but from your comments i derive you plan to do ALL the animations that display a long gun and make it an Ak? that would totally rock.
But i would suggest, to be prepared for the unfortunate case of burning out or losing momentum, to start with the "most important" animations, say those that focus the most on the gun itself. the R_swat thing where the character sticks up the gun over his head can surely be considered one of them. the R_run that you showed in the screenshot earlier in this thread as well. i'd also say the firing animations (particuliarly standing, as there, the gun is usually best visible) and the brth animations with the long gun are key animations. after those, you might be able to copy-paste a lot.

attachments will be tricky, as they're so small. You could even show a small red line for laser sights (although i was told that it's unrealistic)emerging from the attachment.

keep it up, i'm looking forward to this

Re: How to animate own sprites[message #156088]

Fri, 07 September 2007 14:03

Messages:31
Registered:June 2007

Yeah, all the animations with a long gun shall be edited with an AK.
It's the main thing I plan to do, after that I'm just gonna hope for good reception or I'll do it again.

And dont worry, I wont burn out, this is my favorite game and I might just be able to contribute something, that's enough motivation I need to keep this project on its feet.

Re: How to animate own sprites[message #156159]

Fri, 07 September 2007 19:25

Slax

Messages:1430
Registered:July 2006
Location: People riding polar bears...

Looking very nice so far.
Not much else to add. Just looking forward to this Smile

Re: How to animate own sprites[message #157437]

Fri, 14 September 2007 12:23

Messages:31
Registered:June 2007

Sorry for the lack of updates, I've been really sick latley so I havent been able to work on any of the animations, I'm starting to feel better though and as soon as I get my basic motorskills back I'll continue.

Re: How to animate own sprites[message #157516]

Fri, 14 September 2007 20:51

Messages:83
Registered:July 2007
Location: Moscow, RF

Take Your ...hmm... right UP and move Your hand quicker! You'll do it!!!

Re: How to animate own sprites[message #157589]

Sat, 15 September 2007 15:30

DNA from the Lowlands

Messages:337
Registered:July 2003

I'm reading in happy-anticipation.
Drunkards pic on page 5 shows an AK, gas-tube on top of the barrel.

"thinking about armors and such, gasmasks, headphones etc."
Dunno if it can help or turn out irrelevant...
What if, one would be able to mark-the pixelpositions and overlay those items on the 3-bodytypes.

So then only an anim with a floating-item need be made that would be displayed over a merc-anim.
(I mean otherwise there's an extended ear, a gasmask (a combo) etc. for every item.
But when I thought some more, it dawned on me that the NPC's 'all have a different animation-cycles' the overlay-wouldn't overlap-perfect.

(not giving up yet) For Extended Ear:
Perhaps a coded-colour like that-transparency can be added to the left-right-ear on the MercsHead in the Merc-anim and on the Extended-Ear in the ExtendEarAnim.
Thinking the extended-Ear should overlay on those two-pixels.
(perhaps the game can decide from position of those two pixels which direction the merc is facing)

Another colour could code for helmet. And so on.
Like instead of a code that refers to it should be )

Re: How to animate own sprites[message #157991]

Tue, 18 September 2007 06:30

Kaerar

Messages:2040
Registered:January 2003
Location: Australia :D

That is used in games after JA2 a lot (espcially the 3D FPS's where all thats replaced is the overlay/model in the hand or on the body etc...) so I was wondering if its possible to ad teh overlay feature to the STI files like they do for colour overlays for shirts. Make an anim with the shirt underneath the armour and create a new transparency colour (like the primaries used for the shirt colours) which is replaced with the Armour overlay. Same can be done with leggings, helmets, etc...

Guns are a little harder unless split into gun families. Then its easier but still mainly placeholders.

Unless you can make a batch anim creator for Maya or LW or any other reasonably powerful 3D proggie, and just alter the gun in hand for all the positions necessary.

Only problem is the limit of the STI files for this as you would need hundreds of STI files to link up with the correct guns and armour combinations.

Re: How to animate own sprites[message #158180]

Wed, 19 September 2007 14:37

Messages:31
Registered:June 2007

I'm all better now! Jesus christ, I've taken alot of time on me on this, I need to speed up!

Anyways, I'm soon done with swat anim, you guys will have to check it out and tell me what needs to be improved.

And considering the posts above, if Im supposed to work something like that out, sheesh, my programming knowledge is minimal, hell, even unpacking the SLF files is stretching it Wink

Re: How to animate own sprites[message #158186]

Wed, 19 September 2007 15:33

Messages:31
Registered:June 2007

http://rapidshare.com/files/56766918/M_R_SWAT.sti.html

There we are, I'm just gonna let my eyes rest a bit then I'll start on another.

Re: How to animate own sprites[message #158207]

Wed, 19 September 2007 17:14

Buren

Messages:17
Registered:July 2007
Location: Budapest, Hungary

heheh ... you're my new hero! Very Happy

only one negative thing: the magazine seems to change size in most of the successive sprites ... but not that serious problem... probably wouldn't notice it ingame ... keep up the good work!!! :thumbsup:

Re: How to animate own sprites[message #158292]

Wed, 19 September 2007 22:37

Messages:83
Registered:July 2007
Location: Moscow, RF

Nice job, Man!
But the rest?!.

Re: How to animate own sprites[message #158412]

Thu, 20 September 2007 14:37

Messages:31
Registered:June 2007

Yeah, I'll fiddle with the magazines alittle more, it's actually what I thought was a bit off myself.

Sorry there, CNC, there isint any rest, that's all I've done. I'm a bit ashamed, but to my defense I've been seriously ill for a couple of weeks so my work was halted.

Re: How to animate own sprites[message #158458]

Thu, 20 September 2007 20:50

Messages:83
Registered:July 2007
Location: Moscow, RF

Don't worry, Man! It was a joke! You're great! Try to continue with female body!

It's a more easy way to do all of that, but You need a highly qualified PhShop extentions developer - a programmer with good knowledge of image processing.

Find a "gun colour" area, knowing where are the pants (once more by colour), find the middle of the "gun" area and add a "well defined" "magazine area".

[Updated on: Thu, 20 September 2007 20:58] by Moderator

Re: How to animate own sprites[message #158963]

Mon, 24 September 2007 13:46

Messages:31
Registered:June 2007

Oh, I'm sorry I've lost my sense of humor latley, got alot of other stuff going on.

BUT IM WORKIN HARD, soon finished with the dehydration boogie animation, you know, when he spins around.

Re: How to animate own sprites[message #160497]

Thu, 04 October 2007 20:43

Messages:31
Registered:June 2007

Playing the game I realised that one of the things that bothers me the most is the lack of reload animations, so perhaps I should create some on the exsisting guns, THEN continue with this AK thing, or do it the other way around... Any thoughts?

Re: How to animate own sprites[message #160515]

Thu, 04 October 2007 21:31

Messages:1836
Registered:September 2004
Location: CH

hehehe

i had this thought as well. i've done one key frame of a lock-and load/ pump shotgun custom animation for my bodytype.

a reload animation would be slightly more challenging and would build up ontop of the lock-and-load animation.

i say both ideas are cool, both ideas that you have are challenging... and promising...

if you do the custom reloading animation, maybe get in touch with a coder to have some specifications though.

Re: How to animate own sprites[message #160647]

Fri, 05 October 2007 15:49

Messages:1836
Registered:September 2004
Location: CH

btw i just tested designing a key frame (one side) of a reload animation for AK and i say i took the probably easiest frame (side view)

It is probably quite doable as most of the picture is given by existing animations, the thing that is difficult is drawing the additional movement of the soldiers arm and the magazine being taken out of a pouch (that doesn't exist...)

the LNL thing is rather straightforwad on this view, in other perspectives it's more tricky.

i suggest you take at least 14 frames per view for this (including short lock-and-load) movement.
if you say you seperate reloading and releasing the moving parts/ move the slide on pistols, 10 frames might do for the reload itself (per view)

starting with the pistol might help getting a feeling of how the arm moves during reload. Depending on the persepective, this is quite tricky, but if you have the pistol, less of the arm's movement is blocked and thus you might better see how the arm is supposed to move.

Re: How to animate own sprites[message #161001]

Mon, 08 October 2007 23:07

Messages:31
Registered:June 2007

Everything I think of you've already thought of, god damn Very Happy

And yes, I will start the reload animations SOMETIME, currently, as usual, Im swamped with other stuff, including getting a new living room, carrying out the old crap - bringing in the new + painting + rewireing etc etc etc. ALSO I'm gettin a drivers license during this... I'll be working hard on the living room and after I'm done I'll start with the animations again "full" time (meaning every free moment I get I'll work on the animations)
Yeah, now I'm gonna go to bed.

Re: How to animate own sprites[message #161008]

Mon, 08 October 2007 23:31

Messages:1836
Registered:September 2004
Location: CH

well you're posting all of those things before i do. so it looks like i'm trying to steal your ideas. I'm not. Wink

i've just been working a lot on animations and some thoughts pop out every here and there, and now you seem to be going to make those ideas happen, so here i am, giving my 2 cents.
As far as the animation is concerned, i'm now in the good position to be able to give you some (maybe useful) input because i did some testing on those things.

so in fact, i'm trying to be supportive and not discouraging. I guess i'm not always very smart in my ways of "supporting" people, but i try.

Re: How to animate own sprites[message #161079]

Tue, 09 October 2007 12:26

Kaerar

Messages:2040
Registered:January 2003
Location: Australia :D

What angles are you usig for the animation to look correct in the 3D program so I can take the pics for making the anims?

Re: How to animate own sprites[message #161549]

Sun, 14 October 2007 14:14

Messages:31
Registered:June 2007

I'm sorry, what exactly do you mean?

Re: How to animate own sprites[message #161557]

Sun, 14 October 2007 15:23

Kaerar

Messages:2040
Registered:January 2003
Location: Australia :D

Basically the angles used in the 3D program that the model is presented in. For isometric purposes like elevation 30 deg, or 45 deg. I have a load of 3D progs ready but not used them in a while so was thinking about having a crack at it. Basically I don't know the viewing angle to take the stills from the animation in the 3D prog.

Re: How to animate own sprites[message #162787]

Fri, 26 October 2007 19:12

Messages:31
Registered:June 2007

With the risk of sounding retarded I still dont know what the whats what with the who.

And also, status update, work has been pretty slow recently, I'm struggeling with alot of other stuff but I try to squeeze in as much animation work as I can.