(Dynamically) updating graphics

Hi there,

I've been working with Construct2 for about half a year now and one thing can't seem to find is how to batch update graphics.

As far as I know, the only way to update graphics you use in objects, is to locate the object in a layout, open it, reopen the graphic you intend to use and presto. This seems like a lot of work if you have to update a 100 assets.

I'm used to developing in flash where I can update graphics with 100s at a time. Since I work in a small game company, it would be really useful to be able to press an "update all graphics" button when our artists have placed new graphics in the source folder.

A quick search didn't help me. Do any of you guys know of a better way? I basically want Construct2 to reload the source asset used in a selection of objects.

just update them on the project folder.

how to: Save as project (not as capx)

Thanks for your reply.

But that's far from ideal since theres just a huge list of folders there for each Object. Besides, the graphic files in those folders are just numbered, pretty inconvenient for a graphics artist to find the asset they want to update.

For instance, I might put all the backgrounds in one animation. Now if they want to update one of the backgrounds they have to go through all the pictures to find the right one. It's also very easy to make a mistake in the file name consisting of 3 digits.

I just want Construct to check the source files and see if any of them need updating.

on the edit sprite window just right click in any white space (in the frames window) and do a "Update from source"

Thanks for your reply.

But that's far from ideal since theres just a huge list of folders there for each Object. Besides, the graphic files in those folders are just numbered, pretty inconvenient for a graphics artist to find the asset they want to update.

For instance, I might put all the backgrounds in one animation. Now if they want to update one of the backgrounds they have to go through all the pictures to find the right one. It's also very easy to make a mistake in the file name consisting of 3 digits.

I just want Construct to check the source files and see if any of them need updating.

Never do it...

As Ashley is tired to teach, this is the fastest way to lower the device performances, because you'll force more bitmaps than necessary to the memory.

TELLES0808 I believe Salvator is talking about doing this before ever comiling or running the game. What he's referring to is a much needed feature in the C2 editor, where all objects containing an image (sprite, tiled background, sprite button) would check the location of the image they have loaded (resource folder structure) and if their source image has been modified since it was last loaded into C2, it reloads and thus updates itself. It's the same idea as how C2 will check for updates when you run it. This feature would basically do the same for all external assets (images, sound, etc). Its an incredibly useful and time-saving feature in Flash and I would use it myself in a heartbeat.

brent_hamel

Oh, I see it now. Last time this topic was reported as a bug by myself, when that feature of miniature on the list was added, and I said something about the miniature only being updated after exiting and loading again the project.

Would be nice to see this idea alive! Reload the resources, or, at least, real time updates, could save a lot of time, also it's used on all the main softwares on the industry, like 3D Max, Fireworks, Photoshop, Corel, Office, and much other..

brent_hamel

Oh, I see it now. Last time this topic was reported as a bug by myself, when that feature of miniature on the list was added, and I said something about the miniature only being updated after exiting and loading again the project.

Would be nice to see this idea alive! Reload the resources, or, at least, real time updates, could save a lot of time, also it's used on all the main softwares on the industry, like 3D Max, Fireworks, Photoshop, Corel, Office, and much other..This has been asked countless times, including me, but, no response so far.

brent_hamel Yes, that's exactly what I meant, thanks for clarifying it for me. I think this feature is much needed, especially when working with graphics artists. I can't expect them to update straight to the project folder without making mistakes in the filename for instance. If they could just update the original source files it would be a lot easier to keep track of all the assets.

Oh and thanks for that remark about not putting all backgrounds in one object. It's really convenient for me to just change the frame depending on which layout I'm loading but I understand this will put all BGs in the system memory.

Would the best alternative be to just have the one BG and then to load the other images from the folder through 'image from URL' when needed? It seems ugly to just create a new object for each background you know so I'd rather not do that.