new Spriter vid! Alpha for current pro users

so, as promised, but a few days late, spriter updated vid

and spriter updated version:

[tube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RaWAGny8twY[/tube]

all current pro users get to alpha test until beta release. so if you buy today, you get the latest versions until beta release.

in other news, I've quit my dayjob, and I'll be working fulltime for the next half a year or so on mostly spriter, and projects using spriter, so development should be picking up quite a bit.

please ask questions and make suggestions

for current users, just return the workflowy for the link to the latestalpha

aside from bugfixes and some optimizations. the main new addition since last week is the adjustable pivotpoints. press h to change the pivotpoint of an image. this will apply to all instances of this image. you can also do this to multiselections as well, so you can adjust the axis of rotation for a group of selected images as well

<font size="1">Hello Construct community,

     I have recently joined forces with Brashmonkey, to develop the plugin for Construct Classic that will allow you to load Spriter files into your games. (Spriter homepage) Development is nearly complete, and you can expect to move your huge and insanely detailed multisprite creations just as easily as you would a standard construct sprite.   

     

     I've taken over as lead developer of Spriter, leaving Holymonkey free to make example files, tutorial videos, and entire game art packs in Spriter format which will allow indie game developers to jump right into making games. And thanks to the flexibility of the format, artists can easily replace images and alter animations to make entirely new creations.

      But there is also much bigger news. Spriter will be coming to C2 next for use in your HTML5 games, so you can create high quality 2d games that run on any platform with a modern browser.

     And the biggest news we have is that Spriter is being completely redesigned from the ground up to make it as intuitive and fun to use as possible. Quite simply, we want it to be the ultimate tool for creating multisprite animation for real time games. Development is just beginning, here's what we've got so far:

[outdatedvid]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCeF1i-gbFc[/outdatedvid]

     We will be keeping you updated with the latest ui tweaks and new features, and taking your suggestions and criticisms from the very beginning. We are committed to making Spriter the industry standard format for multisprite animation. Tell us what you want or need to get you excited about using Spriter. Motion tweening? Docking UI elements? We're open to everything.

    </font>edited><editid>lucid</editid><editdate>2011-11-10 06:14:57</editdate></edited>

This looks great... I just bought the pro version. I'm looking forward to this one!

It's shaping very nicely lucid. I'm really impressed with the transformation to the new interface. Remeber long time ago, when i was playing with it first time, and must say that I found Spriter very hard do use that day. Didn't got much time to learn so i gave up on it.

But looking at it now I definitely want to spend more time using it.

You did amazing job! About adding new features, I would love to see one in it, something that could help both beginners and pro - procedural walk cycle animation generator, with fully customizable parameters.

Adding that will make Spriter perfect, no.. ultimate tool for sprite animators! :)

two questions:

• can you tell at this stage of development what differences will be between lite and pro versions?
• what features will be available in cooperation with C2

I'm curious cause it's going to be in a form of a plugin, right?

It's gonna be like an object on the layout with external editor? or more like option in the Image editor?

C2, you say?

I'm sold!

Any chance of portable install in the future?

Gotta say the new UI (well, what you can see anyway =P ) looks slick, and way more user friendly.

I've given the Lite version a go and I have some thoughts/suggestions.

One feature that this tool will need is onion skinning. Especially if you want it to be competitive when compared to other software.

After trying it out, the way the program currently handles Z ordering is clunky. In fact, if you do not check the pdf's or the shortcuts option in help, you will likely not even know it's there. I'd suggest adding a tree view of the Z order, and buttons in the ui for moving the selected item(s) one step back/forward, and for moving to the back/front completely.

I can't comment on action points/collision rectangles since they're not available in the Lite version. Though those (especially collision rectangles) are the features that I'm really interested in.

Hope you can make this product the best it can be.

Edit: Motion tweeing is probably good to add as an option too.

This looks pretty good so far. Like inkBot said it would be great to see some sort of motion tweening with the option of doing frame by frame animations as well. Thats the main thing thats keeping me from using this over something like Anime Studio. Keep up the good work and hope to see more features soon.

Edit: Also I'm really only interested in the Construct 2 version since CC is dead to me now.

CC is dead to me now.D:

Okay lucid, you do have me convinced! I just bought Spriter Pro. Can't wait for the updated version and the Construct plugins of course!

Sounds promising.

Secured myself a Pro copy and looking forward to the C2 integration!

This looks great... I just bought the pro version. I'm looking forward to this one!

Okay lucid, you do have me convinced! I just bought Spriter Pro. Can't wait for the updated version and the Construct plugins of course!

Sounds promising.

Secured myself a Pro copy and looking forward to the C2 integration!

thank you for your purchases!

It's shaping very nicely lucid. I'm really impressed with the transformation to the new interface. Remeber long time ago, when i was playing with it first time, and must say that I found Spriter very hard do use that day. Didn't got much time to learn so i gave up on it.

But looking at it now I definitely want to spend more time using it.

thank you. it will probably change alot between now and the release, as I have already recieved many suggestions in chat, and will be posting and asking opinions as well.

You did amazing job! About adding new features, I would love to see one in it, something that could help both beginners and pro - procedural walk cycle animation generator, with fully customizable parameters.

Adding that will make Spriter perfect, no.. ultimate tool for sprite animators! :)

I'm talking distant future here. I want it to be perfect for what it does now before I even start on things like this. But I have a bit of experience and code i can reuse dealing with procedural animation. and I would eventually like to add many procedural animation features. Don't let this affect your purchase decision though, as I said distant future, if and when Spriter has established itself, and I can work on it fulltime.

two questions:

- can you tell at this stage of development what differences will be between lite and pro versions?

- what features will be available in cooperation with C2

as of now:

Main Features

? Scale and rotate any image in a frame.

? Alpha support as well as add and subtract modes per image per frame.

? Trigger and preview up to 4 separate sound samples with volume control per frame.

? Easily design ?character maps? for visual variations of characters using extremely little extra data.

? Full Undo and Redo

? Create ?Characters? which are sets of animations AND variables, with default values which can be triggered to change at any animation frame (Pro version only).

? Place unlimited, named ?action points? per frame (Pro version only).

? Place unlimited, named, AND valued collision rectangles per frame (Pro version only).

I'm curious cause it's going to be in a form of a plugin, right?

It's gonna be like an object on the layout with external editor? or more like option in the Image editor?

the editor is a separate exe. the format it saves to will have soon have plugins for Multimedia Fusion 2, and Torque, and of course construct. Other future plug-ins planned or in early development for Unity 3D, Dark Basic, Game Maker.

C2, you say?

I'm sold!

Any chance of portable install in the future?

we are going to look into the feasibility of an HTML5 version in the future, based off of what we learn as we make this one.

Gotta say the new UI (well, what you can see anyway =P ) looks slick, and way more user friendly.

I've given the Lite version a go and I have some thoughts/suggestions.

One feature that this tool will need is onion skinning. Especially if you want it to be competitive when compared to other software.

After trying it out, the way the program currently handles Z ordering is clunky. In fact, if you do not check the pdf's or the shortcuts option in help, you will likely not even know it's there. I'd suggest adding a tree view of the Z order, and buttons in the ui for moving the selected item(s) one step back/forward, and for moving to the back/front completely.

I can't comment on action points/collision rectangles since they're not available in the Lite version. Though those (especially collision rectangles) are the features that I'm really interested in.

Hope you can make this product the best it can be.

Edit: Motion tweeing is probably good to add as an option too.

onion skinning is planned. and while I don't have a time estimate, I will confirm now that motion tweening is definitely a planned feature, not just something we're considering. zordering will most likely have ui buttons as you say as well as shortcut keys. While there will definitely be a way of viewing the sprites in a treelist by the time the full version is out, I would like to try for a tree as you said, but with dragndroppable entries, preferably so as you're hovering or dragging - the part it refers to glows on the character so you can easily discern which you're changing

How buy?

Moneys cost?

Need tell.

~Sol

Buy here.

Hey everyone, just a small update. There's a small closed alpha going on now, finding the big bugs and ui issues before the public beta. So we're still on track for late november public beta.

Another update. The alpha is expanding to include all current pro owners. All current spriter pro owners should have received an email Wednesday morning with a link to download the alpha. If you have purchased spriter and have not received the email, please pm me, so we can fix the situation.

To everyone else. Expect a big progress update soon, with video this weekend.

Edit:

Someone pm'd me the question, so I thought I'd post here to be clear. Even if you have not yet purchased spriter, if you purchase it before public beta release, you can immediately begin testing the alpha release.

I messed around with the alpha a bit, and I have to say it's super easy to pick up. The learning curve for pro was huge, for the alpha - it's nonexistent. Everything in the preview video is really, actually that easy to do!

Plus, no stability issues so far, even with tweening. Had one CTD that i couldn't reproduce, that's it.