Poll: Animation System

I think the folder idea is great. I, too, never understood the need for sub-animations and had a few game prototypes where the list of animations became... a little unmanageable. So folders would be fantastic.

Another suggestion to the new animation system would be to better integrate it with the picture editor. It would be a lot more productive if you could add, delete, move frames, set speed, loop and preview straight from the picture editor. In my opinion, the Animator tab could be completely removed, then the Project tab would be used instead if you need to organize animations folders.

I like this a lot. One less tab would save a lot of clicks and increase workflow. In addition, it was always cumbersome to have to move in and out of the image editor to change animation settings. A preview button would be fantastic to verify the smoothness of the animation without have to preview the game every time.

I like it. I tried using sub-animations at one point, but it was way too messy and finicky. Besides, anything you could do with that you could just do with regular animations (and most likely better/easier). Not entirely sure about dropping angles though. In CC I've used facing left/right to switch between cameras and whatnot. But I'm sure I can replicate a "facing" condition with variables, as suggested, so I'm not opposed to the idea.

Another suggestion to the new animation system would be to better integrate it with the picture editor.

I too agree with this. When read?ng the proposal for the animation system I got an idea. I'm not sure if it's doable though.

In CC, and currently C2 as well, when we double click a sprite we open an external image editor. Sure, it's a part of Construct, but it's still a separate window. What if instead of having the image/animation editor as a separate window it'd be a tab, like the layout and event views (maybe with the option of having it open in a separate window). A double click on a sprite would simply take you to that tab. (Edit: This would fix one of my pet peeves from CC, that the image editor would resume it's standard size every time I opened it.)

I have an idea for the actual image/animation editor as well. I'll use the editor from CC as an example, because it had a feature that I thought was nice, but could have been much more useful.

When you edit an animation in CC you have a little strip under the work area with the frames of the animation and you can navigate the animation with. What if we take that strip and expand its use so that we can drag and copy frames around like we do in the current CC side bar editor, making the C2 image editor and the animation/frame editor essentially the same thing?

http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j135/ ... editor.jpg

What do you guys think?

Taking several suggestions here, how about this:

Here's a mockup image.

• there is no permanent animations bar - when you launch the picture editor, it pops up floating to the right of the picture editor (also like inkBot's picture suggested).
• the animation frames show as a separate bar floating beneath the picture editor. This allows you to size them bigger rather than locking them within the picture editor like CC.
• the picture editor is modeless - modal dialogs mean you can't click anywhere outside the dialog until you close the dialog, like the CC picture editor. If the C2 picture editor is modeless, you can use the rest of the UI while the picture editor is up.
• this means you can use the property grid still to set animation properties.
• you can also use the main Construct 2 window's undo and redo buttons, to affect changes you made to a texture or animation.
• on multimonitor setups, you could keep the picture editor up on one monitor and quickly check something in the event sheet editor, etc.

Sound about right? I prefer free-floating bars (like the "expressions pallette" in the event sheet editor's parameters dialog), since they offer you much more flexibility in positioning and using your screen space.

A good way imo is to do it like i did here : http://spritevortex.codeplex.com/ . I'm not coding it anymore but it's a good example.

Was going to make a reply here, but I waited too long XD. So I will now, now that the forums are back up.

Taking several suggestions here, how about this:

- there is no permanent animations bar - when you launch the picture editor, it pops up floating to the right of the picture editor (also like inkBot's picture suggested).

- the animation frames show as a separate bar floating beneath the picture editor. This allows you to size them bigger rather than locking them within the picture editor like CC.

I've said before that it would be nice if C2 could remember our window layout (granted it does, but it doesn't remember how you arranged your tabs), if the image/animation editor is going to be floating it is instead crucial that it does. If C2 doesn't remember how you placed your floating editor and you'll have to set it up again, it'll go from being a good feature to an annoying one.

If C2 will remember the window layout I'm all for a floating image editor. An additional feature to consider would be the option to have the floating windows snap to each other when you move them around (or not snap at all if you turned it off of course). That could make it easier to arrange them properly.

I wanna this in new version, I am crazy to test the new things. *-*

I guess I'm going to have to get used to the change. I always used animation angles.