This topic was discussed earlier. There is a PNG optimizer that does an incredible job, and even allows for custom (manual) intervention (an easy to use quality mask brush): Color Quantizer.

http://x128.ho.ua/color-quantizer.html

viewtopic.php?f=157&t=125830&p=894714&hilit=quantizer#p894714

It is, of course, lossy - but visually there is no difference when applied with care. The gains are considerable.

Quick question:

Can Spriter/Pro animate a single whole image using bones?

I've recently been playing with this function in Flash and seen other tools out there but I haven't been in Spriter in a while. I would love for this to be possible but I have a feeling that it wouldn't work in C2 because the image mesh created for the animation wouldn't carry over..

I guess at the very least it would be worth it even if you had to export a sprite sheet of the fluid animation though.

They are working on it. May take several months before it's ready for prime time.

they dumped the linux version, so I dumped them.

Its also not very good for frame by frame animation. I use tvpaint instead.

? You use Construct, do you not? Construct is Windows only as well.

Frame by frame works quite well now in AS, although TVpaint and Anime Studio are very different animation apps, and can't really be compared - I see them more as complementary (the makers of "Song of the Sea" used both in their production for different segments and purposes).

And you fail to mention that TVPaint for Linux is only available as the professional edition (1250 euro). Not exactly affordable.

Anyway, I am looking forward to Krita's animation options - it should combine well with Anime Studio and Spriter.

I believe the OP is looking for a way to animate the camera/object along a predefined path. "On a rail".

Nice, thanks for the link.

Looking really good. I love the new referencing options. I just updated it, and the new referencing and frame by frame features work really well. A bit of a game changer.

Also FBX support - if only Construct would be able to import these as animated characters.

New features include:

• frame by frame animation! (finally!)
• layer referencing - including referencing objects in linked files. Great for team projects.
• animated shape ordering, animated bone target, animated bone parenting
• improved photoshop file import
• tools and brushes improvements
• show and hide animation channels (finally! I was waiting for this one!)
• layer enhancements, such as group with selection layers.
• "gradient mesh" type colour point tools for improved vector shape colouring

And much more. You can find an exhaustive list, which includes tutorial videos, here:

http://my.smithmicro.com/anime-studio-pro.html

The new version is out! This is a milestone release, with workflow improvements accross the board, and many new features such as:

• placeholder layers to place external content. These update in realtime when changes are made to the external file;
• a new colour to transparency adjustment layer (think unmultiply black, or any other colour!)
• dehaze filter
• wipe effect layer
• variable width stroke options (wacom support)
• guide creator for easy grids and column/row setups. Guides can now be set to a formula!
• spot colours and overprint options;
• improved stamp (clone) tool

See http://www.pl32.com/pages/rnote.php for all the improvements. A more exhaustive list of all the smaller changes and improvements can be found here:

http://www.pl32.com/forum3/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=4726

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Photoline is an image editor which provides a mostly non-destructive professional workflow. Full vector editing is also integrated. Its image editing is on par with Photoshop.

Photoline is compatible with most common Photoshop plugins, such as Topaz, NIK, and FilterForge, and loads Photoshop compatible brush and gradient libraries.

• 32 & 64bit versions, Mac and Windows. Fully Linux WINE compatible.
• 8/16/32bit per channel / RGB, CMYK, Lab, greyscale & monochrome
• Color management with ICC profiles and linear workflow
• all functions, adjustments, effects, filters, layers and masks work with 8-bit, 16-bit, and 32-bit images (full 16bit support unlike Photoshop which operates in 15bit)
• 47 available adjustment layers
• 18 available layer styles
• a layer in the layer stack can be any image mode and bit depth
• layer masks are regular layers, and may consist of multiple combined layers & groups(!)
• layer opacity from -200 up to +200 for easy inversion of blend effects or doubling an effect
• convert bitmaps to vector layers
• vector layers can be anti-aliased, and be aligned to the pixel grid. Photoline also offers a pixel view
• develop photos with a non-destructive RAW workflow
• retouching tools such as a remove brush, liquify, and many more
• PSD import retains most common adjustment layers & layer effects
• Import & export multi-layered 32bpc EXR files
• non-destructive rotate & scale
• external app link for easy round tripping
• rename images and create catalogs
• powerful image management: search, edit IPTC & EXIF data
• true PDF import & export with /x1a & /x3
• multi-page documents
• rich text & DTP functionality, spot colors
• web export, including WebP, image maps & GIF animations
• batch conversion
• record actions
• print multi-page documents, flyers & labels
• portable app on a USB-Stick support
• multiprocessor support
• Linux WINE compatible with LittleCMS colour management option for improved compatibility; tested and supported by the developers

The same spammers are hitting the Adobe forums as I speak. Seems to have little effect, though.

Rayek - I'm pretty sure color quantizer is lossy. As you say yourself it uses far less colors, but in a clever manner that makes it difficult to perceive that there are fewer colors - but the fact is it modifies the content of the image, therefore it is not lossless. I would imagine with some types of images such as those with gentle gradients would show banding effects so there's still a risk of nasty surprises if you just apply this to an entire project.

Of course this is a lossy method - it reduces the number of colours (although CQ also does non-lossy optimization). Having said that, during the process of designing and creating graphics many extremely similar colours are introduced - and CQ allows for easy colour reduction and simultaneously maintain full control over the quality of that reduction, so that visually there is no difference to our eyes between the optimized and the original asset.

And yes, obviously one must be careful of going too far. With more colourful assets attention must be paid to the overall quality - CQ will display the original when clicking on the preview, and by zooming in twice or thrice I ascertain that even the zoomed in version looks visually identical to the original (bar a pixel here and there).

Thus generating a version that is visually identical to the human eye (even when compared side by side at 2x zoom) and at the same time much smaller in file size.

Since this is NOT an automated process (manual) the quality of each asset is assured, while my game download becomes much smaller.

Color Quantizer - the best bloody well kept secret on the web for PNG optimization. I am not kidding here: if you care about download size, optimizing those PNGs individually after exporting from Construct will save you at least 30%~50% (depending on the content).

Here are some examples from our game. (The originals on the left were exported with brute settings in Construct)

This is an non-lossy exported png file, thus making it viable to compare both versions.

One of the reasons Color Quantizer is brilliant in optimizing png files is that you have full control over the number of colours, and that a quality mask brush tool offers you the option to perfectly optimize smaller areas which may be reduced in quality due to automatic conversion. CQ gives you absolute manual quality control over the smallest details in the final version.

For example, the chimney for the small building asset had some pronounced issues with the initial automatic conversion - I then used the quality mask brush to paint over the affected area, and clicked OK once more to recalculate the optimized version. Problem solved: far less colours, but still (visually) the exact same quality.

The windshaft in the center of the sails had anti-aliasing issues, which I again solved with the quality mask brush tool.

It is beyond me why so few people are aware of CQ. I mean, look at those numbers for these four assets:

246.2kb --> 33.6 kb!!! Seven times smaller!

Granted, not every asset may benefit as much as these examples, but in overall CQ results in savings at 50% or more. And no difference in visual quality.

Color Quantizer is THE definite PNG optimizer. Nothing else comes close. I cannot live without anymore. And it's free!

Get it here: http://x128.ho.ua/color-quantizer.html

https://krita.org/krita-2-9-the-kickstarter-release/

Some excellent new features, including index painting.

Here is a link to the shader.

http://kushi.lv9.org/pixelartshader/Pix ... v1.0.0.zip

This looks very nice.

Edit:

Cant even get the program to run. It pops open, and then closes again.

That is exactly what happens if you click on the executable without feeding it a x file. Follow the instructions in the English tutorial I linked to in the first post.