Animation

[Jam0864]

I just discovered a program named Pivot. It is a great program to make stick figure animations. Instead of redrawing frames, you can just move certain body parts by using drag and drop. It so much easier and more enjoyable than animating stuff by drawing all the different frames. Here is an animation I just done in Pivot. http://www.box.net/public/4aquekbzrf It lasts for about 20 seconds and is pretty cool.

[eric22222]

Heh, gotta say, that was... a pretty unexpected ending.

I'm pretty sure I've heard, er, read Sam talking about Pivot. Do you have to export it as a gif, or can you export the frames individually? Or better yet, what about movie files?

[Jam0864]

You can export as a gif, individual bitmaps, or a pivot file. (.piv) The individual bitmaps is good for use in SGDK, although you can't save as a bitmap tileset so each frame has to be imported seperately.

[eric22222]

Rats... I was hoping that'd be able to make video files. I guess it'd be somewhat useful for GameDev animation, but probably more trouble than it's worth.

Still, a good program.

[Jam0864]

I turns out there was a newer version. I downloaded it in hope of new features, but only got bug fixes.

[bat]

lol Sam found that too... geeks think alike!

[sam]

http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h228/sam_46/NASpar.gif
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h228/sam_46/LoadedSpar.gif
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h228/sam_46/Ninja.gif
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h228/sam_46/DefaultSparThing.gif
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h228/sam_46/Rollin-Blunt-Kickflipout-Switch-180.gif

[Jam0864]

Cool! I like I like. what is s2d?

[Jam0864]

The Deadly Clock

http://www.box.net/public/g2g8ah6nm0

NOTE:the other animation (Fight) is the same animation I posted in the first post.

[sam]

Thankyou. S2D = Sam2d. My username for most things. *Downloads Deadly Clock* Interesting animation you got there.
Here's a huge pivot group you might like if you're interested in animating. DarkDemon

[bluemonkmn]

It's funny we still rely on GIF for so many animations... it seems like such an antiquated way to do animation with so many limitations.  GIF is limited to 256 colors and therefore usually doesn't have very colorful or smooth animations, and no anti-aliasing.  But it's a widely supported format so I guess that's what people choose.  I see more web sites opting for flash now.  Anybody know how well supported Flash is?  I know it's a format for much more than animation, but it could be considered a few generations better than animated GIF if you're looking for an animation format.  If I understand correctly, it doesn't have to store raster images like GIF does and can draw vector graphics in real time, so you'd get better "compression" too.  I've been tempted to look for and try some free Flash editing utilities, but haven't had the time... are there good free Flash editors?

[durnurd]

Flash is an interesting demon.  It can and does support vertex graphics, but can also show real images, and real video, and is a sort of good way to stop people from stealing video from you if you put it online and know what you're doing.  I think another cool thing is the interactive part.  You can make interactive animations with Flash (something as simple as a follow-the-mouse thing, or as complex as a Flash-based game) as well as static animations.

Any good flash animators are not free that I could find.  The free ones mostly convert from one format to another, but don't actually do any editing.

[Jam0864]

The only thing I don't like about Gif's is that there is no sound.  Thanks for the link Sam. I went there and learnt how to do blood and decent firearms.  After that I couldn't resist making this animation, Ultimate Fight.  http://www.box.net/public/g2g8ah6nm0 If only I could add sound effects. 

[sam]

Why don't you try uploading your animations with Photobucket or Image Shack. Then you can just link directly to the animation. And, you can add sound. You can use Movie Maker or Flash. There's fighting sound effect libraries on certain sites.

[Jam0864]

Whoa! Sound makes animations seem so much better! Never thought of Movie Maker. Just added sound, took a while but made it really cool. I tried image shack and it won't allow wmv.(I had to save as wmv to keep the sound) I'll try photo bucket later.