Shot Animation Help

[NarnKar]

I'm trying to create a shot animation that, when it's fired out of the gun, it looks like three bolts fan out radially. Then, when they reach the ship, three bolts connect.

So I tried this:



But it looked like only one shot was coming out of the gun, since all shots used that same animation sheet and displayed on top of each other. When they hit the enemy, each shot was distinct--but still, I wanted them to fan out.

Next, I tried this (large image, right click to view):



The frames move right to left, I thought. I figured, if the shots displayed on top of each other, I could make the "leaving the gun" frames look like three shots fanning out--they would display on top of each other, so there wouldn't be any more than three bolts visible when leaving the gun. Then, after they'd fanned out sufficiently, I'd switch back to the single shot, in time for the impact on the ship.

However, when I put this in practice, it would glitch through the first few frames (I would occasionally see the bolts flicker at the top of the screen), and then it would display the single shot frame. I set <time> in the animations.xml.append to "1000.0", and even that wasn't enough.

So I figured, hmm--maybe it's another limitation. I know that weapon art can't be more than 2000x2000; maybe shot animations have similar limitations. (This, despite the fact that the large image is 1280x610...)

So I made another image (displayed below). But again, it would glitch through the first frames and only display the single shot.



Out of ideas, I decided to ask the forums for help. Is there a limitation I'm not aware of? Is there a workaround I can use to get the radial fanning-out pattern?

[Sleeper Service]

Probably related to anim time. 1000.0 would mean that the anim takes thousand seconds to cycle once through all its frames, essentially just displaying frame one of your animation (or cause some odd behavioue?). I dont thing image size is the problem, even that 2000x2000 limit does not seem to apply to everyone (Linux build only? For Rockman it woked...). Actually seeing you code would be helpfull for finding the problem. I'm also not entirely sure what your desired result is. It also looks like you try to animate your projectiles from right to left, which is somewhat odd. For an example of an animated projectile that has its shots fan out you could check how CEs burst scatter shots do it.

[NarnKar]

My impression was that shot animations are read from right to left. If this is not the case for burst type projectiles, please let me know.

However, I did test the second (large) image with frames going both from left to right, and from right to left. It didn't work either way.

In addition, I originally set the time to .4, 1.2, and 3.6 seconds for the right-to-left large image. It froze on the first frame from the left, the one with the single shot. Currently it's set at .4 seconds but still only reads the frame with one shot in it.

Last, if you could show me the burst scatter things and how they work, that'd be quite nice--I took a look at them myself but I don't know how to make sense of them.

Here's the relevant code. (Not including things like damage, lockdown, etc, which I have but are irrelevant to the problem.)

Code: Select all

<weaponBlueprint name="LOCKDOWN_PLASMA">
   <type>BURST</type>
   <title>Title</title>
   <short>Title</short>
   <locked>1</locked>
   <tip>tip_laser</tip>
   <desc>Description</desc>
   <tooltip>Description</tooltip>
   <radius>1</radius>
   <damage>0</damage>
   <speed>30</speed>
   <shots>1</shots>
   <projectiles>
      <projectile count="3" fake="false">lockdown_plasma_shot</projectile>
   </projectiles>
   <weaponArt>laser_burst_1</weaponArt>
   <iconImage>laser</iconImage>
</weaponBlueprint>

Code: Select all

<animSheet name="lockdown_plasma_shot" w="512" h="200" fw="128" fh="200">weapons/lockdown_plasma_shot_strip4.png</animSheet>
<anim name="lockdown_plasma_shot">
   <sheet>lockdown_plasma_shot</sheet>
   <desc length="4" x="0" y="0" />
   <time>0.4</time>
</anim>

[Sleeper Service]

The CE burst scatters are animated from left to right, so I think that is the way to go. Keep in mind that ani time defines how long it takes for the shot to display all its frames. If they are set up correctly that should work, but 0.4 seems pretty short cause the projectile most likely will travel longer than that. Well, depends on the speed of course. You might also need more frames to make the animation look fluid.

Code: Select all

<animSheet name="ba_laser_burst_scatter_shot" w="400" h="80" fw="50" fh="80">weapons/ba_laser_burst_scatter_shot_strip8.png</animSheet>

<anim name="ba_laser_burst_scatter_shot">
   <sheet>ba_laser_burst_scatter_shot</sheet>
   <desc length="8" x="0" y="0"/>
   <time>2.50</time>
</anim>

<anim name="ba_laser_burst_scatter_shot_fast">
   <sheet>ba_laser_burst_scatter_shot</sheet>
   <desc length="8" x="0" y="0"/>
   <time>1.0</time>
</anim>

I think your anim is actually working, but frame 2-4 are pretty similar so it might look like its frozen in place. The spread looks most natural if each frame has just fan the projectiles for about two or three pixels, anything else might look jagged depending on projectile speed.

[NewAgeOfPower]

That's some fascinating information on Burst Animation, sleeper.

Can we get this added to the mod information list??