FINISHED - metal sparkle animation, example included

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Jetrel
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FINISHED - metal sparkle animation, example included

Post by Jetrel »

I just did this for a side project of mine; wesnoth needs something very similar for use on leadership animations. Rather than doing it myself (I will if this goes too long undone), I'd like to share the learning with someone else - by imitation, someone can piggyback off this and learn it too.

The key trick seems to be a high ~40ms/frame rate. Note: view this gif in something other than safari - safari seems to cap the frame rate of gifs at something like 100ms/frame.

This is a spritesheet of the basic frames, in standard english reading order (LtoR, then by rows).
sparklespritesheet.gif
sparklespritesheet.gif (1.5 KiB) Viewed 5501 times
This is it animated, as seen on a character from "frogatto".


Please make a similar animation for wesnoth, we'd like to use it on all of the leadership animations (via a macro).
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sparklekitty.gif
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vonHalenbach
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Re: REQUEST - metal sparkle animation, example included

Post by vonHalenbach »

cool! I think i will try to make one, since it seems to be quite easy to do. I wouldn't rotate it as much, because it should look like the sun is reflecting on something shiny, but a reflection would not rotate, if the reflecting piece is completly unmoving. A little rotation is good, because it makes it more dynamic and interesting.
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SFault
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Re: REQUEST - metal sparkle animation, example included

Post by SFault »

Here's a sample of the frameflow. I'm intrested to know if the animation is ok. After that I will polish the images. Now there's only one color used.
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leadershine.gif
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segmentation fault
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Sgt. Groovy
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Re: REQUEST - metal sparkle animation, example included

Post by Sgt. Groovy »

Here's my attempt.

How is this going to work on leaders who don't have shiny weapons (have a club etc.)?
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flare3.gif
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Re: REQUEST - metal sparkle animation, example included

Post by artisticdude »

@Sgt. Groovy: metal sparkel ftw. :) Really nice work. But I'm not sure about the last couple frames of the animation, where the circular glow dies out and is replaced by fuzzy rays... IMHO, I think it might be better to just have the circular glow and skip the last part.
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Re: REQUEST - metal sparkle animation, example included

Post by Sangel »

This is merely my personal opinion, but I think something a little smaller and more subtle would be appropriate for Wesnoth. Perhaps 2/3rds the scale of Jetrel's Frogatto example. Too large, and it may end up appearing fake/distracting.
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Jetrel
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Re: REQUEST - metal sparkle animation, example included

Post by Jetrel »

SFault wrote:Here's a sample of the frameflow. I'm intrested to know if the animation is ok. After that I will polish the images. Now there's only one color used.
:| I'm afraid that's kinda mediocre. Groovy's really outdone you here, for better or worse, but thanks for giving it a shot. :)
Sgt. Groovy wrote:Here's my attempt.
The pixelfag in me wishes that was pixel art, but honestly? That looks great. :D

Shrink it to ~1/2 the size, and I think we're good.
Sgt. Groovy wrote:How is this going to work on leaders who don't have shiny weapons (have a club etc.)?
Same way it works already. All weapons, without exception can be plausibly given some metal bit that would gleam. A wooden club or staff can get a metal 'boss' on the end. A bow could be given metal tips where the string is hooked. Even a bare hand could be given a metal gauntlet.

Even a beast could have his teeth or horns gleam.
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Re: REQUEST - metal sparkle animation, example included

Post by beetlenaut »

@Jet: Is your side project GPL? I was trying to work out how to make a good-looking sparkle for some crystals in a cave, and then you post one! Can I use it? I'd like to use something different from what may become a leader animation. (I noticed the same thing you did about the frame rate of sparkles in a earlier project of mine.)
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Re: REQUEST - metal sparkle animation, example included

Post by thespaceinvader »

AFAIK, the engine for Frogatto is GPL, the content is not. But you'd have to wait for Jet for final confirmation on what you could or couldn't use.
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SFault
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Re: REQUEST - metal sparkle animation, example included

Post by SFault »

Jetrel wrote: :| I'm afraid that's kinda mediocre. Groovy's really outdone you here, for better or worse, but thanks for giving it a shot. :)
Yeah, I noticed it too ;) No need to polish my work anymore...
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Sgt. Groovy
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Re: REQUEST - metal sparkle animation, example included

Post by Sgt. Groovy »

The pixelfag in me wishes that was pixel art, but honestly?
No, it was made in SVG. I thought that the smoothness of vector would suit well for an aura image, and it was really easy to animate: I just copied the previous frame to the next and did some rotation and scaling (and other tweaks). In pixelart, repeated transformations degrade quickly (especially in such small size), no such problem in vector.

Here's it in half the size. I packed the frames in separate PNGs and also included the source SVG, each frame in separate layer (you'll have to turn the background opacity on, otherwise you'll just see white on white).
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leaderflare.zip
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flare3.2.gif
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Re: REQUEST - metal sparkle animation, example included

Post by mortalus »

Please clarify, this animation will mark every character with the leadership ability while idle or will it run only when the leadership ability is activated?

If the latter is the case, I'd like to start a thread discussing methods to 'at-a-glance' spot which characters have certain traits. Such as animations like these (if always active; although this one is a tad busy to be constant) or mini icons over the bars. Of course, it may be something to be toggled, as well.

As for the art itself, well done, Groovy. It looks superb.

Thank you,
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Zarel
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Re: REQUEST - metal sparkle animation, example included

Post by Zarel »

For reference, it is possible to dual-license your work, Jetrel. You can give the same piece of artwork a proprietary license for Frogatto, and an open license for Wesnoth.

Groovy, the thicknesses of the lines in that cross look nonlinear. I think they would look better linear. Also, your gleam rotates around 15 degrees, which is a bit low. Now, I realize Jetrel's version rotating 270 degrees is a bit overkill, but the happy medium is really around 80-190 degrees.

(Edit: miscounted)
Last edited by Zarel on April 4th, 2010, 3:31 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Sgt. Groovy
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Re: REQUEST - metal sparkle animation, example included

Post by Sgt. Groovy »

I tried different kinds of lines and found that thinning ones cut off most gracefully. As for rotation, I'm happy with it as it is, because in realistic terms, it shouldn't really be rotating much at all (and besides, Jetrel's version rotates about 270 degrees, mine almost 90).

But since nothing is committed yet, you still have time to make your own version. You can even use my files. :)
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Re: REQUEST - metal sparkle animation, example included

Post by Jozrael »

artisticdude wrote:@Sgt. Groovy: metal sparkel ftw. :) Really nice work. But I'm not sure about the last couple frames of the animation, where the circular glow dies out and is replaced by fuzzy rays... IMHO, I think it might be better to just have the circular glow and skip the last part.
This is what I thought from the beginning, and it still holds true on the latest revision.
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