Animating Graphics (no Coding)

[Oly]

Hi, I was wondering if anyone could give me a little help.

I am going to be studying animation in September at University. I am interested in animating for 2D video games. For example, lets say I was on a team of programmers that were making a simple game for the GP2X, and I was given the job of making the animated sprites. How would I do that?

Lets say I've already drawn the frames, but what format should I save them to for use in the game? What colours and resolution should they be at? Lets say I was making a sprite like the main character in FireWhip, a game created for GP2X by coelophysis2. Below is a link to a video of the game. How would I go abouts making a sprite like that?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0COwm9jpPQ&search=gp2x

Also, how do develpers make money off GP2X games? If at all? As you can see, FireWhip is a professionally made game, after all that hard work, is it just going to be a free download? I think I recall there being some games officially released on the original GP32, is that still the case for the GP2X? Is it easy to find a publisher?

Sorry for all the questions, my priority is the first question. Feel free to ignore the one about making money out of GP2X games if you find it to be a pain.

Thanks!

gp32_console = Super Cool

 

[Alex.]

In order to do fluid animations of a character like the guy in FireWhip, you'll have to be fairly good at drawing, and have a decent understanding of the proportions of the human body. You'll probably do some loose pen & paper sketches first, and then convert them to small detailed sprites in a nice graphic software, say Adobe Photoshop.

So far, you need nil programming. If the game uses SDL for graphics (or is in Fenix), you can directly use PNG's or other standard graphic formats. Anywho, any kind of converting is done by the programmer not by the artist, so supplying the BMP's will be enough.

Good luck, you're up for a lot of work if you want to get into animation!

- Alex

 

[MadDog]

Hi, I was wondering if anyone could give me a little help.

I am going to be studying animation in September at University. I am interested in animating for 2D video games. For example, lets say I was on a team of programmers that were making a simple game for the GP2X, and I was given the job of making the animated sprites. How would I do that?

Lets say I've already drawn the frames, but what format should I save them to for use in the game? What colours and resolution should they be at? Lets say I was making a sprite like the main character in FireWhip, a game created for GP2X by coelophysis2. Below is a link to a video of the game. How would I go abouts making a sprite like that?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0COwm9jpPQ&search=gp2x

Also, how do develpers make money off GP2X games? If at all? As you can see, FireWhip is a professionally made game, after all that hard work, is it just going to be a free download? I think I recall there being some games officially released on the original GP32, is that still the case for the GP2X? Is it easy to find a publisher?

Sorry for all the questions, my priority is the first question. Feel free to ignore the one about making money out of GP2X games if you find it to be a pain.

Thanks!

gp32_console = Super Cool

As Alex says, the coder will normally take bmp's or some other well used file format and change the data for the game. I did a quick google ("sprite animation tools") and found this (promotion), maybe worth your $25 if this is the sort of thing you want to get into. Not tried it but going by the discription it says its like DPaint which was the mother of all bitmap art packages.

 

[Goity]

In order to do fluid animations of a character like the guy in FireWhip, you'll have to be fairly good at drawing, and have a decent understanding of the proportions of the human body. You'll probably do some loose pen & paper sketches first, and then convert them to small detailed sprites in a nice graphic software, say Adobe Photoshop.

So far, you need nil programming. If the game uses SDL for graphics (or is in Fenix), you can directly use PNG's or other standard graphic formats. Anywho, any kind of converting is done by the programmer not by the artist, so supplying the BMP's will be enough.

Good luck, you're up for a lot of work if you want to get into animation!

- Alex

Actually images have to be put into fpgs in fenix.

 

[Alex.]

I know that Goity, but there's no programming involved in making a FPG archive, what with useful tools like FPGEdit and all.

- Alex

 

[sparr]

most important is to be sure to save your images in a format with at least as much channel depth as the game's engine will support, preferably in the right channels (a CMYK image might lose definition when loaded into your average RGB colorspace). dont save 16-bit BMP when the game can handle 64-bit RGBA, PNG would be far better suited for that.

 

[pferguso]

As Alex says, the coder will normally take bmp's or some other well used file format and change the data for the game. I did a quick google ("sprite animation tools") and found this (promotion), maybe worth your $25 if this is the sort of thing you want to get into. Not tried it but going by the discription it says its like DPaint which was the mother of all bitmap art packages.


I use ProMotion, and it is really good. It has everything Dpaint had and more. If you are going to make pixel animations for games, this is the program for you. It also does a real good job of remapping several 24 bit images (or AVIs) into a single pallette of 256 colors, so you can make 3D graphics and convert them down to use in 256 color sprite based projects.

 

[Oly]

Thank you Alex, Sparr and pferguso. And thanks to MadDog, I'll have a look at ProMotion. Not that I'm at this level yet, but incase you're interested, there is this other program that I have which looks interesting. Its Called GraphicsGale, I havent used it yet, but check it out;

http://www.humanbalance.net/gale/us/

 

[torpor]

Meh .. Just my .2c, but then I'm an Inkscape junky, so don't listen to me. I don't think any of these answers are particularly smart.

My advice: Use SVG. Do all your work in Inkscape. Structure your Object hierarchy according to loose flow of the game mechanics; name the objects in your DOM intelligently, and when the time comes to animate through the programmer engine, go from SVG->[render pipeline]->Game engine .. or better yet, just convince your programmer to use SVG as his raw input in the first place and move on from there ..

The age of pixelpushing bitmap sprite monkeys is, like, pretty 90's. Your illustrations can go from Vector->Whatever_BMP pretty fast; artistically, you might find it a lot easier to use Vector (Inkscape) work for your source material, and have a 'compile to final engine format' stage in the pipeline ..

 

[Oly]

Heh, your funny tortor, these answers arent particularly smart? But what you arent realising is that the answers are like that because they are tailored towards me; someone who isnt smart

I understand mostly what you are talking about, but I dont know what .2c and DOM mean. But I like the look of Inkscape, its good that its open source. So do you recommend using a tablet to draw directly into Inkscape? But to be honest, I find it difficult to draw as well on tablets.

I love the pixelpushing 90's! Pixelated sprites will never die, don't you think some games just wouldnt fit without them? I think its like when you are working in more traditional arts, choosing between vector, bitmaps, 3D etc, is like choosing oils, acrylics etc. Oils have been around a lot longer than acrylics and are more difficult to use, but sometimes you're like "hay, this painting needs to be olis".

Oh by the way, whats with the SVG format anyway? All vector graphics are scalable, thats the point. Couldnt they have come up with a better name

Heres an example of a homebrew games team that just HAS to work with bitmap sprites. Any other way just wouldnt fit. Oh... I'm forgetting where I am, most of you would have heard of them, as their games are ported to GP32 and GP2X;

http://www.senileteam.com

 

[DavidBeoulve]

I wonder how inkscape would work with a Tablet PC. I love vectar artwork drawn from hand - because it is almost completely resolution independant. The only factor would be the detail of the original lines you draw.