Best Way to Animate?

PhiliePhilie PRO Posts: 240
edited February 2012 in Working with GS (Mac)
Hey guys,

I am doing an animation that takes up the bottom half of the screen, that just has something moving left, but in order to get a smooth transition of it, I have 120 frames. This is ridiculous, and I know there is an easier way. My problem is, I need it to loop, so everyway I thought of seems to have a problem.

I have a few objects in the one image that needs to be animated, two are just sliding left, while the other object is in one position just moving slightly around. I thought of doing it directly in Gamesalad, but how would I "loop" so when it goes to loop, it doesn't look choppy. I am sure I can get it down in frames, but it has been horrible for the Gamesalad viewer.

On my iPhone, after 15 seconds of loading, it runs at 60 fps, then crashes (most of the time).

I bet there is a super simple way to animate, and I'm just not thinking about it. If anyone can help, it'd mean a lot!

Thanks,
Matt

Comments

  • zombieaddictzombieaddict Member Posts: 213
    its hard to even visualize what you've made but the parts of the animation that are just moving left can be seperated from your frames and you can just use the move behaviour from gs. the moving around slightly thing could be done with behaviours and attribute changes aswell. what speed fps are you using for your animation? removing frames but speeding up the fps can still give you that smooth look.
  • CloudsClouds Member Posts: 1,599
    edited February 2012
    @Philie

    "how would I "loop" so when it goes to loop, it doesn't look choppy"

    Here are some simple looped movements for you, it's not clear from your post what you are after, but these might help.

    http://www.mediafire.com/?epblrfuysf4aibt
  • PhiliePhilie PRO Posts: 240
    Alright, so pretty much - lets say I have a bunch of soap bubbles (Layer 1) that are slowly moving left, meanwhile there is another bunch of soap bubbles (Layer 3) which will move either left with Layer 1 or just go right, and in between those layers is a rubber ducky (Layer 2). Thanks to @Tynan - the rubber ducky isn't a problem, but what I have trouble grasping is Layer 1 and 2 are the size of the iPhone screen, so when they move left, it cuts off to the black, obviously. How would I get it to go from a to b, and repeat that without seeing the black. I guess its hard to explain, but I want the soap to continuously never ending move left.

    I somewhat have an idea of what to do, and will try it tomorrow, but for now I'm really confused. Thanks for all the help, the template really helps @Tynan, so thank you.
    @zombieaddict - I'm not sure what I want for fps, just a nice slow movement of the soap is all I'm aiming for.
  • CloudsClouds Member Posts: 1,599
    edited February 2012
    @Philie

    You want an image to go right to left and loop around so it comes back on the right hand side ? . . . . Simply get it moving left (a 'move' behaviour will do) . . . then, when it has completely left the left-hand side of the screen, get it to jump over to the right (a change attribute / x position will do the trick).

    It's as simple as that.

    The code looks like this:

    image

    Here's an example file to pull apart:

    http://www.mediafire.com/?g6dyw27bzb3kzej


    "How would I get it to go from a to b, and repeat that without seeing the black"

    One image moving left - (and when fully off the left of the screen jumping to the right to continue moving left across the screen) - will obviously leave a black screen behind it, before starting again from the right and covering up the black screen . . . . . so simply stick two images side by side (see example file above).

    . . . . . .


    One image: - when it is fully off the left hand side of the screen you tell it to jump to being fully off the screen to the right, I have made the 'jump' obvious here, but in reality it would be instant (like in the 'Two images' example below).

    the white rectangle is the area of your GameSalad project, it's what would be seen on your iPhone screen

    image


    Two images:

    image
  • PhiliePhilie PRO Posts: 240
    @Tynan - Sweeeet! This is great, exactly what I needed! Thanks so much for all the help! :D
  • PhiliePhilie PRO Posts: 240
    edited February 2012
    Yes, I know I can edit the post but anyways..

    @Tynan - I am seeing a problem though. As amazing as it looks, I am also seeing a problem, sometimes its fine, and sometimes you see where they break and there is a black bar in between the two, and its not just in viewers, its also on my phone. Any ideas?

    Because if it lags, or just happens, it won't look very good x)
  • CloudsClouds Member Posts: 1,599
    edited February 2012
    @Philie

    ". . . I am also seeing a problem, sometimes its fine, and sometimes you see where they break and there is a black bar in between the two, and its not just in viewers, its also on my phone. Any ideas?"

    Lol. I will answer the question if you really want me to (the answer is fairly obvious) but I can't believe you cannot work it out, you've mastered language, computer use and custom avatars, removing the gap between two objects can't seriously be that much of a challenge can it !!? @-)


    ;)
  • CloudsClouds Member Posts: 1,599
    edited February 2012
    . . . actually I feel cruel holding back the secrets of de-gapping known only to the few . . . so here you go, witness what happens to a gap between two objects when you make the actors a little wider.

    image
  • PhiliePhilie PRO Posts: 240
    edited February 2012
    ohhhh, you sneaky sneaky man! All fixed, thanks @Tynan, means a lot! :D

    @Tynan - wow I feel really bad for you, but I have one last thing (I hope)
    This is really picking your brain.. ok so, I now see that to get a realistic feel to the soap movement, etc.. I need it to go to the left, then go to the right. (So the same movement as now, but after going to the left, instead of a continuous loop, it needs to go the opposite, and when that goes, it needs to go opposite again, etc.)

    I tried a few things, like when it reaches here, move with 0 direction, and when it reaches the other spot, move with 180, etc. Blah blah blah, can't seem to get it going!
  • PhiliePhilie PRO Posts: 240
    @Tynan - Sorry to bother, can you help?
  • CloudsClouds Member Posts: 1,599
    edited February 2012
    @Philie
    @Tynan - Sorry to bother, can you help?
    . . . . go on . . . ?


    [EDIT - just seen your question above . . . . give me a few minutes to post something]
  • CloudsClouds Member Posts: 1,599
    edited February 2012
    @Philie
    I need [AN ACTOR] to go to the left, then go to the right.
    In my first reply to your question I gave you a file that had an actor moving continuously left to right across the screen . . . ???

    I think we are going around in circles here 8-X Your new question seems to be 'how do you get an actor moving continuously left to right across the screen' ? :)

    http://www.mediafire.com/?ixjm0f9yhkxv42s
  • PhiliePhilie PRO Posts: 240
    @Tynan - Yeah - see what had happened was, I had it set up like that, but then everyone was telling me it was way too unrealistic - and it needs to go left then right, repeatedly. So to get it to move left and right, I would still have two of the same actor, as in one on the screen, and one to the right of it, so that you don't see the black as it moves? Or am I wrong?
  • CloudsClouds Member Posts: 1,599
    edited March 2012
    @Philie
    . . . . So to get it to move left and right, I would still have two of the same actor, as in one on the screen, and one to the right of it, so that you don't see the black as it moves? Or am I wrong?
    Why would you need two actors to get something to move left and right (continuously) ?


    Did you look at the link in my last post ?

    This is all getting a little confusing !? I think you might be overcomplicating something fairly straightforward ?

    If you want something to move left and right left and right (continuously) I can't see any obvious reason why you want to cut the image into two (unless I am completely misunderstanding what it is you are trying to do ?).

    This is how the conversation looks to me so far:

    Me: Here's a file showing you an actor moving left and right continuously.
    You: Actually I need it just moving to the left continuously.
    Me: Ok, here is how you can move it to the left continuously.
    You: Actually I need it moving left and right continuously.
    Me: I have already shown you how to move it left and right continuously in my first post.
    You: I had it set up like that but now I need it moving left and right continuously.

    To which I can only say to the last part of the conversation - 'what on earth are you going on about !' :)) You had it set up like what ? In my post I am saying I have shown you how to have it moving left and right continuously - and you reply with - 'yes I had it like that, but now I need it moving left and right continuously'.

    None of this makes any sense to me any more :)) 8-X Lol !!

    Just tell me what you want your actor to do - and I will see if I can help you out.
  • PhiliePhilie PRO Posts: 240
    edited March 2012
    @Tynan - Hahaha, ok look. You showed me how to do all cool rotations and move left and right. I used the rotation for one of my actors. Then I needed the soap at the bottom of my game to flow left continuously, which you helped me with. Then, everyone over at where I am - told me it looked unrealistic to have it just flow left, rather they said it should move left then right, back and forth. What I am having trouble with is this. The soap takes up the whole bottom of the screen, so if it moves left on the right side it will have black, because the image is just the 480 wide (landscape). Thats why, like with the looping left soap, I was wondering how do I make to of the same actor move left, then right, to avoid the black. I bet this still doesn't make sense.

    image
    How about now?
  • CloudsClouds Member Posts: 1,599
    edited March 2012
    @Philie

    Great GIF ! :) Makes the question very clear.
    The soap takes up the whole bottom of the screen, so if it moves left on the right side it will have black, because the image is just the 480 wide (landscape).
    This is rather like the 'gap' question, the answer seems so obvious that I end up thinking "he can't seriously be asking how to do this, can he !" . . . which gives me the impression I have misunderstood your question. :)) @-) :-O :-))

    Right, let's take a scientific look at the problem and then see if we can possibly find an answer to this vastly complicated quandary, to help you out I shall spell out in detail my thought process and working methodology so you can see how I tackled this tricky mathematical, spatial (and some might argue ethical) conundrum.

    The problem: The image is too narrow, so when it moves left and right you can see the background.

    The answer: Make the image wider.



    image

    . . . still seems like a really weird question to me . . . a bit like saying ,"I have two squares that have a space between them, but I want them touching" . . to which I would be tempted to say "em . . move them closer to each other !?" . . . and that's when I start thinking I must have misunderstood the question . . . . you are going to turn me to drink and drugs at this rate . . . 8-X 8-X 8-X 8-X 8-X
  • PhiliePhilie PRO Posts: 240
    Ok, I'm going to pretend like this never happened, and I never wasted your time... :-\" I'll be honest, my brain wasn't working, I completely forgot I could do that... *facepalm ~X(
  • CloudsClouds Member Posts: 1,599
    edited March 2012
    @Philie
    Ok, I'm going to pretend like this never happened, and I never wasted your time... :-\" I'll be honest, my brain wasn't working, I completely forgot I could do that... *facepalm ~X(
    Lol !


    Don't worry, I enjoy answering these questions (even the insane ones :-)) ).

    You could go into Photoshop (or whatever you use), make the canvas twice as wide and and place two images side by side.

    Another way would be to stick 'wrap' on the X coordinate:
    check out this link: http://www.mediafire.com/?mdn60ojbn5t8m6c

    . . . but the double width image might be better because you can squeeze in more variation across the double width image so it looks less repetitive.
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