03-10-2010, 12:47 AM
(This post was last modified: 03-10-2010, 12:48 AM by TheouAegis.)
I use Game Maker for two reasons.
1) It will let you save sprites after you finally finished getting them in the right order and alignment.
2) It's tedious, and only shows the sprite in 100% scale, but the sprite previewer automatically updates and shows you how every change you've made affects the sprite overall. So give yourself adequate canvas size and start shifting sprites around. You can also use the arrows to cycle through each frame, which sometimes is enough to see where you need to shift tiles around.
The other method I use, typically in Game Maker but as well as other programs like PSP and AnimationShop Pro, is to pick a reference pixel. This doesn't always work and requires some tweeking, as well as an understanding of how things move in the real world, but it can be a time saver. Megaman's an easy example. As he runs, his arms and legs move, but his head doesn't. So pick a pixel on his face and get that pixel's coordinates. Now make sure that pixel is always at the same coordinates or along the same row or column (since his jumping sprite is taller, for example). 80% of the time this works for me.
@Vipershark Please change your avatar. She's too cute. Everytime I see your posts my hormones rage.
1) It will let you save sprites after you finally finished getting them in the right order and alignment.
2) It's tedious, and only shows the sprite in 100% scale, but the sprite previewer automatically updates and shows you how every change you've made affects the sprite overall. So give yourself adequate canvas size and start shifting sprites around. You can also use the arrows to cycle through each frame, which sometimes is enough to see where you need to shift tiles around.
The other method I use, typically in Game Maker but as well as other programs like PSP and AnimationShop Pro, is to pick a reference pixel. This doesn't always work and requires some tweeking, as well as an understanding of how things move in the real world, but it can be a time saver. Megaman's an easy example. As he runs, his arms and legs move, but his head doesn't. So pick a pixel on his face and get that pixel's coordinates. Now make sure that pixel is always at the same coordinates or along the same row or column (since his jumping sprite is taller, for example). 80% of the time this works for me.
@Vipershark Please change your avatar. She's too cute. Everytime I see your posts my hormones rage.