Using Sprite Sheets

[arukas]

Hello -

I found some sprite sheets I like, however there's no meta file that goes with it.  (size, location, frame#)  Is there a good tool to organize the sprite sheets, and get the data from them?

-A

[Koh]

You'll likely have to do it manually. Any editor can work, even MS Paint, you just have to arrange the sprites in dimensions where every frame of that animation can fit. To make that easier, you can make a bunch of boxes that are the size you need, and then cut and paste the sprites for that animation on top of the boxes. For example, if you need a 16x16 sprite with 4 frames, make a 16x16 box, and repeatedly copy and paste that box to the right so you have 4 16x16 boxes next to each other. Then cut the sprite you need to fit over that box, and paste it over the box, where it can fit snugly.

[Goemar]

It depends what you're doing with them. With animated gifs the above method works well, and it's pretty obvious if a frame is 'extra' (as in from another animation at the end).

If you're using them to make a game, most programs have 'hot-spots' or something of that nature which creates a point the animation centres, so adjusting where this is on each frame is required for it to be smooth.

Never used Flash, so no idea.