Help drawing individual frames from an actors sequence

[Techdojo]

Hi there,

I'm trying to draw indivdiual frames from a Normal Actors animation sequence in the draw event of a Canvas Actor.

Basically I have a Normal Actor that contains 16 seperate frames and I want to be able to choose which one to draw and where - there's going to be loads of these on screen so I don't want to duplicate or clone the actors.

I found the draw_from() function in the script reference and this works OK, except it only draws the current frame (I've called the ChangeAnimation() function in the create event for various actors concerned to stop the animation from running in the background).

Is there some way to force the current frame number so I can use the draw_from() function, or failing that is there an easy way to include and draw a simple sprite as a resource?

I think I must be missing something simple but I'll be buggered if I can see it...

Thanks in advance

Jon...

[metal_pt]

You can choose the animation frame with animpos.

in a draw actor event:
animpos=3; // animpos goes from 0 to number of frames-1

Hope it helps

[Techdojo]

You can choose the animation frame with animpos.

in a draw actor event:
animpos=3; // animpos goes from 0 to number of frames-1

Hope it helps

Sorry if this sounds like a total noob reply - but I need to be able to change the frame fom a different actor.

I have a normal actor called sprites, and a canvas actor called screen.

In the "screen" draw event I call

draw_from("sprites",x,y,1.0);

repeatedly, but I need to change the animpos of "sprites" between calls.

I thought about getting a reference to sprites (by calling CreateActor) in the screen create event, but I couldn't get this to compile, can someone post a quick example please?

Cheers

Jon...

[DilloDude]

You can use sprites.animpos to change another actor. Of course, if you have clones, you will need to use the getclone function to access clones individually.

[Techdojo]

You can use sprites.animpos to change another actor. Of course, if you have clones, you will need to use the getclone function to access clones individually.

But sprites is the name of the actor and you have to reference it in quotes, and "sprites".animpos = 0; returned a compile error (not surprisingly).

So am I right in thinking the only way to do it would be to store the return value from the CreateActor() function into a var of type Actor * and then reference it through that?

Jon...

[metal_pt]

You should't use the quotes on the actor name.

[Techdojo]

So is an actors name actually defined as a variable of type Actor ???

D'oh! - I only put it in quotes because the draw_from() function says the first paramter is a pointer to a char string and I assumed that GE references all of it's actors by name...

Hmm, that doesn't seem to be explained very well in the docs...

But thanks for your help

Jon...

[Techdojo]

Ok it kinda works now (not putting the actor name in quotes)
but here's the Draw Actor script from my background Canvas Actor

Code: Select all

erase(0,0,0,1.0);

draw_from("TitleImg",160,80,1.0);

large_pipes.animpos = 0;
draw_from("large_pipes",20,20,1.0);

large_pipes.animpos = 1;
draw_from("large_pipes",20,60,1.0);

large_pipes.animpos = 2;
draw_from("large_pipes",20,100,1.0);

large_pipes.animpos = 15;
draw_from("large_pipes",20,140,1.0);



The weird thing now is that all of the pipes are all drawn with the same frame (frame 15) ????

Is there not an easy way to be able to draw a series of individual frames from an animation sequence on the screen or am I going to have to have a seperate object for each frame ?????

Jon...

[DilloDude]

The animation won't update until the next frame, so changing the animpos and then using draw_from won't work, unless you use draw_from in the next frame (i think). It may be best to use one actor, and set animpos based on cloneindex. Of course, it's not so nice, but... Whilst draw_from is a useful tool, I'd like it if there were more options for it, maybe being able to select an animaion and frame for it. Especially since you have to have an existing actor for it to work.

[DilloDude]

So is an actors name actually defined as a variable of type Actor ???

D'oh! - I only put it in quotes because the draw_from() function says the first paramter is a pointer to a char string and I assumed that GE references all of it's actors by name...

Hmm, that doesn't seem to be explained very well in the docs...

But thanks for your help

Jon...

With the actor's name by itself, it refers to a struct variable. This is only the first clone, however. In functions you use a string (in quotes) which allows you to use clones as well. IF you want to access a particular clone, use the getclone function. It takes a string, and it returns a pointer to the actor's struct:

Code: Select all

Actor * AC = getclone("MyActor.3");
AC->x += 5;
AC->yvelocity *= .99;

A little off the topic, but I hope it helps.

[Techdojo]

Thanks for that - I kinda thought that was happening.
I ended up having to make 40 clones of my object (for an 8x5 grid) and then during a create event calling the get clone function and storing the address in an array of Actor *'s (and it's still not working the way I want)

I'm sure GE is great for some things, but trying to draw a simple 2D grid of sprites that can change as the player clicks on them seems to be beyond it's capabilities *sheesh*

I think thing's would be a lot easier if the doc's and examples were better, the docs are seriously lacking and although the animated examples show you what to do, they don't explain WHY or what other caveats exist!

Jon...

[Sgt. Sparky]

if you want your pipes all different animations that never change you should just tile your actors.
(but if you are making a game with switching pipes do not tile them.)

[DocRabbit]

Check here, I posted this in your other question but I think they are about the same.

http://game-editor.com/forum/tp-3950-Ye ... that-.html

Graphics for animation frames are one color blocks, but you can see the idea with them. They change on a mouse click.