XNA Essentials

Game Programming for Xbox 360, PC + Windows Phone

NAVIGATION - SEARCH

SpriteSheet Editor ? (for Chap 11 - Creating a 2D Game)

Hi,


In Chapter 11, a good 2D game example is provided.


Could you please say how the spritesheets were made ? Which editor was used ?


As an exercise, I'd like to make my own spritesheets (or modify those provided).


Thanks !


Kent

kpoots - Friday, August 20, 2010 @ 9:49 AM

Re: SpriteSheet Editor ? (for Chap 11 - Creating a 2D Game)

Your welcome :)

garfbradaz - Wednesday, September 1, 2010 @ 5:36 AM

Re: SpriteSheet Editor ? (for Chap 11 - Creating a 2D Game)

I don't recall the exact steps I took to create these, but I used a copy of Poser 5 I had from years before and created the animation.  Then I believe I had to export it as an .avi file.  I then found a utility to extract the frames from the avi into individual images.  (Or maybe Poser allowed me to generated numbered images - I don't remember.)  Finally, I took the individual images and using Paint.NET I copied and pasted them into a large image.  I turned on grids to line up the individual images on the larger canvas inside of the paint program.


Hope this helps,


Chad

Chad Carter - Monday, August 23, 2010 @ 7:30 AM

Re: SpriteSheet Editor ? (for Chap 11 - Creating a 2D Game)

Thanks for the reply.


Just looked at Poser: $250/$500 for a license. That's kinda out - if I want to try this, then give it to students to try. Would you do this (create Sprite Sheets) any differently today - or if you were on a budget ? Certainly Paint (for free !) fits in someplace. There do seem to be some inexpensive tools - Paint.Net, MilkShape 3D, Allegro - any thoughts on using these (or any other "budget" tools) for Sprite Sheets ?


Thanks very much !

kpoots - Monday, August 23, 2010 @ 11:00 AM

Re: SpriteSheet Editor ? (for Chap 11 - Creating a 2D Game)

Yeah I was able to get a free copy of Poser 5 when I was writing the first book back in 2007 and that is why I was able to use it.  Paint.NET is free (allows donations) but to get a 3d character animated you will need a 3d tool.  Blender would be a good free option.  http://blender.org/ 


I haven't tried to do any rigging and animation in blender but that would need to be done and then the animation exported in a format that you could extract the images. 


The key to any tool is being able to animate something and then render that animation into a format that you can extract the still images and place them into one or more spritesheets.


Hope that helps!

Chad Carter - Monday, August 23, 2010 @ 9:48 PM

Re: SpriteSheet Editor ? (for Chap 11 - Creating a 2D Game)

Yes - thanks !

kpoots - Monday, August 23, 2010 @ 10:04 PM

Re: SpriteSheet Editor ? (for Chap 11 - Creating a 2D Game)

Instead of manually creating your spritesheets you could definitely use this sample code:


http://creators.xna.com/en-US/sample/spritesheet


Make sure to look at all of the samples of the creators club site.  They have tons of great stuff!

Chad Carter - Friday, August 27, 2010 @ 5:40 AM

Re: SpriteSheet Editor ? (for Chap 11 - Creating a 2D Game)

Nick Gravelyn has also done a great App called Spritesheet Packer found here:


http://spritesheetpacker.codeplex.com/


Obviously the spites thmeselves can be drawn in Paint.NET etc, but packing them into a Sprite Sheet you can use Nicks tool. I even think there is is an API that can be used, when dealing with the Mapping Files it creates.

garfbradaz - Friday, August 27, 2010 @ 6:49 AM

Re: SpriteSheet Editor ? (for Chap 11 - Creating a 2D Game)

Had a quick look - seems very interesting - thanks !

kpoots - Friday, August 27, 2010 @ 9:18 AM

Re: SpriteSheet Editor ? (for Chap 11 - Creating a 2D Game)

Good idea - thanks !

kpoots - Friday, August 27, 2010 @ 9:20 AM