Characters Tab

Characters: This is where you can create your characters, outfits, & animations etc...

Outfits

Create new entry: add a new animation to one of the character animation sections.
Remove selected entry: delete the selected animation.
Rename selected entry: rename the selected animation.
Duplicate selected entry: create a duplicate of the selected animation.
Copy selected entry to clipboard: copy selected animation to memory.
Paste selected entry from clipboard: paste currently stored animation from memory; must be an animation.
Copy selected entry to clipboard: copy selected animation to memory.
Move selected entry up: shift the selected animation up the list by 1 position.
Move selected entry down: shift the selected animation down the list by 1 position.

Edit animation: this shows the animation preview screen, where you can preview, or edit the animation.
Properties: allows you to edit loop amount, direction, frame delay value, & various playback settings, such as: play forwards, reverse, or random frame selection.
First frame: jump back to the first frame.
Previous frame: jump back 1 frame.
Play animation: allows you to preview the animation.
Next frame: jump forward 1 frame.
Last frame: jump forward to the last frame.
Add frame: opens load graphic box, import image, & edit settings for a single frame
Delete frame: delete the currently selected frame.
Edit frame: opens load graphic box, replace current image, edit various settings, & create custom actions, for the currently selected frame.
Load frame sequence: allows you to batch import animation frame images; images must contain same name with a prefix index number like so: walk_west_01, walk_west_02, ..., walk_west_10, etc...
Onion effect: allows you to display a semi-transparent version, of whichever animation frame you assign the red • dot to.
Set animation center: controls the current position of the character, & is used for detecting when character enters an action area, or reaches a destination; should be set somewhere near the characters feet, in the center.
Animation studio: opens the animation studio window, which allows you to harmonize current character animation center, to another character animation; useful for checking if character animations are correctly aligned.
Set character movement for walk animation: control the movement/position, of the character between frames, preview what character will look like walking across the screen; only available for walk animations.
Zoom in: zoom in to the character animation; max zoom of 400%.
ZoomOriginalButton: reset zoom back to actual character size.
Zoom out: zoom in to the character animation; min zoom of 25%.
Initialize character movement based on character speed of outfit: automatically create movement points between frames based on character speed, set in outfit properties tab; only available when set character movement is enabled.

Animation frames: the black • signifies the active frame.
Animation frames with onion effect enabled: the red • signifies the active semi-transparent onion frame.

Properties

Pauses [msec]: set the global pause value between animation frames in milliseconds; in other words: it determines how long each frame will be shown for.
Play forwards: loops through the animation forwards; the way it was intended to be played.
Play backwards: loops through the animation in reverse; for people who want to travel backwards through time, or for people who are called Tom.
Play in random order: this creates a random pause (between 5 & 20 seconds) between animation loops; useful for randomly triggering environmental scene animations.
Set pause for each frame: this allows you to create individual pause values for each animation frame; overrides the pauses [msec] value above.
Direction of animation: allows you to set the alignment of the currently selected animation.
Start action after animation has finished: allows you link to a previously created action, which will be executed after the animation has finished playing; does not work for animations in the walk, standing, or talking animation sections.
Mirror following animation: mirrors the linked animation, so you don't have to create individual animations for each direction; this will cause issues with Lua scripts that require access to character animations, or specific character animation frames.

Add/Edit Frame

Both add frame & edit frame use the 'Load graphic window; in the case of edit frame the animation frame preview will already be shown as the link to the graphic is already set & all settings, actions etc, will be as you left them after importing a new frame, or editing the currently selected frame.

Transparency: None: don't use use transparency for current animation frame; ok for solid images that do not contain any transparent background parts.
Transparency: Alpha channel: uses images alpha channel for transparency; if available.
Transparency: Color: allows you to set the background color mask; old school masking method in which the all parts containing the specified color will be ignored.
Sound file: allows you to add a single sound file that will be triggered when the animation frame is shown.
Action: allows you to create actions via the animation frame action window, which will be executed when the animation frame is shown.
Volume: allows you to set the volume level of the sound file; providing you have added a sound file.
Balance: allows you offset the balance (left/right) of the sound file; providing you have added a sound file.
OK: apply the changes & close the window.
Cancel: undo the changes & close the window.