MAKE YOUR OWN UNITS - FLICster Version 1.0.1 (build 18) now available! 2016-10-05

Hmmm, after 3 days and I am the only one giving feedbacks? Comon guys, give some feedbacks. Without them Moeniir cannot improve on the current version

Ok, support for the old format is a must! For one I like to load a few flc at the same time. Sometime to copy something, sometime just compare and view them to see whats wrong with mine Current version of Flicster cannot do that.

Oh, and maybe make the future version of Flicster able to view those standard single direction flc as well? I was trying to view my single direction flc (my prototype for Scud Launcher ) but Flicster load it and did not allow me to view it.

Other than the suggestions, there is no complaint so far. Keep up the good work, Moeniir!

Darksheer -

Thanks as always for the feedback. In no particular order:

On the idea of letting FLICster view standard FLCs, that's certainly something I can do. I only realized a few days before I released the current version that the viewer code wouldn't handle standard FLCs correctly, so I just shut off that feature - too many other things to do on the punchlist at that time. I'll have another look at it.

As to the old format, Give me a chance ! There's got to be some way I can get you to use PCX's Seriously though, as far as the limitations you spoke of, I'm not sure I understand. You mentioned loading a few flcs at a time to copy or compare. Most PCX editors, like paint shop pro, let you load multiple PCXs at once. Certainly should be easier to copy things using the PCXs. As far as comparing them, if you mean the ability to see two FLCs animating side-by-side to compare, you can do this in FLICster, just not when in pop-up mode (wanted to keep the popup size smaller). I'm thinking of giving the animation viewers the ability to pause the animation, and to step through a frame at a time, and to toggle between two frames, to help animators fine-tune their creations.

Tell me any other things you prefer about using animation shop - maybe I can add the features to FLICster. I've already got half a mind to add some paint tools and just allow PCX editing right in the app. If I do, it'll take a while, though.

In the meantime, I'll let you know if I get the viewer changed to view standard FLCs.

Has any one else out there used the new PCX format for editing or creating a FLC? How do you like it? Pros/Cons?

Hi Moeniir.

Thanks for this fantastic utility. I think Earlie r version Flickster is alreary good, but this is the best. I use it to produce my incoming World War modpack units. It's so easy to use. I like it better than AS. I like use PCX and paint shop pro. Keep up good work!

Ok, ok, I like to just edit pcx files as well

But the reason why I continue to use Animation Shop is because:

1) Animation Shop allows me to insert frames from existing files be it pcx or an existing flc files (for flc files any frame from that flc). This is an important feature to make sure all the animation flow smoothly. Let me show an example of how all the flc for a unit is linked

Default is linked to fortify as the first frame of fortify is the same as default. Fortify is linked to attack as the first frame of attack is the same as the last of fortify. And of course the first frame of dead and fidget is also linked to last of default. Thats why the units' animation flow smoothly from default to fidget, default to fortify and fortify to attack etc Do note that when a unit fortify it is always facing SE. The other direction of the fortify flc is used when you attack. The flc used are default --> fortify --> attack. I do study those flc files created by Firaxis

2) Animation Shop's a few other features is also very handy such as transition frames and mirror image of a whole animation file If you haven't notice, for vehicles and ships the SE & SW are mirror images (not for human animation of course ) and so are the NE & NW. This save alot of work!! And transitional frame feature makes the flow of animation very smooth. As the flc is pretty small as it is, a one pixel animation over say 2 frame can be too much but over 5 frame is a totally different story. I find the transitional frame especially useful for both vehicles and ships (again not for human flc).

After Downloading the Program, reading the two first pages i can honestly say: im confuesed...

DS -

Thanks for the great feedback! I can see why you still like to use AS now. You've given me some things to think about for enhancing FLICster.

The linked animation is something I've been thinking about, but only from the viewer perspective. The idea of starting a new animation from the last frame of the previous animation makes alot of sense, and is something I could add to the program.

Mirroring - I should of thought of that myself. I will definately add the abiltity to mirror the directions into FLICster. SE & SW are mirrors, and NE & NW... what about E & W?

Inserting frames is possible in PCX mode, but FLICster always adds them at the end. While you can move the frames manually in PSP (for example), it does make more sense to allow the frames to be inserted at any point in the animation. Adding frames is one the primary reasons why I decided to go with the PCX format (aside from the problems everyone was having with AS). By letting FLICster add frames (or resize the frames if need be), you ensure that all the frames remain the same size and all the animations have the same number of frames. These safety nets should help prevent some headaches.

About the 'transition frames' - never tried that. I will definately play with it and see if I can find a way to add that idea to FLICster.

Thanks for all the great ideas - keep 'em coming!

Originally posted by some other guy
After Downloading the Program, reading the two first pages i can honestly say: im confuesed...

Click to expand...

The only thing I do worse than programming is documentation Sorry about that. If you can be more specific as to what you are confused about, I'll try to help out tho.

its not ur fault im a moron

here's what you should do, Download Snagit 6.0 and use it to create a Tutorial,


btw can i edit pcx files whit Imaging?

ps. the FLCster movie is laging cuz my comp is only a 333mhz

i edited the pcx file whit animation shop but cant save it as a pcx

If you export to PCX, you don't need Animation Shop. Just edit the file directly using a paint program (if you have AS, you must have Paint Shop Pro... that will work). After you have edited the PCX in PSP, just save it... PSP supports PCX. After you've saved, you can use FLICster to view the PCX as an animation (open the FXM file). If you are happy with your work, export it to Civ3UnitFlc and you are done. Note that by default, completed Civ3UnitFlcs are exported to the FLICster directory; back up your original and then copy the new version into the parent directory to see the unit in game.

HTH,

Mr. Blue Screen dosen't like me using PSP

if PSP is bluescreening. you may have other issues. In the meantime, windows paint should handle a PCX, although I'm not sure if it's worth the agravation. I'd try to get PSP working, or another program of similar quality/features.

I have no problem opening the PCX files extracted by Flicster using PSP ??

First let me say that I´m very thankful for this utility

However, I´m also a bit confused, maybe I should study the readme more. The hardest part for me is to turn a new anim into a civ3.flc. I have attached a little example I´m working on - a M60 MBT. To test it I´d like to turn this simple 8 frame anim into a flc, but I can´t get it to work...

Here´s what I tried so far:

- used flicster to view the Civ3 panzer anim, turned it into the pcx storyboard
- created a 256 color .pal file (from the existing 24bit M60 anim), and loaded it into the pcx storyboard from the panzer
- pasted the frames from the M60 anim into the panzer storyboard
- filled all unused frames with the background color (can I fill the hole space, or must the red borders be there - empty or not?)
- saved the storyboard

When I load it back to flicster, it shows the M60, but not all frames (only one direction). It also showed all empty frames, how can I get rid of them? Any help would be great...

BTW, I read also what is planned in the future. I´m not a programmer, but the best thing for me would be an option to convert an existing 8bit gif anim to the Civ3 flc format. Is that possible?

BeBro -

The storyboard layout is 8 rows of x columns, where x is the number of frames in one direction's animation loop. In the case of the Civ3 PanzerDefault.flc, which is the 'Default' animation used when the unit is selected but not moving/attacking/etc, each direction's animation has 5 frames. In FLICster, you can see this on the First tab as 'Frames per direction' or on the view tab in the counter under the picture. So, If you export this to PCX Storyboard, you will get 40 frames, as 8 rows of 5 cells each.

If you have 8 single-frame directional shots, you can plug each direction in the first column, starting with SW and going counter-clockwise around the compass. However, if you leave the other 4 frames in each row blank, then you get four blank frames in each directional animation.

Instead, try this. Open the Panzer in FLICster again. Go to the export tab, but click on the 'Frame Count' button to open the frame count dialog. Change the frame count to 1. Now export the storyboard. You will get a pcx containing 8 rows of 1 column each... which is exactly what you need for single-frame animations.

Once you get the single frames in place (and save the edited PCX), you can open the FXM file in FLICster to view your work. If it looks good, you can export the FXM to a Civ3Unit Flc and use it in game. If, after getting single-frame animation working you want to try longer animations, just open the FXM in FLICster, go to the Export tab, set the Export Format to Storyboard PCX, and increase the Frame Count. Now, re-export the PCX, and FLICster will add empty frames to the end of each row of your storyboard. Note that you must work on all directions at once, if SW has 3 frames, all directions must have 3 frames.

Since you mentioned you already have a storyboard with empty frames... assuming you put the correct frames in the right spots in the first column, you can open the FXM in FLICster, set export type to Storyboard PCX, decrease the frame count to 1 and re-export to trim your existing PCX down to 1 column.

Hope i'm making sense so far... I'm a touch long-winded at times

Something else you mentioned needs attention... you said:

- created a 256 color .pal file (from the existing 24bit M60 anim), and loaded it into the pcx storyboard from the panzer

Click to expand...

I think you've done that backwards. The palette used in the PCX is in a special order for Civ3, and some of the palette positions are 'magic' - the first 64 colors are civ-specific, and the last 32 colors are used for alpha-blending (like shadows and smoke). I'd reccomend taking your 24bit m60 picture and make it use the PCX's palette. FLICster exports a PSP-compatible .pal file when you create a PCX. Use nearest color error correction, i'd think. This wont be perfect, though... if the palette loading process uses colors from the magic ranges, you might get an odd effect in the game. I'm thinking of having FLICster create a special PAL file in which all 'magic' palette positions contain a color you'd never see, like hot flaming pink, for use when importing. Still, that depends on the rest of the palette (which you can edit) already containing useful colors.

Of course, this would all be easier if FLICster would import animated GIFs as you suggested. A few thoughts here. First, I thought GIFs were 256 color (actually 255, + transparency). Certainly easier to convert than 24 bit color. The real issue with GIFs is legal - I understand that the GIF scheme is copyrighted, and one must have a licence to write code that manipulates it. Now, don't get me wrong... I make my living as a programmer, and I don't care if others want to do the same; I just can't pay to licence something for a project I'm giving away . I'll look into it, mebbe they have a shareware licence available. FLICster could read AVIs, mebbe, depending on the encoding.

One final comment... you asked about the borders in the storyboard... those are there for your benefit only... FLICster ignores them. If you mess them up, you can re-export the PCX to restore them.

p.s. - If none of this adds up, blame me . If you'd like, you can mail me your original animation and I'll play with it a bit if time permits. E-mail address is at the top of the readme.

Thanks for the help so far, I´ll try your suggestions and post the result in the next days...

Ok, so I am not really evil But Moeniir always thought that my continuous love for animation shop is evil

First, a little suggestion which is still what AS has but at the moment Flicster lack (told ya I am evil ) :

1) Duplicate frames. This feature is handy in any animation job. AS allows you to duplicate a frame and the same frame is automatically inserted right behind the current frame.

2) Save a frame from an animation. This is useful because sometime you need to manupulate something in one frame (take for example, my current work, scud launcher. I need to work on the scud missile on the launcher and also create a blank launcher without missile. For this I save one frame, erase the missile then save as one file, after that erase the launcher and save the missile as another file. After that I can use a combo of both files to show the missile being raised on the launcher )

3) I know you plan to discontinue support for AS but atleast for now extract a pal file when do the 8 direction flcs?

Actually, I wonder why you want to remove the extract 8 direction flc feature since its already in the code at the moment and nothing new needs to be done for this?

Finally, for the guy who say he likes to convert animated gifs into flc. Good news!! Animation Shop can do just that

The FLC I create crashes Civ3

Originally posted by heardie
The FLC I create crashes Civ3

Click to expand...

You flc looks ok except for the Civ specific color. I notice that the first 64 color in the pallete is not the original Civ color and you seems to use the first 64 color elsewhere on your graphic as well. Could this be the cause for crash?

Perhaps Moeniir can explain better