Questions about animation tools

[Disthron]

Hi, I just wonted to ask some questions about the animation editor/s in MMF2.

I've rendered some 3D animations from a 3D program. I have rendered all the animations as single frames, rather than a video.I maid them 24bit PNGs to preserve the opasity.

So my question is, can I import these animations as a folder? Like you do in Image Ready? I have had some successes in turning them into gifs and importing them that way but that doesn't keep the opacity.

How do you copy frames from one animation to another? When I import them as gifs the animations are all ways in the stopped slot. When I try to coppy and past them to another animation slot or aonother direction nothing seemes to happen.

And lastly, how do I apply changes to all frames? For instance, there is a tool to place the hot-spots and animation-points to the center of the object. If I make an posit direction to the animation I've imported the hot-spot is out of wack. So if I wonted to recenter the hot-spot do I really have to go and do it to every frame?

I'm sorry if this seems like a really nubeish question but it is really bugging me. If there is a way around it I'd realy like to know and if there isn't.... well I like to know where I stand.

Thanks for reading
~Disthron

[Sarah]

If you export your 3D images as a numbered sequence of pngs, MMF2 can import the sequence for you into the animation of your choice.

For example, in the Picture Editor for your active object, select the Walking animation. Then click on the Import icon and up comes the Open window for you to select the first file in the sequence.

Select the first frame and click on OK. The Import Options window will appear. You'll need to pick the transparent colour this animation uses. You can either do that by clicking on the Pick button and then moving the colour picker over the frame and clicking on an area of transparent colour, or by double clicking on the colour square next to it and then picking from the colour swatch.

You'll need to tell it to import as an animation - check the box. You'll also need to tell it which frames to import and whether to replace the current animation etc. When you're done, click OK and the sequence of frames will be imported.

[Sarah]

Copy and paste should now work as you expect for frames. You can also copy and paste an entire direction of an animation by right clicking on the animation name.

If you want to move the hotspot on all frames of a direction of an animation, go to the first frame and hold down the ALT key as you move the hotspot.

If you want to CROP all frames hold down the SHIFT key as you click the crop icon on the first frame. NB Move the hotspot BEFORE you crop!

[Disthron]

Thanks for your help, this has sped up the posses a lot. I still can't get it to copy more than one frame at a time through the copy and past function but I'm working around it buy using the "create opposite driection" thing.

[Sarah]

Don't understand the copy paste problem. What build are you using?

Click on the first frame you want to copy and then shift click on the last frame. Press CTRL and C together to copy the frames.
Or right click on any of the selected frames and click Copy.

Then click on the animation name and direction that you want to copy the frames to. Right click on the empty white space on the right where you want to paste the frames and then click Paste on the menu that pops up.