I have made this tool to ease the process of creating animations for UO, and to avoid having to rely on sites like EZGifs. It started out as a pretty simple tool just with a few features, but I have added more and more features along the way. That's why the version number is so high.
This tool needs Python installed to be able to work.
What this tool can do:
Load in an already made .gif file (for example the ones from the Infinity Engine) and split them into frames.
Take a sequence of images and load them into the tool.
Output selected direction sequences into .gif files ready to be imported into Fiddler.
Remove backgrounds either by using an eye-dropper, or by automation.
Resize animations using different downscaling (and upscaling) models.
Reduce frame count of the animations.
Remove soft shadows from images. This feature was mostly added because of the Age of Empires sprites, as they have a soft shadow.
Tweak 100% black and 100% white, to avoid Fiddler making those colours transparent.
Load in sprite sheets and turn them into .gif files. This feature is not working a 100%, but it works on most sprite sheets. The auto detect does not work yet.
How to use the tool:
To launch the tool, click on Run_VrarksGIFTools_build042.bat. That should load up the tool, if you have Python installed.
For a set of sequence images, you start by clicking the 'browse' button to load in your files.
Select the folder containing the images, and just click on 'select folder'.
The next step will be to tell the program how many frames each animation has, so you will have to count those. Once you have the correct number, you type that into the 'frames per direction' field.
You then click on 'preview first block' and the animation will be loaded into the preview window.
Let's say we are using one of the Infinity Engine animations, as they have 8 directions, and we do not need that many. So once you have clicked on the 'preview first block' you will see a single image in the preview window. If you click on the 'all' button under the preview window, all of the directions of the animation will now show. If you typed in a wrong number in the 'frames per direction' field, you will most likely get more or less than 8 different images in the preview. You will have to fix that before moving on, or the output will be broken. You can also click on 'play' to preview the animation, just to be sure.
Then you select the directions in the right order, simply by clicking on them. So you click on the first direction which is the down direction. Then click the down left, left, up left and up directions in that order.
When you have done so, it should look something like this:
If you mis-clicked, you can click on the images again to change/remove the number.
Once you have clicked on the right directions, and done whatever else you want to do, like removing the background, downscaling, etc. you then select an output folder where the .gif files will be saved, by clicking the 'output folder' button. And since the Infinity Engine images are already named, you can tick the 'original name' option. This will save out the .gif files with the original name of the files. If you have files that has no distinct name, you can untick the 'original name' and type in a name in the field that says 'base name'.
Before you save out the finished files, you have to make sure that you set the frame reduction, or the file will only have one frame. You simply do this by typing in the frame count in the 'reduce to' field at the lower right, and then clicking the 'set' button. I will fix this so when you load in something and want to keep the original frame count, it won't override that. It is on my to-do list!
So now that you have set everything the way you want, you click on the 'build selected GIFs' button, and you should see in the log window that they have been saved out.
That's it! This will save out five .gif files that you can easily import into Fiddler by using the 'all directions add with canvas' option.
A note on the background removal: to use this feature, you have to tick the 'enable key' option, or the background removal will not work. I also recommend ticking the 'enable HSV mode' which will make sure the files uses a global colour palette, as Fiddler is a bit sensitive to that.
A guide is also included in the folder, and you can access it by clicking on the 'guide' button below the preview window.
I really hope this tool is of use to people, and if you have any questions or suggestions, please feel free to comment here!
This tool needs Python installed to be able to work.
What this tool can do:
Load in an already made .gif file (for example the ones from the Infinity Engine) and split them into frames.
Take a sequence of images and load them into the tool.
Output selected direction sequences into .gif files ready to be imported into Fiddler.
Remove backgrounds either by using an eye-dropper, or by automation.
Resize animations using different downscaling (and upscaling) models.
Reduce frame count of the animations.
Remove soft shadows from images. This feature was mostly added because of the Age of Empires sprites, as they have a soft shadow.
Tweak 100% black and 100% white, to avoid Fiddler making those colours transparent.
Load in sprite sheets and turn them into .gif files. This feature is not working a 100%, but it works on most sprite sheets. The auto detect does not work yet.
How to use the tool:
To launch the tool, click on Run_VrarksGIFTools_build042.bat. That should load up the tool, if you have Python installed.
For a set of sequence images, you start by clicking the 'browse' button to load in your files.
Select the folder containing the images, and just click on 'select folder'.
The next step will be to tell the program how many frames each animation has, so you will have to count those. Once you have the correct number, you type that into the 'frames per direction' field.
You then click on 'preview first block' and the animation will be loaded into the preview window.
Let's say we are using one of the Infinity Engine animations, as they have 8 directions, and we do not need that many. So once you have clicked on the 'preview first block' you will see a single image in the preview window. If you click on the 'all' button under the preview window, all of the directions of the animation will now show. If you typed in a wrong number in the 'frames per direction' field, you will most likely get more or less than 8 different images in the preview. You will have to fix that before moving on, or the output will be broken. You can also click on 'play' to preview the animation, just to be sure.
Then you select the directions in the right order, simply by clicking on them. So you click on the first direction which is the down direction. Then click the down left, left, up left and up directions in that order.
When you have done so, it should look something like this:
If you mis-clicked, you can click on the images again to change/remove the number.
Once you have clicked on the right directions, and done whatever else you want to do, like removing the background, downscaling, etc. you then select an output folder where the .gif files will be saved, by clicking the 'output folder' button. And since the Infinity Engine images are already named, you can tick the 'original name' option. This will save out the .gif files with the original name of the files. If you have files that has no distinct name, you can untick the 'original name' and type in a name in the field that says 'base name'.
Before you save out the finished files, you have to make sure that you set the frame reduction, or the file will only have one frame. You simply do this by typing in the frame count in the 'reduce to' field at the lower right, and then clicking the 'set' button. I will fix this so when you load in something and want to keep the original frame count, it won't override that. It is on my to-do list!
So now that you have set everything the way you want, you click on the 'build selected GIFs' button, and you should see in the log window that they have been saved out.
That's it! This will save out five .gif files that you can easily import into Fiddler by using the 'all directions add with canvas' option.
A note on the background removal: to use this feature, you have to tick the 'enable key' option, or the background removal will not work. I also recommend ticking the 'enable HSV mode' which will make sure the files uses a global colour palette, as Fiddler is a bit sensitive to that.
A guide is also included in the folder, and you can access it by clicking on the 'guide' button below the preview window.
I really hope this tool is of use to people, and if you have any questions or suggestions, please feel free to comment here!
