slow sprite animation

[atomose]

hi,


how is it possible to slow down the animation of a sprite in a loop? Let me explain: when using cyclesprite the cycle is done at each loop. if you have low timers, you have a sprite that cycles way too fast.
the solution I found is to add frames in the cycle.
for example instead of doing

"addsprite name1 sprite sprite"

I do

"addsprite name1 sprite sprite sprite sprite sprite sprite"

it allows to have a slower cycle but it remains a visual illusion ... is there not another possibility to control the speed of the cycle while keeping the loop timer constant?

thx

[Rod]

You can move the image animation yourself with spriteimage command instead of cyclesprite.

So you might have a counter that clocks from one to four. Some sprites move image if counter is >1 or every cycle, some sprites move image if counter is =2, half speed some sprites move image if counter =4, quarter speed. Then counter gets reset.

So in each cycle only certain sprites move image. If you have im1 im2 im3 you can keep a counter for each sprite image and cycle round the images

[atomose]

Won't that slow down the loop? the interest of the cyclesprite is that it takes 1 order ^^

[Rod]

The loop still runs full speed though the counter checking will add a little time. The sprites are still redrawn every loop but the clocked ones just don’t change image until the second or fourth cycle.

Cyclesprite is automatic but it redraws every sprite image every loop, spriteimage only redraws (changes) the sprite image occasionally so saving a little time. But this is blitter time, very very fast.

If you have your sprites in groups, fast, slow, slower then the counter manages whole groups, if your sprites are all eight images then a single image counter manages a group of sprites to. So too the xy movement can be fast, slow, slower as well as the image cycling.

However, half speed and quarter speed are very noticeable differences. A hero that buzzes about and enemies that plod about might not be what you want. Changes in the xy movement offer more subtle differences

[atomose]

well i tried spriteimage but i have crash everytime ... can you show me with simple code example pls ^^ thx

[Rod]

Away from home but will do an example in a day or so.

[Rod]

OK, this shows four sprites that have a four image animation. They get random movement deltas. You might need to run it a few times to see what is going on. The animation (cycle) is slowed down for sprite 3 (half speed) and 4 (quarter speed) but sprites 1 and 2 cycle at full speed. The demo shows me that xy movement is just as important as cycle speed.


   'get the sprite images and background
   loadbmp "s1", "sprites\smiley1.bmp"
   loadbmp "s2", "sprites\smiley2.bmp"
   loadbmp "s3", "sprites\smiley3.bmp"
   loadbmp "s4", "sprites\smiley4.bmp"
   loadbmp "landscape", "sprites\bg1.bmp"

   'open a window and graphicbox
   nomainwin
   WindowHeight = 300
   WindowWidth = 400
   graphicbox #w.g, 0, 0, 400, 300
   open "sprite test" for window_nf as #w
   #w "trapclose [quit]"

   'add a background
   #w.g "background landscape"
   'add sprite info
   dim si(4,5)
   global sx,sy,sxd,syd,si
   sx=1
   sy=2
   sxd=3
   syd=4
   si=5
   for n = 1 to 4
       #w.g "addsprite s";n; " s1 s2 s3 s4"
       si(n,sx)=int(rnd(0)*300)
       si(n,sy)=int(rnd(0)*200)
       si(n,sxd)=int(rnd(0)*4)
       si(n,syd)=int(2-rnd(0)*4)
       si(n,si)=1
       #w.g "spritexy s";n;" ";si(n,sx);" ";si(n,sy)
   next
   #w.g "drawsprites"

   [cycle]
   timer 0
   'sprites 1-2 move every cycle
   n=move(1)
   n=move(2)
   'sprite 3 moves half speed
   if counter=2 or counter=4 then n=move(3)
   'sprite 4 moves quarter speed
   if counter=4 then n=move(4)
   counter=counter+1
   if counter=5 then counter=1
   #w.g "drawsprites"
   timer 50,[cycle]
   wait


[quit]
   timer 0
   close #w
   end

function move(n)
   'move xy
   si(n,sx)=si(n,sx)+si(n,sxd)
   si(n,sy)=si(n,sy)+si(n,syd)
   'roll round screen
   if si(n,sx)<0 then si(n,sx)=si(n,sx)+400
   if si(n,sx)>400 then si(n,sx)=si(n,sx)-400
   if si(n,sy)<0 then si(n,sy)=si(n,sy)+300
   if si(n,sy)>300 then si(n,sy)=si(n,sy)-300
   #w.g "spritexy s";n;" ";si(n,sx);" ";si(n,sy)
   'roll round image
   #w.g "spriteimage s";n;" s";si(n,si)
   si(n,si)=si(n,si)+1
   if si(n,si)=5 then si(n,si)=1
end function


[atomose]

I'm totally lost but thanks for the example I'll try to understand ^^

[Rod]

It’s fairly easy. Sprites move and cycle their image at your command. So you can have sprites that cycle slowly and or move slowly. But visually, small movements are just as effective as slow cycles. Small movements are easier to code, so I would forget about slowing the cycle.