Is there any way to replicate a character blinking without using video wallpapers?

[Ｄｒｅａｍ「幽夢」]

Looked up the concept of how to make a 2d art "blink", might apply it eventually, but I'm not exactly seeing a way to implement it in scene wallpapers (which I usually work with). I'm probably just not seeing the solution but are there any tools or functions I can use in Wallpaper Engine to sort of "overlay" the multiple required images on top of the original image to simulate a blinking effect?

Any ideas? (And yes I do know about simply recording the animations and stuff and making a video wallpaper, but this is just a question as to whether or not it's possible to replicate in scene wallpapers)

Thanks in advance.

[Biohazard]

I actually made a blink shader for myself ( https://streamable.com/q3mca ) but I didn't release it yet and it'd also need some instructions. You would have to build a blink texture with eyelids in GIMP/PS and, using the alpha channel, define how the eyelids are closed and opened.

For the general case, having multiple frames, like you describe, would probably be better/easier. Since there are options to import sprite sheets now, maybe I can use that for the effect when I add it officially.

But right now there is no easy way to do it without adding some custom shader code to your wallpaper. If your character is static or has no animation on their head, you could import a sprite sheet particle I guess and just manually place it above the eyes. But I will eventually add some official way to add blink anims.

[Ｄｒｅａｍ「幽夢」]

Gotcha, guess I'll wait for that update then. I did think about using a particle for the effect but you'd need at least 3 frames to replicate a more natural looking blink animation and with particles I think I can only manage two.

Here's to you pushing that version out sometime soon :p

[Biohazard]

You can have multiple frames. The image with the eyelids needs to be built like so https://www.google.de/search?q=sprite+sheet&source=lnms&tbm=isch and you need to tick the sprite sheet option when you import it and fill out the parameters correctly there (which aren't documented yet since I would document them for this feature then).

This is what I would use, just not with particles, but it would kinda work the same.

[Ｄｒｅａｍ「幽夢」]

Hmm, sorry to bug you but can I have some instructions on how to import a sprite sheet properly?

As is when I try to insert a random google'd sprite sheet with say, 6 frames inside, with each sprite in the sprite sheet being 256 x 256 pixels large, it just displays a static image for me in the preview despite me setting the sprite width and height to 256 x 256 and setting the frames to be at 6 each...

[Biohazard]

To generate a GIF preview image, you have to download ffmpeg and put the ffmpeg.exe into wallpaper_engine/bin/, then it will call that to generate the GIF. I cannot distribute ffmpeg.

The spritesheet particle should work though without having a GIF preview, it's unrelated. Does it not work as intended either?

Edit: The parameters you used should be correct btw. What is the full size of the image?

[Ｄｒｅａｍ「幽夢」]

Well actually I have no idea how this whole spritesheet thing is supposed to work lmao.

Does the base image need to be a .gif file by itself or something?

Just importing itself gives me a static image with all of the sprites shown.

[Biohazard]

I grabbed this from Google: https://cdn.tutsplus.com/gamedev/uploads/2013/05/spriteSheet.png

Each frame has a size of 90x140 pixel, so you enter width = 90 and height = 140. And there are 8 frames, so you use that for the frame number.

Does that help? And no, a spritesheet is not a GIF itself.

Maybe the problem is that you are directly trying to import it (as an image layer) and not as a particle image?

[Ｄｒｅａｍ「幽夢」]

Well the preview just shows it as really weird looking when I do that, and if I try to use it as a wallpaper the result just doesn't "move" at all either. I think I'm doing something wrong tbh xD

[Biohazard]

You need to import it here: https://i.imgur.com/BxUsg1s.png

Since only particles support this system. But when I release an official blink effect, I would add the same system to image layers (probably). Like I was saying, for now it would just be a workaround, but it wouldn't have any disadvantages or so.

[Ｄｒｅａｍ「幽夢」]

Oh as in literally import it as a particle...that was what I was missing :v

So then in theory I just have to get an image and apply some shading to the area around the eyes to simulate the blinking?

Alright, I'll go mess around with it (probably gonna ask more questions though)

[Biohazard]

You could put the eyes on a completely separate image to animate them or only the eyelids and make them translucent, then put them over the eyes ( http://i.imgur.com/bzrNY6b.png ).

Basically start by copying the eyes of the character into a separate image file for editing.

[Grizzler]

lol

[Biohazard]

Originally posted by Achilles:

lol

Because... it's complicated? Well, yeah, this is but a hidden feature I added to help myself add all the easy-to-use presets. But Ｄｒｅａｍ「幽夢」 has made some advanced stuff before.

[Ｄｒｅａｍ「幽夢」]

Wouldn't worry too much about what others think, I'm picking everything up as I go since I went into this without any prior knowledge of image editing and whatnot.

Thanks for the help thus far though :)

[Ｄｒｅａｍ「幽夢」]

Alright, quick question: so following your instructions I've managed to get a particle sprite sheet in and it's animated and all (yay)

Problem is it keeps 'flickering' in and out, despite me removing the lifetime random initializer. Any idea how to fix this?