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Modding, Mission Design, and Coding => FS2 Open Tools => Topic started by: mjn.mixael on February 22, 2011, 12:08:13 pm

Title: MixaelANITools
Post by: mjn.mixael on February 22, 2011, 12:08:13 pm
Version 2.7 released.

I've seen a lot of requests for help regarding making ANIs of various types lately. Since I have a little experience with that, I thought I would whip something up for everyone.

It's basically a bunch of Windows CMD scripts that reference various programs and EXEs that really make everything happen. However, I've written them as such that it's hands free to go from a final image sequence (out of After Effects, Blender, or whatever it is you use) to an ANI or EFF. This also includes some more basic scripts to help build those elusively difficult ANIs that require an indexed color palette.

Currently, we don't have a solid command line interface for an ANIBuilder, so this script just pulls up ANIBuilder and uses an EXE I built to simulate key presses and do the work. Be sure to not click out of ANIBuilder during this process or you might cause the build to fail or the script to hang. I'm hoping to use Acani, whenever the real coders get it fixed up so this part will be totally hands free. (By this I mean that I'm not a real coder.)

For EFF Anims, the script will build the EFF file based on the Image Sequence name and correctly name all the image files for you!

Just download, extract, and run the Setup.cmd. Answer the few simple questions and it does the rest.

NOTE: Since this is Windows CMD, it relies on some pretty specific file organization to work properly. You can find all the information in the ReadMe file. I won't offer tech support if you don't read the ReadMe.

Download

MediaFire Download (http://www.mediafire.com/?9ul5c2mwd4tk4io)

Test, test, test and let me know what isn't working!

Quote from: Changelog from Readme
-Version 2.7
   -Removed MNG support.
   -Interface scripts added that now pull from called ExecScripts.
   -Bright now errors out if no PCX files are found.
   -BrightIndexed now errors out if no PCX files are found.
-Version 2.6
   -Removed dependency on Python.
   -Removed dependency on external IrfanView.
   -Bugfix to EFF creation that caused Frames # to be ignored if only a single digit.
   -Gave AutoRename the ability to renumber image sequences.
   -Added SequenceDebug script.
-Version 2.5
   -Added ANIBldrCntrl.exe for total automation of ANI creation.
   -Added support to create mainhall and keyframed anims to UserANI.cmd.
-Version 2.4
   -Bugfix to UserEFF that caused it to fail if the user specified a type.
   -Added error checking to UserEFF and UserMNG.
-Version 2.3
   -Added MNG support
   -Added ability to choose a quality level to MakeOGG.
Title: Re: MixaelANITools
Post by: chief1983 on April 29, 2011, 11:06:22 pm
Why not make an ANI Tut?  :P
Title: Re: MixaelANITools
Post by: mjn.mixael on May 29, 2011, 03:25:44 am
Version 2.2 released, see first post.

Major changes allow for creating keyframes in EFF files (UserEFF.cmd) and ship/weapon select icons (UserANI.cmd)

The latter still requires that you have a clean render (I recommend a png sequence) with the 255 hue green background. Check a retail ANI to see what it should look like.

See first post for more.

Enjoy.
Title: Re: MixaelANITools
Post by: mjn.mixael on November 03, 2011, 05:18:08 pm
Version 2.5 released, see first post!

This marks a MUCH more hands free version of building ANIs as well as some pretty blaring bugfixes.. (Seriously, does anyone use this besides me?)  :lol:
Title: Re: MixaelANITools
Post by: Cyborg17 on November 03, 2011, 08:07:34 pm
I've tried a few times to create one, but I failed a lot.  You said that you weren't providing support, so you probably scared everybody away from reporting bugs.

The AVI reader works great though.
Title: Re: MixaelANITools
Post by: mjn.mixael on November 03, 2011, 08:38:19 pm
I'm not offering support if you don't read the readme...

What are your issues?
Title: Re: MixaelANITools
Post by: Cyborg17 on November 04, 2011, 12:55:32 am
I was trying to convert beam AVI's to different colors.  So I extracted the AVI, edited the frames, and set everything up for the AVI creator. When I went to create the AVI, it said the file had an incorrect header.  I didn't understand what it meant, and I ended up using a different method. 

I ended up just creating beam effects using Gimp and tabling. And it looks ok now.
Title: Re: MixaelANITools
Post by: mjn.mixael on January 01, 2013, 12:24:22 am
Not sure if a lot of people really use this toolkit, but I've updated it with fixes I've made from my own working with it. There still seems to be some issues with Windows and UAC, though. :(

One of these days I'm going to convert this whole thing to something other than windows CMD.
Title: Re: MixaelANITools
Post by: X3N0-Life-Form on January 02, 2013, 02:58:30 pm
Quote from: mjn.mixael on January 01, 2013, 12:24:22 am
Not sure if a lot of people really use this toolkit
Well, I believe I will be next time I have to make ANI related stuff :D (whenever that is).
Title: Re: MixaelANITools
Post by: coffeesoft on April 08, 2013, 05:48:39 pm
Thanks, let´s try....
Title: Re: MixaelANITools
Post by: Yarn on March 17, 2016, 11:00:25 pm
I found a bug: A number of CMD files in the Data folder have the MixaelPath field set to E:\DMTOOLS\MixaelANITools instead of 1, preventing the setup script from setting it to the correct path. This causes most of the generated scripts to fail (unless, of course, these tools actually are installed to E:\DMTOOLS\MixaelANITools). Here are the files with this error:
Title: Re: MixaelANITools
Post by: mjn.mixael on March 18, 2016, 07:18:58 pm
Well crap. I should fix that! Though with APNG becoming a thing, this may become obsolete.