Tractimation: 2d Character Animator, Full version now FOR SALE -see last post Options

[mossy rock]

Tired of using someone else's animations? Frustrated with trying to make your own? Things just got a whole lot better in GM Land.

screenshot: http://www.tractorgaston.com/TM/TM_screenshot.jpg

Download and try Tractimation, my new 2D character animator. Rapidly build your character's skeleton, then flesh it out with shapes and color. Add frames, and move your character's joints to animate it. Then, export the character as numbered bitmaps for use in Game Maker's sprite builder.

Check out the new sprite-based animation possibilities: http://www.tractorgaston.com/muscle_man_strip.bmp

Tractimation has lots of cool features, such as:
-SPLINING: You make the first and last frame, and Tractimation smoothly animates between them. For the palm tree here, I ony made 2 frames, then had Tractimation create all the rest.
palm tree: http://www.tractorgaston.com/TM/palm_strip.bmp

-SMOOTHiNG: If your animation is too choppy, Tractimation will create intermediate frames to smooth it out.
mech warrior: http://www.tractorgaston.com/TM/mech_strip.bmp


-MOTION CAPTURE: Load action photos in the background and position your skeleton over them. That's how the baseball and karate strips here were made.
baseball player: http://www.tractorgaston.com/TM/batter_strip.bmp
karate: http://www.tractorgaston.com/TM/karate_strip_2.bmp

-TRACING: When you add a new frame, the previous frame's outline is visible in the background to guide your positioning.
outline mode: http://www.tractorgaston.com/TM/outline_mode.jpg

This is the shareware version. It is fully functional except for two limitations. There is a maximum of 8 frames per animation, and you can only add or remove points in frame 1. The fully functional version allows animations of up to 20,000 frames, and allows character modification in any frame. If interest is high, I intend to sell the full version for $5 US. If not, I'll just look for other ways to sell it.

I think you'll be amazed how easy animation can be. I'd appreciate your feedback.

Download here: Tractimation

Sorry about the lack of screenies; the forum keeps refusing them for some reason.

This post has been edited by mossy rock: Sep 19 2004, 12:47 AM

[mossy rock]

I wanted to add some screenies, to demonstrate the character building views:

Skeleton mode:


Build mode:


Preview mode:
http://www.tractorgaston.com/TM/preview_mode.jpg

[LostPenguin]

This looks cooler than hell. And useful.

EDIT: NICE THANKS !!!!!!!!!!!!

This post has been edited by LostPenguin: Aug 16 2004, 01:56 AM

[Avenhym]

Very Very nice. Very impressed.

[DrgnAK]

Pretty good, comes in handy.

[Zarthas]

You made this in GM? It's purty cool. I'm gonna use it.

[Richardsoft]

looks awesome! I wanted something to help with tedious walk and run animations. Ill download now. EDIT: Love it so far. Haven't used it much but I just really wanted to congratulate you. I might be interested in buying full version,I'll email if I want to. Very nice!

This post has been edited by Acts_16:31: Aug 16 2004, 04:19 AM

[AnathemaRaptor]

God answered me. I was searching google for 2d bone animation. Found it here instead. Great work.

[Gamer3D]

Testing...
Edit: It is easier to make it myself...

This post has been edited by Gamer3D: Aug 16 2004, 06:49 PM

[pyro0]

It is a cool program. Nicely done.

But I use anim8or to do character animation and plus it is free. Still you did a good job with the program. Nice and professional.

[shortguy255]

Nice program. I LOVE it. But... you said for splining you put only the first and last frame. But apparently you must have 3 frames for it too work.

[Keitaro-Kun]

Love it! But i can only make 5 frames...
that sucks.

[Yourself]

Nice program. I LOVE it. But... you said for splining you put only the first and last frame. But apparently you must have 3 frames for it too work.

It doesn't know how many frames of animation you want. You simply make as many frames as you want, and then only change the first and last frames. It will fill in the rest.

[Shadestorm]

Holy crap man. Looks very useful and effecient. I am interested in buying, but I want to test it out a bit more before making a decision. Good work. This is awesome.

[bungo]

GREAT tool!
I can finally make smooth animations, I can just paint over these skeletons and its perfect. Nice!

[mossy rock]

Thanks for the comments. I'm glad some folks find it useful. It's true Anim8or is free, but I found it too complex for making quick, good looking animations.

Thought I'd post a couple more strips.

caterpillar: http://www.tractorgaston.com/TM/caterpillar_strip.bmp

front-end loader: http://www.tractorgaston.com/TM/digger_strip.bmp

If you have any problems getting it to work (such as the above comment about splining), or bugs, please post them here. It helps me a lot.

Cheers,
Patrick

p.s. As always, I'm frustrated at how the exact same technique only lets me successfully load screenies about 1/2 of the time. Is this a common problem on this forum?

[running_couger]

Cool dude! This will help me out alot because I suck at animating.

[wild8900]

This is so good that i dont know what to say. I just cant figure out how to get dept....help please....

[wild8900]

I dont know if this is allowed, but this is what i made in just minutes!

its animated in gamemaker (you gotta press refresh button to see)

[MatrixQuare]

Wow... simply... Wow!
This was actually made with GM?!?! That is even MORE unbelievable!!
A very, VERY useful program to say the least... although only 8 frames is limiting .