Sprite Animation

Flash is not new to me has already done lot of work on it previously . Today when seeing some sprite sheets just though of animating one of my fav game character – “Mario” . Yes … make be remember of old childhood days when i was hard core fan of Mario games . OK before i start with sprite animation some terms need to be understood :

what is sprite : It is graphical image that is used to compose various elements in a 2d game ( like characters , items , surroundings etc) and also used for animation ( just as u can see below ) .

what is animation : still frame run in succession create a illusion of moving object .

what is sprite sheet : just a image file that contains different moves of a character ( just search for a keyword “sprite sheet” and u will tons of sprite sheet examples) .

To create a sprite animation the following steps are used : Import the sprite sheet to the liab -> right click the imported item for properties -> make sure auto smoothing is unchecked and gif/png compression is used -> drag the sheet from the liab to the stage -> break apart to have individual piece of it -> trace bitmap ( with these settings :100,1,pixel , normal ) -> convert  individual elements into graphic symbol -> generally u create movie in the movie clip as it a good way of animating and also u need not copy and paste frames many time since it in loop mode -> drag them one sprite per frame align it to the center of the stage ( make sure that to stage is pressed and use vert. and Hor. align ). To make it move across the screen u will use motion tween . To create back and froth add a extra key frame.

So following the above steps we get sprite animation like below . (Click and see the below Mario animation ).

Following the same procedure we can create complex sprite animation that could be controlled by key with simple action scripting. In the comming weeks i will be presenting a more complex spriate animation example.

source

– sprite animation tut

Ubuntu 8.10 Rocks !!!

I was waiting for the new Ubuntu release since i hv bought my new PC . During this period i was so exited to install Ubuntu . It was almost a year i tried a previous version of Ubuntu so getting my hand on its new release was really very exiting.

My new PC has opened new path of learning for me. In the past i was working with my old PC and did always had severe problems ( I cant explain the hell through which i have gone through) . Yup … it was seven year old PC but my favorite one . Anyway i still have the old poor fellow with me ( AMD 650 Mhz 192 MB RAM with 20 GB HDD) and will always remind me of old days. My new PC is also AMD Quad Core 2 GB ram 500 GB HDD. Now i am really enjoying working on it … yes really enjoying the freedom that i have now got. One more thing i would like to add over here : I am the biggest fan of AMD !!! .

Since morning i have planned to download Ubuntu 8.10 ( Well i hv to plan previously … now it is easier for me to download big files . Thanks to my MTNL broadband connection. You will not believe it is really super fast 🙂 ) . Download was easy only took around two hours . Using Nero i burned the same on my RW CD and rebooted my system for installation.

There were lot of things that were new or rather u can say were focused towards easy installation. I was surprised to see the ease of installation or rather i would say that this was the most easiest Linux installation i have ever seen !!!. Installation went like a breeze and took 10 min to install . But i was not impressed with the boot loader as it displayed the same old text boot menu . I thought i would see some thing new over here as i saw in the installation of Slackware 12.1. Anyway … everything thing was auto configured when my system restarted after installation like Internet and i only have to set the monitor resolution . Wolla … i never though it will so easy . I forward my best wishes to entire Ubuntu team for all their efforts .  Really Ubuntu is changing the Linux world . Cheers . An Another way of trying Ubuntu without effecting ur partition table was through Wubi Installer. With Wubi u can install Ubuntu just as u install a app in windows however i rather prefer a separate installation.

There were lot of new enhancement in all areas. Auto login , graphical partitioner , live cd , Newer version of Gnome 2.24 ( with Nautilus supporting tab , eject icon and compact view were cooler) , Newer version of Xorg 7.4  ( with support for hot pluggable input devices for better auto deacting  input/output devices and can run without any config file. Fialsafe X for  X failure recovery), Newer kernel update to 2.6.27 (better support for wifi hardware with better webcam support), Encrypted private directory (allow more enhanced security to ur private data), New Guest session (a good way to lend ur system without effecting ur security concerns), Network manager 0.7 (network related tools to simplify networking tasks. u can find the same in system->preference -> network configuration. allows to handle all network stuff in the same area . Also support for 3G GSM connection for mobile broadband), Dells DKMS (Dynamic kernel module system: allow rebuilding of new kernel drivers when new kernel is released. Good in those situations in which u have to try updated kernel. will auto build new modules when u install new kernel), PAM attenuation framework , BBC Plugin ( however u need to install restricted drivers) .  Virtualization tools (allow you to create new virtual machine in few minutes using JEOS and python vm ), Service command ( to manage damenos), USB Boot and installtion on USB stick , Virus scanner ClamAV , darker theme in appearance menu, change in wallpaper … tons of enhancements . One thing that i really did not liked was Openoffice was not updated to version 3.  However as you can see there are lot of enhancements. Trying out KDE 4 was also a new experience for me . Earlier version that i hv tried was 3.5.7. Now KDE has now became more better with tons of improvements in all areas.

Trying out this new Ubuntu release was satisfying experience for me . Linux which i have seen from Redhat 5.0 ( in late 2000) to  Ubuntu 8.10 has completely changed how Linux was seen. Now i has moved from Geeky to be used by normal desktop users . All these facts reveal the turning tide of desktop users from Windows to Linux. One thing that i am sure for : Ubuntu will ease and fastern this transission.

Cheers for Ubuntu !!!.

sources

• Distrowatch :- Distribution Release Ubuntu 8.10
• Ubuntu Release Announcement
• Ubuntu Release Notes
• Ubuntu 8.10 features overview
• LifeHacker :- A User’s look at Ubuntu 8.10
• UbuntuGeek :- Installing KDE 4.1 on Ubuntu 8.10
• LinuxFormat :- Ubuntu 8.10
• PolishLinux :- Ubuntu 8.10 A Positive Evolution
• Ubuntu 8.10 Review