Are Spreadsheet Based Animations being 'Removed' from RPG Maker MZ?

[Awesomejr44]

This may have already been asked somewhere else on the forum, so forgive me if that's the case, but I was wondering if the traditional spreadsheet animation format will be included in MZ. The Steam page showcases the new 3D animation format, but when I viewed the screenshot of the animation's database page, I didn't see anything that hinted that MZ would have spreadsheet support.

I think I'd prefer the old spreadsheet format (MZ isn't out yet so can't say that's 100% the case), so I'm concerned that they won't be available in MZ. If a mod (or someone more knowledgeable than myself) that knows the answer could reply, that would help alleviate my concerns. MZ looks amazing, but it'd be a shame to see the spreadsheet feature left behind.

 

[Ossra]

At the moment, it does appear as though the previous animations are being removed.

And then probably re-added as a plugin.

 

[slimmmeiske2]

I've moved this thread to Product Discussion and Support. Please be sure to post your threads in the correct forum next time. Thank you.

It's been confirmed MZ by default will only allow particle animations. As @Ossra mentions, you'll need a plugin to continue using animation sheets.

 

[Bex]

Does this mean i cant use the new Animation Editor and load some png with my hero holding a sword and slashing it? Because i used VX-Ace and MV Animation Editor to make Player animations for on map skills. Is that still possible? I believe OP is asking kind of the same in a different way.
Edit: Without that Eventing a "On Map Action System" would get harder but not impossible.

Having the ability to show those Animations below Maptiles which got a Star passability would be awesome, but that than also needs a plugin i guess.

 

[Trihan]

Effekseer can do spritesheet-based animation, though.

 

[Shaz]

But you'd need to recreate them ... or make an MV plugin that will save the animations in Effekseer format.

 

[Starbird_Resources]

ugh, that's a bummer. the only thing i've heard about MZ so far that doesn't appeal to me. having native particle effects is great, but particles are a very narrow flavor and get tired (to me at least) very quickly... sheets allow for infinite creativity. would love a plugin for it at least, though any plugin will obviously be a lot more clumsy to use than a native sheet system.

i've already pre-ordered it and this is just a minor hiccup. trade-offs are an inevitable part of development.

Shaz explains below.

 

[Bex]

Effekseer can do spritesheet-based animation, though.

But you'd need to recreate them ... or make an MV plugin that will save the animations in Effekseer format.

One says it can do it, the other one confuses me =).
@Shaz, what do you mean with recreate in detail in this case? (Iam not native english so i dont understand to complicate or vague explanations)

What exactly does this alternative Plugin do when i dont recreate them like you first mentioned?

 

[Shaz]

Because nobody has the engine yet, the following are assumptions only, based on what's been said and what I believe will be the process.

MV uses up to 2 animation sheets and you create your animation frame by frame.
MZ uses 1 animation sheet from Effekseer and reads Effekseer output to create the animation.

If you want to use MV animation sheets, they will have to be imported into Effekseer, the animations created in Effekseer and exported in that format, then loaded into MZ.

 

[Bex]

That sound to me like its not realy missing just not straight forward usable. Thank you. I got worried for a moment, that is gone now =).

 

[kaukusaki]

I really don't understand the demand for 3d particles. Maybe i'm just old... I feel really stupid trying to understand Effekseer. Looking at YT vids and i'm still a brick. This is difficult AF. If i could just import my spritesheets into a single animation file MZ can read then that's fine.

 

[Schlangan]

Effekseer was an idea. But, they perhaps should have asked the community about it beforehand. Using 3D animations over 2D sprites feels very odd like the animations have become a stranger to RPG Maker.

Without mentioning the learning curve of Effekseer, having a converter between the old animations and Effekseer would have been nice.

In the end, you can do more with Effekseer that you could do with spritesheets; first you're not limited to the amount of sprites. But, the removal of the spritesheets is a bit hard.

 

[kaukusaki]

@Schlangan
I agree having 3d animations on a 2d plane looks odd.
I'm an artist, so it doesn't bother me much to make new things for RPG Maker. I use the RTP as a template anyways and go ham XD It's not hard (for me) to come up with new effects. Yes, the spritesheets can be limiting, but I'm used to making awesome work within limitations
I know most folks don't know how to art, so slapping together particles and swapping out colors and moving it around works better for them.
I see RPG Maker as a rapid development kit. Since the back end is tinkerable, I can truly customise it. Once I get the prototype out the door (in which everything works like it should), then I can jazz it up and make it look pretty.
I actually didn't mind the goofy animation editor in the older versions. I could make tweaks to a single file and reuse it - especially for common attacks, but i see if you have multiple effects it can make your files bigger, especially for mobile.

 

[Nuxill]

I was just looking through the dlc plugin files for MZ and apparently there *is* a plugin to make animations with animation sheets like you could in MV. I haven't touched it yet so I dont know how it works, but at least it gives you an option!

 

[kaukusaki]

@Nuxill
Woot I'll have to track it down

 

[Nekohime1989]

There is a tutorial available on the main site for effekseer so that helps learn the program a bit. It helped me learn the basics at least. I made a explosion teehee.

 

[Heartless_Angel]

Ehm... you can use old mv animations and just port them to MZ, without any plugin...
I made a insane fps test yesterday with 50+ of them looping on a max size parallax map.
Sadly it looks like I can´t post the image her tho, it does not let me Q~ Q

 

[Bex]

you can use old mv animations and just port them to MZ, without any plugin...

Can you explain the steps you took to do that? I could life with using mv for the Animation and
than moving them to MZ... please explain how exactly you did that.

 

[Nowis-337]

Here is a short tutorial on how to copy your MV animations to MZ. Seems like you will have to use MV as your "editor" before copying stuff over.

 

[Heartless_Angel]

Can you explain the steps you took to do that? I could life with using mv for the Animation and
than moving them to MZ... please explain how exactly you did that.

Follow the Video if you haven´t already done so.
I told driftwood gaming about it and he made a tutorial.