Question About Character Sprites (And Sprites In General)

[BlackSkulls]

I apologize in advance if this question has already been asked, or if it's extremely obvious and I'm just making a fool of myself.

I use RPG Maker VX Ace bought from Steam (though I'm not sure if it makes a difference)

When creating custom character sprites that don't use VXA's body style, are there certain rules to adhere by? Such as they can only be X pixels tall and Y pixels high, and Z pixels from the neighboring sprite in the spritesheet.

On that note: Is there anywhere that gives you a blank spritesheet to work with, with the checkered backgrounds?

I'm also wondering about how to have the program automatically separate the individual characters from each other. Like in the RTP there are 8 or 10 characters on each page, with 10-12 (I honestly cant remember I've been awake too long) indiviual sprites for them.

In short, I'm wondering:

1) Any special rules for custom, non-RTP-like sprites?

2) Is there a blank spritesheet with the checkered backgrounds?

3) How to separate characters/items from each other when choosing which sprite to use?

Bonus: Is there a certain order the sprites must be in if it's supposed to be animated? For example: An eye painting that is supposed to open, look left, look right, then close. In what order on the sprite sheet would it have to be in in order for the "step-animation" to work?

 

[whitesphere]

I don't think a sprite needs to have any particular size, but the tiles have to be 32x32 pixels each.    That's why you see some sprite sheets with a $ for the first character.  This tells RPG Maker the sprite is NOT 32x32.

Each individual sprite is considered to be 3 characters across and 4 characters down (down = different sprite directions).   The stepping animation cycles through the 3 characters.  Let's say a sprite is like this:

DDD

LLL

RRR

UUU

D=Down facing, L=Left facing, R=Right Facing, U=Upward Facing

The step animation cycles through the 3 sprites with the same letter.

RPG Maker then takes the complete sprite sheet size, divides it evenly into 3 across and 4 down, and assumes that is the sprite size.

Of course, if you don't have a $ in front, RPG Maker assumes each sprite frame is 32x32, so you can have multiple sprites in a single spritesheet.

NOTE: If you import sprites from RPG Maker XP, these DO NOT use the same sprite format, so you need to "massage" the spritesheet.

Lastly, there is no special background to use.  When you Import a custom spritesheet, you can choose which color is the Transparent color and which is the Translucent color.   RPG maker then maps all instances of the Transparent color to the background.

Hope this helps.

 

[Square_art]

Such as they can only be X pixels tall and Y pixels high, and Z pixels from the neighboring sprite in the spritesheet

No, you can create as big spites (characters) as you want.  Expand image size to characters size you want to have. For example, standard spite size for one character is 32x32 pixels, you can expand your image adding +50% to its high, and your characters will be 48 high x 32 width. Then you can adjust them manually to look as you want. And having space for 48 pixel character size you can make your character 40 or 35 pixel high and it will work fine. Note: some UI issues can occur if you use very custom sizes, e.g. - very wide. Just imagine how properties of location tiles will work for your characters before you decide which size to use  (ladders, those which work as ground/parallax, etc.)

Is there a blank spritesheet with the checkered backgrounds?

You can copy default spritesheet and erase all characters. I'm not sure if it works in paint, but in photoshop it works absolutely fine (I don't know if you have it)

3) How to separate characters/items from each other when choosing which sprite to use?

They are separated automatically. Just don't change their quantity in one spritesheet.

You also can use 4 or 5 spites to make animation more smoother, but you will need to find a special script for this if it's interesting for you. I remember some people was talking about it on forum long time ago. Good luck

 

[Andar]

   That's why you see some sprite sheets with a $ for the first character.  This tells RPG Maker the sprite is NOT 32x32.

Absolutely wrong, the $ has nothing to do with pixels.

The $ tells the program that the spritesheet contains only a single sprite (of any size you want).

Without the $, the program expects a sheet of eight sprite in 4x2 sequence, that have to be the same size - but again, can be any size you want.

Each of the sprites then needs to consist of twelve pictures in four directions (top/down) with three animation frames (left/right)

 

[Heretic86]

$sprite_filename.png = 4x4

DDDD

LLLL

RRRR

UUUU

sprite_filename.png = 3x4

DDD

LLL

RRR

UUU

If the filename has a $ in front of it, the full width is divided by 4 which is default for XP and why this option was included.  Without a $, the full width is divided by 3 for displaying the sprite.  One of the columns in XP characters was repeated, thus, it was omitted in VX and VX Ace.

NOTE: These $ parameters to the best of my knowledge only work on the VX series and do jack diddly when importing spritesheets into VX.  Feel free to correct me if I am wrong on that.

 

[Andar]

$sprite_filename.png = 4x4

Again, wrong.
Please see my explanation in the post above yours to learn what the $ really does.


That the $ appears to fix a 4-issue is NOT because of XP-Formats, but because the default Ace-spritesheets contain 4x2 spritefigures of 3x4 images each.


That is at the same time the proof that this has nothing to do with XP, because the $ also changes the 2 times vertical sprites into a single vertical sprite, and all RM's have always had four rows defined for a single sprite.

 

[oulee]

I use this sheet to make or adjust characters, just got to make sure the background colour is the same throughout once your done so that as stated above it can become the sheets transparency.

 

[BlackSkulls]

Oh gosh, thank you all so much for explaining it to me! Everyone was incredibly helpful

 

[Sharm]

I've moved this thread to Support - RPG Maker VX Ace. Please be sure to post your threads in the correct forum next time. Thank you.

 

[CupcakeDreamer]

Hope This helps.

Characters.png

C1-D-F1 C1-D-F2/4 C1-D-F3:C2-D-F1 C2-D-F2/4 C2-D-F3:C3-D-F1 C3-D-F2/4 C3-D-F3:C4-D-F1 C4-D-F2/4 C4-D-F3

C1-L-F1 C1-L-F2/4 C1-L-F3:C2-L-F1 C2-L-F2/4 C2-L-F3:C3-L-F1 C3-L-F2/4 C3-L-F3:C4-L-F1 C4-L-F2/4 C4-L-F3

C1-R-F1 C1-R-F2/4 C1-R-F3:C2-R-F1 C2-R-F2/4 C2-R-F3:C3-R-F1 C3-R-F2/4 C3-R-F3:C4-R-F1 C4-R-F2/4 C4-R-F3

C1-U-F1 C1-U-F2/4 C1-U-F3:C2-U-F1 C2-U-F2/4 C2-U-F3:C3-U-F1 C3-U-F2/4 C3-U-F3:C4-U-F1 C4-U-F2/4 C4-U-F3

 

C5-D-F1 C5-D-F2/4 C5-D-F3:C6-D-F1 C6-D-F2/4 C6-D-F3:C7-D-F1 C7-D-F2/4 C7-D-F3:C8-D-F1 C8-D-F2/4 C8-D-F3

C5-L-F1 C5-L-F2/4 C5-L-F3:C6-L-F1 C6-L-F2/4 C6-L-F3:C7-L-F1 C7-L-F2/4 C7-L-F3:[SIZE=14.2857141494751px]C8-L-F1 C8-L-F2/4 C8-L-F3[/SIZE]

C5-R-F1 C5-R-F2/4 C5-R-F3:C6-R-F1 C6-R-F2/4 C6-R-F3:C7-R-F1 C7-R-F2/4 C7-R-F3:C8-R-F1 C8-R-F2/4 C8-R-F3

C5-U-F1 C5-U-F2/4 C5-U-F3:C6-U-F1 C6-U-F2/4 C6-U-F3:C7-U-F1 C7-U-F2/4 C7-U-F3:C8-U-F1 C8-U-F2/4 C8-U-F3

 

[SIZE=14.2857141494751px]$Character.png[/SIZE]

D-F1 D-F2/4 D-F3

L-F1 L-F2/4 L-F3

R-F1 R-F2/4 R-F3

U-F1 U-F2/4 U-F3

 

C = Character

U = Up : L = Lesft : R = Right : D = Down

F = Frame (Yes the middle sprite is used as both Frame 2 and 4)

$ = Single Character

[SIZE=14.2857141494751px]Taken directly from the help file.[/SIZE]

• Adding a dollar sign ($) to the beginning of a file name allows you to treat one character as one file. In this case, the size of the character will be one-third of the width and one-fourth of the height of the file. It can also be used in combination with the exclamation point (!) special character.

No $ = Character set(4 Characters by 2 Characters)

! Taken directly from the help file.

• Adding an exclamation point (!) to the beginning of a file name cancels the application of the four-pixel offset, and also turns off the translucent effect applied by the bush attribute. This is used mainly for object-type characters on maps, such as doors and treasure chests. It can also be used in combination with the dollar sign ($) special character. 

Note The $ prefix is also used in Facesets.

 

Edited for mistakes. Had U And D [SIZE=14.2857141494751px]backwards[/SIZE]. And $ and No $ backwards.