Importing complete sprite sequence at once possible?

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Herbert123
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Importing complete sprite sequence at once possible?

Beitrag von Herbert123 »

I have 48 rendered frames of an animation (0001.png, 0002.png ~ 0048.png), and I would like to import all of those at once in one file, with each frame taking up a layer.

Dragging and dropping one by one works - but trying to drag in the complete sequence into the document view only imports the very last selected one.

Is there a way to import the entire sequence at once, each on its own layer? Also tried the browser, but no option seems to exist to achieve this in PL.
Suggestions?

*edit*

Also, is there a way to export each layer to a separate file automatically and have the file name be controlled by the respective layer label?

*edit 2*
In Photoshop one can click on a layer's eye and drag down to hide multiple layers quickly and easily. Is there a way to do this in PL, or at least, does an option exist to hide a selection of layers at once?

*edit 3*
Sigh, sorry for all the barrage of questions, but I keep hitting these little frustrating things in PL now that I am using it to prepare sprites/graphics for a mobile game I am working on for a client. Things that should be easy are very... long-winded indeed in PL. Almost as if no-one ever used it for this type of work before.

- when working with the rectangle lasso, I like how I can set the pixel proportion exactly in the tool settings (for example 512:384), and, when I turn on snapping, how when I start selecting it snaps to the edges of the document.
However, fine-tuning (scale) the lasso rectangle based on numeric inputs, and reading its exact dimensions seems only possible through that absolutely horrid modal "Form Lasso" dialog. Aside from the fact that it took me days before I figured out what the "Form Lasso" menu entry meant, it seems entirely odd to me that there is no non-modal panel that does the same thing.

Here I would suggest to the developers:
1) for Heaven's sake: rename that menu entry! I don't even understand what the words "form lasso" are supposed to mean in English.
2) and please(!) change your approach and move all these options in a non-modal panel.

I cannot even begin to count the number of instances when I want to check the exact rectangular selection (oops, lassos) dimensions and change those with exact input fields in my work - especially for web work, sprite work and precise size calculations.

- dragging a guide from the ruler: even with snapping turned on, they will not snap to the edges of the document. I can only snap to existing guides. Is there something I am missing here?

Thanks in advance for any answers/tips/workflow advice.
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Hoogo
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Re: Importing complete sprite sequence at once possible?

Beitrag von Hoogo »

Herbert123 hat geschrieben:I have 48 rendered frames of an animation (0001.png, 0002.png ~ 0048.png), and I would like to import all of those at once in one file, with each frame taking up a layer.
At least for windows you can use "layer > management > load layer". Select multiple files there using Shift or Ctrl.
Herbert123 hat geschrieben:...or at least, does an option exist to hide a selection of layers at once?
Maybe "show only active layer" can help you there? You find this option when you right-click onto an eye.
Herbert123 hat geschrieben:and, when I turn on snapping, how when I start selecting it snaps to the edges of the document.
When I turn on snapping, PL also snaps the starting point to the edges. PL 17.50B14
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Herbert123
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Re: Importing complete sprite sequence at once possible?

Beitrag von Herbert123 »

Thanks for the tip on the layer import - very helpful!

The 'show active layer only" (which is how it should be written in my opinion, not "show only active layer") is useful for showing one layer at a time. But often it is required to show or hide a bunch of layers, and in PL we are forced to hide or show layers one layer/one click at a time. Extremely cumbersome, and this is solved in other applications by either having a function to hide or show selected layers, and/or dragging over several eye icons (like Photoshop). PL's implementation of layers is missing this one essential workflow ingredient, and makes it much harder than it needs to be.

And I know about the snapping (the "how" in my sentence was not used to form a question, but rather for a "how much I like the snapping behaviour". What I meant is: the "form lasso" functionality should be moved in a non-modal panel - or added to the tool settings. It's extremely inconvenient to be forced to open that clunky dialog each time to check a lasso's dimensions and edit it with exact numbers!! It should be part of a panel.

And I gather there is no automated option to export each layer as a separate png? I would be surprised, since there is a way to import all files as layers, and one would expect a function to export each layer back to a separate file again.
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Hoogo
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Re: Importing complete sprite sequence at once possible?

Beitrag von Hoogo »

Herbert123 hat geschrieben:...But often it is required to show or hide a bunch of layers, and in PL we are forced to hide or show layers one layer/one click at a time. Extremely cumbersome, and this is solved in other applications by either having a function to hide or show selected layers, and/or dragging over several eye icons...
I never had trouble with that, I usually end with lots of stacked groups, and a group contains all the layers I want to turn on/off together. I can't remember an exception.
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Herbert123
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Re: Importing complete sprite sequence at once possible?

Beitrag von Herbert123 »

Yes, but you do not always want to create groups of layers to achieve just that - point in case: I am currently working on several animations, and it would be handy to just be able to quickly turn multiple layers on and off without a group (which would not work in this case).

Same when designing a layout: you don't always want to group everything when the only thing you want is merely turning off five or six layers temporarily: instead of quickly dragging over these layers' icons, I now must click each one.

And one of the most infuriating things in regards to hidden layers in PL: when I inadvertently select a hidden layer, it turns it back on! Very odd, and counter-productive.

What I would like to see is behaviour like this:
1) select a bunch of layers
2) click on the eye icon, which hides all selected layers.
Done!

And at the very least allow for an option in the preferences to keep hidden layers hidden when the eye is turned off.
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bkh
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Re: Importing complete sprite sequence at once possible?

Beitrag von bkh »

Herbert123 hat geschrieben:Same when designing a layout: you don't always want to group everything when the only thing you want is merely turning off five or six layers temporarily: instead of quickly dragging over these layers' icons, I now must click each one.
I agree – PL is very inconsistent when you have selected multiple layers. If you set the intensity to 0, this works for all selected layers simultaneously but making a layer invisible doesn't. (Thus, writing an action to set the layer intensitiy to 0 and assigning a keystroke might be a workaround, but of course then you can't easily see which layers are "invisible".)
Herbert123 hat geschrieben: And one of the most infuriating things in regards to hidden layers in PL: when I inadvertently select a hidden layer, it turns it back on! Very odd, and counter-productive.
One of the things which drive me crazy as well … to disable a layer more permanently, I tend to set its intensity to 0 as well …
Herbert123 hat geschrieben: What I would like to see is behaviour like this:
1) select a bunch of layers
2) click on the eye icon, which hides all selected layers.
Done!
Sounds very reasonable to me – so far I have worked around this in the same way as Hoogo, by creating a group. But I certainly wouldn't mind an easier solution.

Cheers

Burkhard.
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Gerhard Huber
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Re: Importing complete sprite sequence at once possible?

Beitrag von Gerhard Huber »

Herbert123 hat geschrieben:I have 48 rendered frames of an animation (0001.png, 0002.png ~ 0048.png), and I would like to import all of those at once in one file, with each frame taking up a layer.
Dragging and dropping one by one works - but trying to drag in the complete sequence into the document view only imports the very last selected one.
Is there a way to import the entire sequence at once, each on its own layer? Also tried the browser, but no option seems to exist to achieve this in PL.
I have no problems here doing this. Open the first image and drag the rest of it on the first one. Works fine here in version 17.11 and latest beta from desktop and from browse window.
Herbert123 hat geschrieben:Also, is there a way to export each layer to a separate file automatically and have the file name be controlled by the respective layer label?
I will change the "Save Layer" function to save all selected layers in the next version of PhotoLine.
Herbert123 hat geschrieben:In Photoshop one can click on a layer's eye and drag down to hide multiple layers quickly and easily. Is there a way to do this in PL, or at least, does an option exist to hide a selection of layers at once?
neved heard about such a function in the past. I will insert code to get all selected layers treated like the clicked one.
Herbert123 hat geschrieben:when I turn on snapping, how when I start selecting it snaps to the edges of the document.
However, fine-tuning (scale) the lasso rectangle based on numeric inputs, and reading its exact dimensions seems only possible through that absolutely horrid modal "Form Lasso" dialog. Aside from the fact that it took me days before I figured out what the "Form Lasso" menu entry meant, it seems entirely odd to me that there is no non-modal panel that does the same thing.
you can see the dimension of the lasso at "Attributes>Document".
Herbert123 hat geschrieben:1) for Heaven's sake: rename that menu entry! I don't even understand what the words "form lasso" are supposed to mean in English.
suggestions?
Herbert123 hat geschrieben:- dragging a guide from the ruler: even with snapping turned on, they will not snap to the edges of the document. I can only snap to existing guides. Is there something I am missing here?
It's not necessary to setup a guide to the image border, because the image borders are always magnetic.

Gerhard
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Herbert123
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Re: Importing complete sprite sequence at once possible?

Beitrag von Herbert123 »

Gerhard Huber hat geschrieben: I have no problems here doing this. Open the first image and drag the rest of it on the first one. Works fine here in version 17.11 and latest beta from desktop and from browse window.
Ah, figures, I still had 17.10 installed, and it does not work in that version. After installing 17.11: works like a charm! Thanks!
Gerhard Huber hat geschrieben: I will change the "Save Layer" function to save all selected layers in the next version of PhotoLine.
Thank you!
Gerhard Huber hat geschrieben: never heard about such a function in the past. I will insert code to get all selected layers treated like the clicked one.
Wow, thank you so much!
Gerhard Huber hat geschrieben: you can see the dimension of the lasso at "Attributes>Document".
Thanks, that is good to know. I also noticed one can double-click on the lasso entry to open the "form lasso" options dialog.
Still, I feel these options deserve their own non-modal pane - especially seeing that these are functions used all the time when dealing with selections - at least, I do...
Herbert123 hat geschrieben:1) for Heaven's sake: rename that menu entry! I don't even understand what the words "form lasso" are supposed to mean in English.
Gerhard Huber hat geschrieben: suggestions?
Yes: to stay within Photoline terminology I would suggest "Lasso Attributes". That would have made sense to me, and I would have discovered these settings immediately. Of course, "Attributes" is directly translated from the German word "attributen", of which the preferred proper English equivalent would translate to "properties".

So, I would prefer "Lasso Properties", but "lasso Attributes" will do as well. ;-)

I made a proposal mockup for a lasso pane:

http://www.estructor.biz/testje/panel.png

The reset button I added because the current dialog does not seem to give me an option to return to the standard rectangular lasso after selecting one of the shapes?
When I create a new lasso and open the "form lasso" dialog, I still see the last selected shape. Even when opening a different file, my rectangular lasso is now always replaced by the smiley... Bug? Closing Photoline doesn't do any good either - I am forever stuck with the smiley now? Do I re-install Photoline?

I though it would be handy to have a save and load function for lassos - these would be saved in the pld file, and loaded from other pld's. I realize there is a save and load mask function, but Photoline really needs some sort of save lasso/mask option that allows us to quickly choose from a list of saved lassos/masks. I feel my proposal makes sense in this regard.
Herbert123 hat geschrieben:- dragging a guide from the ruler: even with snapping turned on, they will not snap to the edges of the document. I can only snap to existing guides. Is there something I am missing here?
Gerhard Huber hat geschrieben: It's not necessary to setup a guide to the image border, because the image borders are always magnetic.

Gerhard
True - in other software I often create a web sized page, then add two guides that snap to the left and right side, and then proceed to increase the overall document size. This leaves me with a template that allows me to snap to the web page width, as well as work with wider background designs and elements that would fall a bit off the sides.
ps please have a look at GUIDEGUIDE (http://www.guideguide.me/) - a truly useful guide tool for Photoshop. I would love to see an option in Photoline that allows us to base guides on a rectangular lasso selection. Extremely useful for all sorts of tasks.

Thanks Gerhard for reading my suggestions.
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Gerhard Huber
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Re: Importing complete sprite sequence at once possible?

Beitrag von Gerhard Huber »

Hi,

there is a new beta version of PhotoLine available. Since you have so many wishes, I would suggest to read the beta part of the forum. Sorry, but it's German, but some other users are reading it with Googles Translate.

Gerhard