Free skeletal software

N

nigmatech

Guest
I shouldn't have to pay for an animation program when I'm hiring my artist to make animations for me. That would be like buying Photoshop so I could render pretty background images someone else already made.
Many copywrite laws are absurd at the time, because the industry is so young, but not in this case. You miss the point: if your artist exports ordinary stripes you can use it without a problem, but in order to implement his work as a skeletal animation you need to use not the spine itself, but another piece of software from the same developer: spine runtimes for gamemaker.
 

GoliBroda

Member
I have readed.
But when i am converting in dragonbones as a spine only what i have after puting json in gamemaker is white square.
 

GMWolf

aka fel666
I have readed.
But when i am converting in dragonbones as a spine only what i have after puting json in gamemaker is white square.
if you had read the thread, you would know that this goes against the license you agreed to when installing GMS.
if you are going to use the Spine runtime (built into GMS), you must own a Spine license.
 

GoliBroda

Member
This was bugging me so I contacted Game Maker support over it. According to them, there's no conflict with licensing. To quote:

To use GameMaker: Studio you only need a GameMaker: Studio license....
Our standpoint on Dragonbones is that:
Whilst we have no issues with this, we cannot support it development wise.
If there are any issues with it, you would have to speak to the owner.
It is the same stand point as Virtual Machines, we know they are there and can be used but we will not help you with it.

There's no requirement to own Spine to use skeletal animation files, so dragonbones files formatted appropriately for Game Maker to load are fair game.
Someone could help me with loading spine animation to gamemaker.
btw, my project is no comercial and i dont know if it will be released.
Just using it for learning, in future ill buy spine if there is a must.
 
J

JoeMartins

Guest
Is there another way to use Dragonbones' .json files into GMS? Like with a Runtime extention or something like it?
 

GMWolf

aka fel666
Is there another way to use Dragonbones' .json files into GMS? Like with a Runtime extention or something like it?
Well, you could buy spine, then convert your dragonbones to spine, and use it....


Or write your own extension. As far as I know there isn't any dragonbones runtime for GM.
Shouldn't be too difficult, since GM can parse JSON for you.
 

Coxy ofNewp

Member
Typical... I find a program that someone has put allot of effort into,and just when they find a way of making it work for GMS. They play the we own the rights to this/you signed the agreement to that, etc etc..
 

GMWolf

aka fel666
Typical... I find a program that someone has put allot of effort into,and just when they find a way of making it work for GMS. They play the we own the rights to this/you signed the agreement to that, etc etc..
typical, when people make put a lot of man hours into making a tool, and then people use it without paying for it...
 

Coxy ofNewp

Member
typical, when people make put a lot of man hours into making a tool, and then people use it without paying for it...
You know it Felix !! ;)
But seriously - I get that when someone puts allot of time and effort into something and then another wants to try and use it for nothing(that is wrong) But some of these tools are allot of money for someone who just want to use them as a non money making tool.. Maybe they could do what a program I've used before, (which I forgot the name of) was to get the user to sign an agreement licence - to pay a set price , if the tool gets used and there is money made.. Just a thought???
 

GMWolf

aka fel666
You know it Felix !! ;)
But seriously - I get that when someone puts allot of time and effort into something and then another wants to try and use it for nothing(that is wrong) But some of these tools are allot of money for someone who just want to use them as a non money making tool.. Maybe they could do what a program I've used before, (which I forgot the name of) was to get the user to sign an agreement licence - to pay a set price , if the tool gets used and there is money made.. Just a thought???
you signed the license agreement when you signed YOYOs licence agreement.
 

rIKmAN

Member
You know it Felix !! ;)
But seriously - I get that when someone puts allot of time and effort into something and then another wants to try and use it for nothing(that is wrong) But some of these tools are allot of money for someone who just want to use them as a non money making tool.. Maybe they could do what a program I've used before, (which I forgot the name of) was to get the user to sign an agreement licence - to pay a set price , if the tool gets used and there is money made.. Just a thought???
Whether you release something for free or for money, you are still going to be using the Spine runtimes to play back your animations within GMS - and this is really what you are paying for (in any language, not just GMS)

The only tool I know of that can use Spine files legally without owning Spine (ie. DragonBones Spine Export) is Defold, and that is because they wrote their own runtimes and don't use any code from the official Spine runtimes.

Instead of looking at it like "I have to pay for something when my game is free, and it's not fair", look at it as a monetary value for the time you spend using it.

Going to the cinema will cost around $20 including a drink and a hotdog / popcorn and lasts about 2hrs, which works out to around $10 per hour of entertainment.

Spine Essentials is $60 and you will spend way more than 6hrs using it, meaning the "value per hour" will work out to some tiny amount probably much less than $1 per hour - and you also gain skills learning how to use an industry standard tool as well as have the opportunity to earn money back from any games you create using Spine.

The Spine support in GMS isn't great but that is because of YYG, not Esoteric.

I don't usually white knight for software, but Spine is a great tool and is worth every penny, and I think the authors deserve to be paid for all the hard work they do in constantly improving the IDE and adding features, as well as keeping all the various runtimes upto date to support these features so what you see in Spine is what you get in your game.

Finally, $60 really isn't a big sum of money - save $5 a week and you'll have enough before you know it.
Use the Spine Trial whilst saving - you can import your work once you get a proper licence and by then you will be much more comfortable and proficient with it too.

Think of it as an investment in yourself, or in your hobby (coding) similar to buying a pair of football boots to play football, or trainers to go running, clothes for the gym or whatever other hobbies people pay to take part in.
 

Coxy ofNewp

Member
Whether you release something for free or for money, you are still going to be using the Spine runtimes to play back your animations within GMS - and this is really what you are paying for (in any language, not just GMS)

The only tool I know of that can use Spine files legally without owning Spine (ie. DragonBones Spine Export) is Defold, and that is because they wrote their own runtimes and don't use any code from the official Spine runtimes.

Instead of looking at it like "I have to pay for something when my game is free, and it's not fair", look at it as a monetary value for the time you spend using it.

Going to the cinema will cost around $20 including a drink and a hotdog / popcorn and lasts about 2hrs, which works out to around $10 per hour of entertainment.

Spine Essentials is $60 and you will spend way more than 6hrs using it, meaning the "value per hour" will work out to some tiny amount probably much less than $1 per hour - and you also gain skills learning how to use an industry standard tool as well as have the opportunity to earn money back from any games you create using Spine.

The Spine support in GMS isn't great but that is because of YYG, not Esoteric.

I don't usually white knight for software, but Spine is a great tool and is worth every penny, and I think the authors deserve to be paid for all the hard work they do in constantly improving the IDE and adding features, as well as keeping all the various runtimes upto date to support these features so what you see in Spine is what you get in your game.

Finally, $60 really isn't a big sum of money - save $5 a week and you'll have enough before you know it.
Use the Spine Trial whilst saving - you can import your work once you get a proper licence and by then you will be much more comfortable and proficient with it too.

Think of it as an investment in yourself, or in your hobby (coding) similar to buying a pair of football boots to play football, or trainers to go running, clothes for the gym or whatever other hobbies people pay to take part in.

All very good points. !!
My original answer got slightly taken out of context, As in I meant, typical after looking for such a long time, I thought I found something for free and that's great! - But as always in life - most great things are never free.. I should have made that more clear.. Also didn't really get all the facts about the spine licence etc before I opened my mouth ( well typed text )
And yes, I agree that the money can be quickly saved up! Also SPINE is an amazing program, Now I've finally got into using it more and have a greater understanding of what it can do for me and my time saved etc.. ( and will be more than happy buying a licence soon )
 

rIKmAN

Member
All very good points. !!
My original answer got slightly taken out of context, As in I meant, typical after looking for such a long time, I thought I found something for free and that's great! - But as always in life - most great things are never free.. I should have made that more clear.. Also didn't really get all the facts about the spine licence etc before I opened my mouth ( well typed text )
And yes, I agree that the money can be quickly saved up! Also SPINE is an amazing program, Now I've finally got into using it more and have a greater understanding of what it can do for me and my time saved etc.. ( and will be more than happy buying a licence soon )
Glad you are enjoying Spine, it really is a great tool.

Sadly you will have to use an older version of it with GMS/GMS2 until we get an update to support a more recent version, and there are a few caveats in terms of how to prepare your Spine files so they work well in GMS but if you have any question feels free to post a thread or PM me and if I can help you out I will.

First tip - make sure you are using Spine v3.4.02 and not the latest version! :)
You can get away with Spine v3.5.x if you are using GMS2, but v3.4.02 is the safe bet.

Good luck!
 

Coxy ofNewp

Member
Glad you are enjoying Spine, it really is a great tool.

Sadly you will have to use an older version of it with GMS/GMS2 until we get an update to support a more recent version, and there are a few caveats in terms of how to prepare your Spine files so they work well in GMS but if you have any question feels free to post a thread or PM me and if I can help you out I will.

First tip - make sure you are using Spine v3.4.02 and not the latest version! :)
You can get away with Spine v3.5.x if you are using GMS2, but v3.4.02 is the safe bet.

Good luck!
Many thanks for the heads up !!
Talent Lost - on You Tube got me to get into SPINE after seeing his video -
Quick Channel Update / What I've Been Working On
and brought up the fact about the texture swaps that was made using GMS and SPINE. Then showing how he found a solution to improve the way the textures etc was stored etc.
He then followed it up with the video bellow ..
Spine and GameMaker Tutorial - Easy Equipment System

This then got me wanting to try Spine and got the trial to try soon after.Now I've seen what the advantages of a very clever piece of software could do for me, I will be getting a full licence in the near future.. And many thanks for the advise and the offer of help "I will probably taking you up on that at some point! ;) "
Many Thanks
Coxy
 
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