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Spine

Not sure if this is the correct place for this question but it's not really a programming question. Sorry in advance if I should have put it there.

I have a number of questions regarding spine compatibility. This is my first time using spine so I know next to nothing.

1) When will Game Maker support the newer versions of spine?
2) Does Game Maker support anything other than spine? (spriter, dragon bones etc)
3) How do I convert spriter (SCML) files into spine files?
4) How can I import newer spine models into older versions of spine?
5) Does anyone have a link to a free spine model that workds with gamemaker. (I don't want to learn spine just yet I just want to look at the gamemaker side of the fence)

Any light that could be shed on this situation would be more than welcome. Thanks in advance.
 

rIKmAN

Member
Not sure if this is the correct place for this question but it's not really a programming question. Sorry in advance if I should have put it there.

I have a number of questions regarding spine compatibility. This is my first time using spine so I know next to nothing.

1) When will Game Maker support the newer versions of spine?
2) Does Game Maker support anything other than spine? (spriter, dragon bones etc)
3) How do I convert spriter (SCML) files into spine files?
4) How can I import newer spine models into older versions of spine?
5) Does anyone have a link to a free spine model that workds with gamemaker. (I don't want to learn spine just yet I just want to look at the gamemaker side of the fence)

Any light that could be shed on this situation would be more than welcome. Thanks in advance.
1) There is no date ever given for runtime updates, but it currently supports all features in v3.7.94 which isn't that old.
From what I remember a lot of the 3.8 additions were on the Spine IDE side (mesh tracing etc).

2) No, although Nux wrote a library which support all 3 although it's currently in limbo - more info here.

3) Unless there is a tool available somewhere online then as far as I know you can't, at least not easily.

4) You can't due to the differences in the exported json, but there is a json rollback tool avalable on the Spine forums if you do a quick search on there.

5) Download the Spine trial and check the example skeleton files provided in the examples folder.
They don't usually re-export all the example skeletons so some should work, but if not download the Test Tool for my Spine extension as there are a few skeletons included with the download (with the permission of Esoteric Games) which will definitely work and are pre-v3.8.
 

rIKmAN

Member
I am trying to import these files you gave me fora second time now none of them work again. It seems temperamental.
The ones done with the Test Tool were exported with 3.4.02 so they may need to be imported / exported again from 3.7.94.
They haven't been updated for GMS2 since soon after release the functionality the extension added was integrated natively into GMS2 with the big Spine update so it's only really useful to people still using GMS 1.4 - which has been sunsetted and only supports 3.4.02.

Here is a link to the spineboy example which I have just exported from Spine v3.7.94 and tested with GMS2 IDE v2.2.5.481 with Runtime v2.2.5.378 and it imports fine.

However you still aren't going to know any of the bone names, slot names, animation names etc without rooting through the json file manually so I'm not sure how much use an example file is going to be for what you want to do.
 
The ones done with the Test Tool were exported with 3.4.02 so they may need to be imported / exported again from 3.7.94.
They haven't been updated for GMS2 since soon after release the functionality the extension added was integrated natively into GMS2 with the big Spine update so it's only really useful to people still using GMS 1.4 - which has been sunsetted and only supports 3.4.02.

Here is a link to the spineboy example which I have just exported from Spine v3.7.94 and tested with GMS2 IDE v2.2.5.481 with Runtime v2.2.5.378 and it imports fine.

However you still aren't going to know any of the bone names, slot names, animation names etc without rooting through the json file manually so I'm not sure how much use an example file is going to be for what you want to do.
Thanks for the link. Yes I see what you mean about the bone names. I haven't started using it yet but I assumed there would be a get bone name function.
 

rIKmAN

Member
Thanks for the link. Yes I see what you mean about the bone names. I haven't started using it yet but I assumed there would be a get bone name function.
Yeah there are functions to return a list of bones and slots but I'm not sure what order they are returned in and and it doesn't show the relationship between them, whether there are are constraints, meshes, IK etc so it's going to more difficult to work with than actually being able to open the skeleton in Spine and see how everything is setup and how they interact in the Spine editor.

The way you are doing it is not the smoothest workflow so bear it in mind when you are evaluating how they work together.
 
What do you mean by my workflow? I don't need to convert anything. I just wanted a simple spine file with the map the atlas etc so I don't have to mess about with spine because I want to concentrate on the programming and not stop the flow with asset management. I had no idea about all of these version compatibility issues before I started looking into this a few days ago. I googled to see if I could find some spine assets but it seems a bit sparse and I don't know if it's going to be compatible with GMS2. I would just like one model that has all the features GM supports so I can explore the code part of the jigsaw.

Thanks again.
 

rIKmAN

Member
What do you mean by my workflow? I don't need to convert anything. I just wanted a simple spine file with the map the atlas etc so I don't have to mess about with spine because I want to concentrate on the programming and not stop the flow with asset management. I had no idea about all of these version compatibility issues before I started looking into this a few days ago. I googled to see if I could find some spine assets but it seems a bit sparse and I don't know if it's going to be compatible with GMS2. I would just like one model that has all the features GM supports so I can explore the code part of the jigsaw.

Thanks again.
By workflow I mean you are going to be using strange (to you) skeletons with plain lists of bone names and slot names etc - that isn't the normal workflow to work with a Spine skeleton. You would normally either be able to load up the skeleton yourself in Spine and be able to see it inside Spine and how everything is setup - the relationship between bones, any IK that is setup, any meshes that are used - or you would be working with an artist who would be able to provide you with this information in the form of documents and screenshots so you know what you are working with.

Trying to work that out from the plain lists GMS will return with no visual of the skeleton is going to harder than it would be if you owned Spine or were working with someone who owned Spine to pass over the information for you to use when writing the code to interface with the bones.

ie. You may be trying to manually rotate a bone that is actually part of an IK chain inside Spine and as such gives weird results, or how do you know which bone the "left_armour" slot is supposed to be attached to - arm, leg, shoulder? It's hard to derive from simple lists and more time consuming than necessary if manually scouring the json files for the information.

I just linked you above to the spineboy model I exported from v3.7.94 which works with the GMS2 version I stated above as I tested it before I uploaded it and linked it.

You can export the animation list and play around switching between them, but with other more specific stuff (manually setting bones etc) it will take a bit more work than it usually would if you had access to Spine and may be a little hit and miss depending on the skeleton setup and what you are trying to do.

Good luck!
 
I see it's a learning curve. I must get familiar with spine. I can't get away with just calling pre-calculated events. I'm cool with that. I was hoping it wasn't going to be another rabbit hole but at least I have found my self another can of worms. Thank you for taking the time to respond. I believe we are on the same page.
 
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