Using Flash 8 as an assisting tool for move picture sequences in RPG Maker
This is a method that I managed to figure out after a while of trying to figure out a better way of testing and refining a series of move picture events than constant trial and error in testplay.
First of all, you need to obtain flash. I personally use flash 8 because it is very easy to find if you know where to look. You can use any version of flash, as far as I can tell.
Then, set canvas size to 320x240 with a framerate of 60fps. (standard modern 2k3 settings, change this as needed to match your game settings)
After that, import your pictures.
Make symbols for your bitmaps. Easiest way to configure them is to slap the picture onto the canvas, while making sure the desired keyframe slot is selected. If there isn't one, you can make one with F7.
Set your symbol at the desired starting coordinates, relying on the properties tab for exact coordinates stuff.
Now make a new keyframe every time you want to add a different linear movement (use F6 for this. F7 gives you a blank keyframe while F5 just gives you another frame the same as before unless in a tween)
Turn on onion skin if you want to see the previous frames and/or current frames while paused.
Repeat this as many times as needed until you’ve got all your symbols flying around how you want them to, each one on a different layer.
After you’ve got it how you want it, you can begin the process of manually exporting.
Remember how I had you note down all your keyframe coordinates and frame intervals? This is where you need to do that for reals.
Picture 1 (coda) Picture 2 (frie) -frame 1 [p2] 32,16 [p1] 18,99 -frame 14 [p2] 146,4 -frame 27 [p2] 131,139 -frame 30 [p1] 139,53 -frame 35 [p2] 105,79
do some math to figure out how long the intervals between keyframes of a particular picture are:
14-1= 13 13*0.6= 7.8 rounded up is 8
If you use the maniacs frame measurement method, you won't need to do the additional math to get 8 and can just use 13 (written as -13 in the move picture menu).
Very important note: I’m not sure if it’s just a flash 8 thing or if it has a way to set the properties coordinates to match the origin you give it, but as far as I can tell, the properties always gives you the upper left hand corner version of the picture coordinates. In maniac patch you can have this used as the intended origin, but if you need something to spin around, you will need to adjust the numbers you get from the transcriptions, adding half of the total relevant measurement of the picture to your given coordinate number. Because I am tired of math, I’m just gonna use the topleft corner numbers as-is here.
Move picture 2 to (146,4) top left corner for 13 frames looks like this in TPC:
@pic[2].move { .pos 146, 4 .topLeft .scaledOrigin .scale 100 .trans 0 .time -13 .rgbs 100, 100, 100, 100 }
Much later, I want to figure out how to output TPC code from flash 8 using the commands option, which uses a dialect of javascript meant specifically to work with flash. But to do that, I will need to actually study it.
It might take a while, but this is one of those things that will be freaking revolutionary later on in development.
