JPGhttp

GettingTheMostoutofMMF'simportingRyanSadwickryguy@3ee.
comhttp://www.
3ee.
comIntroductionMMFcanimportjustaboutanygraphicfileyouneedtocreateagameorapplication.
Someusersuseotherprogramstocreatetheirgraphics.
Thiscanbeaproblemforsomewhoareusingthewrongformattoexportto.
Ifyouhaveacharacterthathasover10framesofanimationinjustonedirection,youdon'twanttowastetimeeditingorcleaninguptheimageinMMFitself.
Sometimeswhenyouimportagraphic,you'llgetartifactsaroundyourimage.
EvenifyoutellMMFtomakethebackgroundcolortransparent,itdoesn'tgetitall.
I'msurenoonewantstocleanupeveryedgearoundeachframeofanimation.
Sowhat'sthesolutionChoseyourformat,wiselyFirst,let'snotblameMMF.
IthasnothingtodowithMMF.
Checkwhatformatyouareusing.
Thereasonwhyyoumayhave12differentshadesofyourbackgroundcoloraroundyourobjectisbecauseoftheformatyouexportedyourimageto.
ThisisespeciallytruewithJPGformat.
UsingJPGsotherthanforbackgroundsmaynotbeintuitiveasyoumaythink.
Sure,thefilesizesaresmallbutJPGusesacompressionmethodthatevenonthehighestqualityJPG,therewillstillbecompression.
So,don'tuseJPGWhatformatshouldIusethenAnygraphicformatthatdoesn'tcompressimages:BMP,TGA,TIFF,etc.
Thesefilesdotakeupharddrivespacesobeforeexportingyouranimation,makesureyouhavesufficientroomonyourharddrive.
TrytoavoidJPGs,GIFs,andevenAVIs(ifyouusedacompressioncodec)forimportinggraphicsinwhichyouwanttobackgroundcolortransparent.
Fig1.
Toomuchtocleanup.
Fig2.
Dirtyandcleanedgesaroundthegraphic.
Let'sgobacktousingAVIs.
Youcanusethem,howeverwhenexporting,makesurewhenyouselectacodec(ifyoursoftwareallowsit,mostdo)selecttheoption"fullframes(nocompression)".
AnimationImportingloadsofanimationinMMFisn'tfunActually,MMF1.
5hastheabilitytoimportimagesequences.
Forexample,ifyouhavefilesnamedmy_file.
1.
bmp,my_file.
2.
bmp,etc.
Justgotofile->import->animationandselectaBMPfile(thisonlyworksforBMPsasofMMF1.
5build110)MMFwillaskifyouwanttoimportthewholesequence.
Ifyouhaveananimationover10frames,youmaynoticeitonlyimportedframes1-9.
Justgobacktofile->importanimationandselectframe10,thenMMFwilldotherest.
Glows,explosions,lenseflaresHavinggraphicswithanytypeofglowcancausesomeissuesbecausearoundtheglowisdifferentshadesofcoloranditisimpossibletototallyclean.
Evenifyoudidcleanyourglows,yourgraphicswouldn'tlookasniceastheydidwiththeglow.
ThebestsolutionforglowsistoeitherputthemonabackgroundwhichisthebackgroundcolororuseMMF'sinkeffects.
WithMMF1.
5,youcanalsochangetheobjectsinkeffectsatruntime.
Justlikewithanything,you'llhavetoexperiment.
Dependingonthecolorofyourgraphics,you'llneedtofigureoutwhichinkeffectwillsuityoubest.
Also,tryusingdifferentbackgroundcolorsbyeithercreatingabackgroundorbackdrop.
ConclusionMultimediaFusiondoesincludeafullblownimageeditorhoweverifyou'reFig3.
Importmultiplebitmapsatonce.
Fig4.
UsingMMF'sdifferentinkeffectswithexplosions.
importinggraphicsfromanyothersoftwarepackage,youreallydon'tneedtospendmuchtimeusingitexceptforcropping,changinghotspotsandactionspots,etc.
Youshouldn'tneedtouseitforcleaningupimages.
***ThisalsoappliestoJamagic,sinceitusesthesameimageeditorasMultimediaFusion.
***