Selecting multiple layers, copying tiles or layers

hepary

Feb 9, 2015 at 3:16 pm

I'm starting to regret buying this nice programm, for it seems to be lacking some of the essential editing tools.
But maybe it's just me. Maybe I'm not noticing it, but it can be done... so please help me!!

Basically, this character in the screenshot consists of separate body parts on separate layers.
And I want to animate it by offsetting the parts... But first, I wanted to move it to the first tile so I can start clean.

But I can't select multiple layers! Disgusting!

So, if that doesn't work, shouldn't I be at least allowed to copy over all layers in a tile?
But I don't see that option either. So now I'm stuck, and if there is no way to do this, I'll have to go back to Photoshop.
And my emotional status will change from 'Happy' to 'Angry'.

I need help. Desperately.

CandyFace

Feb 9, 2015 at 4:42 pm

As far as i know you cannot select more than one layer, though you can make a selection around your character and edit->copy merged. You may want to co-work with photoshop, as PyxelEdit indeed still need some "essential" parts implemented.

You could alternatively copy the content of your layers manually and offset them in the next tile, it is quite a tedious task but it is doable.

If you copy/paste a selection, then your copy will still stay in that layer, unlike in photoshop where it will duplicate and make a copy of the layer.

hepary

Feb 9, 2015 at 4:55 pm

As far as i know you cannot select more than one layer, though you can make a selection around your character and edit->copy merged. You may want to co-work with photoshop, as PyxelEdit indeed still need some "essential" parts implemented.

You could alternatively copy the content of your layers manually and offset them in the next tile, it is quite a tedious task but it is doable.
If you copy/paste a selection, then your copy will still stay in that layer, unlike in photoshop where it will duplicate and make a copy of the layer.

Thank you CandyFace, your help is much appreciated.
In photoshop, you can hold down Ctrl+Alt+Click to drag your selection around on the same layer, in case you need that.
Back to Photoshop, I guess. Why did I even bother buying this... (Crying)

goldie

Feb 10, 2015 at 6:25 pm

Honestly I don't know why people still buy this piece of shitty software. It's a waste of a money. Luckily, it's not that much.

CandyFace

Feb 10, 2015 at 7:08 pm

Honestly I don't know why people still buy this piece of shitty software. It's a waste of a money. Luckily, it's not that much.

Well that is your opinion... There are several others, besides me that does not share that opinion.

Please keep your manners.

Personally i have been using PyxelEdit for a long time now, and can say the following (both good and bad).. its animation tool is amazing, granted it is buggy, I still prefer PyxelEdit over the rest. I have come to love the shortcut for color 'c' and its small Shading, Lightness, Saturation and Hue makes experimental colouring much easier. The color palette is properly sized and has one interesting feature I use quite often: gradience from one color to another. All the windows are also detachable. Animation playback is done with a swift click in the menu and you can change to any other animation state at any time, which also makes it easier for exporting. PyxelEdit is also cross platform which is great, because i am a mac user on the go.

What still tend to make me use IDraw or Photoshop is:

- The rotation algorithm is glitchy

- Mirror selection (though can be done with select object->transform->drag to mirror it horizontally/vertically)

These are quirks but can still be done (with some hassle), what exactly makes it "piece of shity software"?

Also to be fair.. you bought a beta version, knowing it would potentially take time to become full fletched or possibly never get completed. People buy the software presumably because they think it is worth it or they invest because it looks promising.

sammander

Feb 14, 2015 at 2:39 pm

I am having the exact same issue, pretty much this is the way that I animate. Do we know how long before this feature is added?

CandyFace

Feb 14, 2015 at 4:52 pm

I do not believe Danik has any schedule (at least not published) for any of the features, when he has time, I would assume.

Here is a quote from his last satement (26 Jan 15.)

Yeah, it's been a long time since the last release. I've been very busy with finishing school, moving and working. Work is still taking a lot of time but is slowing down a bit and I'm fully determined to resume work on Pyxel Edit soon.

Danik

Mar 1, 2015 at 2:14 pm

The workflow for animating has some problems as you have noticed. Working with multiple layers in animations is not easy. The quickest way to move content in multiple layers at the moment is probably to use the tile placer tool to duplicate the content to the new location for each layer.
One solution could be to add an animation frame organizing tool, to move frames or ranges of frames at once (across all layers). This would act as the tile placer tool but for multiple layers, but acting more like you would expect when dealing with animations and frames, selecting horizontal ranges instead of rectangular regions and wrapping around the right edge etc.
Another solution could be to allow selecting multiple layers as you suggest, but this adds a lot of complexity and things that needs to be solved.

Revel

Mar 3, 2015 at 12:39 pm

Hey Danik, another solution that I can think of is to add more functionality to the Frame Edit window.
Here are that I could think of;
- visible selection border (dotted lines)
- copy selection > move to next frame > paste
The pasted objects are placed on the exact position relative to the curretly selected frame, instead of the ori place like what we have right now. I believe it can somehow speed up the animating sprite faster :)

oberon

Mar 8, 2015 at 3:15 am

@Danik

As a new user, I've just encountered this limitation, which is quite a problem for doing this kind of layer based animation.

One approach that some other pixel animation software has used successfully is to basically make each frame into a self-contained document that can be cloned and edited separately. This allows you to do layer based animations easily, and means you don't have to copy paste image data from frame to frame. Having all the frames laid out on a grid works for some styles of animation, but is quite a serious limitation for some users.

I think the problem would be sufficiently solved for most people if we could duplicate the selected contents all layers from one tile to another. Then we could move body parts around using the selection tool.