Act Editor

[Tokeiburu 229]

File Name: Act Editor

File Submitter: Tokeiburu

File Submitted: 03 Dec 2014

File Category: Client Resources

 

Heya,

 

This tool is an action file editor, it edits Act and Spr files. You will find similarities with ActOR in its design, but it should be much more enjoyable to edit animations ;].

 

Special thanks to Nebraskka for testing this software in its early days. All the suggestions and feedbacks made this software much better.

 

How to install

• Download the zip archive provided from the download link at the bottom of this description or directly from there : http://www.mediafire.com/download/y3amu1o5zsmgd2o
  
• Install the application with Act Editor Installer.exe; if you are missing a .NET Framework you will be prompted to download it.
  
• Once you are done, you can start the program from the link on your desktop.
  

 

 

Key features

The software has many, many features available. It would take too long to describe each one of them, so I've only focussed on the more impotant ones.

• You can undo and redo everything, scripts included.
  
• You can edit and add sounds easily.
  
• Powerful and easy to use palette editor.
  
• Sprite types have been abstracted - you don't have to worry or care about that.
  
• Animation speed can be changed easily.
  
• Most components have a drag and drop feature.
  
• Advanced scripting engine (C# language). The scripts can also be used to customize the software menus.
  
• Error checking when saving the act/spr to avoid invalid files. The sprite version will be automatically downgraded if RLE compression is not available.
  
• Frame interpolation (inbetweening/tweening) is possible via the Animation menu.
  
• Prompts you with an image converter dialog if the added image is invalid.
  
• Allows advanced edition for actions and frames via their respective menus.
  
• You can load files from GRFs directly (and save in the GRFs directly as well).
  

Technical stuff

• Requires .Net Framework 3.5 (SP1) Client Profile to run (3.5 or more will work as well).
  
• When prompted with an error, use the "Copy exception" button to copy the debugging info. I will need this to fix the issue you're encountering.
  

The editor's primary window

The interface is really straightforward and similar to ActOR. I'll only focus on new elements!

 

Rendering mode : This option changes the behavior of how layers are rendered. If you use 'Editor', you'll clearly see all the pixels when zooming in. If you use 'Ingame', it will use a linear scaling instead, which is closer to what the client does.

 

References : These allow you to know where your item will be positionned (the yellow marker is the anchor, see below).

 

Color mask : To edit the color of a layer, simply click on the color rectangle. You can also drag and drop the colors between different layers to quickly modify many of them.

 

Common shortcuts : You can manipulate layers by using common shortcuts. More can be found from the Edit menu. These below are only the primary ones.

• Ctrl-A : Select all layers.
  
• Ctrl-C : Copy the selected layers.
  
• Ctrl-V : Paste the copied layers.
  
• Ctrl-X : Cut the selected layers.
  
• Alt-C : Copy current action.
  
• Alt-V : Paste current action.
  

Advanced action and frame editions

These expose all the available methods of the editor. You can remove a range of frames or copy a frame 10 times very quickly and easily. This dialog is found in Action/Frame > Advanced edit...

 

 

Anchors

You can edit anchors from the editor directly. Anchors are points that connect frames together, from different act files. Here's an example without and with anchors :

 

 

This is mostly useful when you're using reference sprites (on the right panel). Clicking on the anchor button will let you choose where to attach the sprite (this is set semi-automatically for you though). You can edit those from the Anchors menu, but it is recommended to start from a pre-existing act to avoid doing this tedious process.

 

 

Palette editor

The palette editor allows you to quickly recolor sprites with an intuitive interface. Only indexed images can be edited (it's a palette editor after all) and three modes are available. The gradient mode changes an existing gradient to another color while keeping the original saturation and brightness of the colors - this makes the gradients blend in better. If there are no gradient (usually because it's a custom sprite), there's always the Adjust color mode. This one changes all color from a specified range to another one (Photoshop has a similar feature, which does work better).

 

 

You can click on the image (on the left) to automatically select the palette indexes. These will be highlighted for a few seconds to show you what you're about to edit.

 

 

Interpolation (tweening)

This script can be accessed via Animation > Interpolate frames. This process fills the images between two frames by detecting the changes applied to the layers. Here's a simple example of how it can be used :

 

 

 

 

 

 

Script engine

The script engine can be accessed via Scripts > Script Runner. This is a big feature of Act Editor, it allows you to automate all your work with the act and much more. Click on the Help button for guides and available methods (don't hesitate to try out a script; if an error occurs the act will be reversed to its previous state). The documentation doesn't cover all of the available options and methods for obvious reasons (the .net framework is huge). Doc example :

 

 

The language used by the script engine is C#. If you're not familiar with it, simply check out the script samples (Scripts > Open scripts folder)! I won't go into details here, questions can be asked in the support thread regarding addiotional features and methods. If you believe your script should be added in the program, send it to me and I'll probably add it.

 

 

Customizable

The settings dialog allows you to modify all colors in the editor easily.

 

You'll also find the sound resources (GRFs and folders) that can be set up in the Sound tab. The Shell integration tab can associate the .act files with the software to edit them more easily.

 

 

Don't hesitate to give me a feedbacks or suggestions!

 

Click here to download this file

[Nameless2you 97]

This looks awesome! Keep it up, hope to see more great stuff being released by you!

[Dastgir 1246]

Too great release

[GmOcean 92]

This looks absolutely amazing. I'm loving the palette editor you have here, it looks to be far more advanced then the one in your grf editor. At this rate, you'll have made an editor for everything RO related in no time. So glad to be in the RO scene at this time.

 

Where were these tools 7 years ago :/

Edited December 4, 2014 by GmOcean

[Mhalicot 392]

Awesome! +1 rep.

[karazu 33]

Good one!

[milk 8]

Nice tool. Thank you for it!

[pr3p 39]

awesome tools bro

[Nebraskka 4]

Outstanding result.

Many thanks for a very useful tool in daily workflow

[evilpuncker 503]

@@Tokeiburu

I got a crash on this tool as well when messing with palettes from items

 

http://pastebin.com/MNEtNc89

[Tokeiburu 229]

@@Tokeiburu

I got a crash on this tool as well when messing with palettes from items

 

http://pastebin.com/MNEtNc89

 

You don't actually have to save your modifications when using the palette tool. Closing the window will save it for you; the issue has been 'fixed' by ignoring the save command. http://www.mediafire.com/download/y3amu1o5zsmgd2o

[evilpuncker 503]

@@Tokeiburu

when I tried to open this act file (from official files) the program just crashed with this

[Tokeiburu 229]

@@Tokeiburu

when I tried to open this act file (from official files) the program just crashed with this

 

Fixed in 1.0.6, the file is strange though, none of the actions contain any frames. The act is being 'fixed' when it loads by adding dummy frames instead.

[evilpuncker 503]

gravity never ceases to amaze us with bugged files 

[awesome 1]

Save .Gif want to see the character of the program.
 

 

ex.

Edited May 18, 2015 by awesome

[awesome 1]

need set sprtype in tools   act editor

[Tokeiburu 229]

need set sprtype in tools   act editor

 

Can you please rephrase that question? I don't understand what you're trying to say here ;x. The "sprite type" field from ActOR has been removed on purpose because it serves no real purposes in Act Editor.

[awesome 1]

 

need set sprtype in tools   act editor

 

Can you please rephrase that question? I don't understand what you're trying to say here ;x. The "sprite type" field from ActOR has been removed on purpose because it serves no real purposes in Act Editor.

Ok, I got it thanks

[slee 0]

Is any updates of this beautiful app?

[banhelba2019 20]

Is using anchor on custom job sprites / animations supposed to be so horrible ? 

To me it seems like it doesnt even matter where your head pieces are positioned as long as you fit the anchor on the body sprite...

But when i try to change the anchor its like everything really off and I just have to guess and hope its aligned when i look in game

 

Maybe im doing it wrong ? 

It doesnt matter where i place my heads on my head animation, i have to move the anchor, but it doesnt align how i see it in act editor and moving it is the only way to fit it in game 

 

Edited April 17, 2019 by Sakurada