Version History

Version 0.1

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Released on 9th Oct 2008. The first cut - rough at the edges. Not much in the way of user friendly error messages, but it very functional.

The Future

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Wow, I've got so many ideas, here's just a few :

  • Trim animation - choose where to crop - set canvas size, include a gui like in the GIMP
  • Make starting scripting easy
  • Auto tweening - requires ids on nodes.
  • Create a stick flick zip, which is a zip file containing the .flick file, and all images used in the animation. The images are placed in the a hard coded sub directory called "images" within the zip file. Extension "sfz".
  • Give nodes an id, so that a node can be tracked from frame to frame
  • In the editor, can add paths, which define the position for a node during an animation cycle. Define the path for a walking leg
  • Simple Bezier curves with start end, and 2 control points
  • Make a distinction between skin and bones. Bones are the struts that can be rotated etc in the animation. The skin is the visible stuff with colour, width etc. Will become more important if/when long chains of splines are implemented.
  • On the website, allow "flicks" to be uploaded, and convert them to gif automagically :-)
  • Allow lines etc to be drawn ANYWHERE - a temporary handle is created from root. If that line is dragged so that the temp handle lands on a node, then reparent the line, and delete the temp handle Could allow either of the line ends to be attached. Likewise with a circle, but allow ANY of the control point to be the new parent.
  • Middle drag nothing to scroll the window
  • Tag some nodes as "decoration", can turn decoration off during editting
  • Create "Hints" on start-up
  • Add "attachment" points to lines and ellipses. An attachment point along a line will stay on the line (and in proportion along its length). Similarly with an ellipse - it will stay on the circumference, at the correct angle. When drawing a new line, or ellipse, if the drag STARTS in the middle of a line, or on the edge of an ellipse, then an attachment point is automatically created, and the line/ellipse is added to the attachment point.
  • When ctrl+dragging an attachment, it can be moved away from the shape, in which case, keep it that same distance from the line / edge of the circle (or perhaps the same proportion away from the center)
  • Allow a new/imported Figure to be glued to an existing figure. e.g. glue a hat to a stickman.
  • Override "static" - i.e. all points can be altered.
  • "Adjust Details" mode. Animate a walking figure by saying where the man starts and ends, then switch to "Adjust Details" mode. Click "Go", and time advances. The figure stays still and the world moves in the opposite direction (so you can see the passage of time). Meanwhile, its the user's job to drag a control handle to the appropriate place. So, ideally, animating a 30 second walk could take just 30 seconds * 4 limbs = 2 minutes!!! And that is with as many frames as required.
  • "Hide" object - whatever it covers is hidden, but the background is visible (So it basically copies the background). Use it to magically make objects appear from thin air.
  • Create a CLIP object, and attach it to the item you want to hide. As it moves into the clip region, it becomes visible.
  • Hover over a handle, and it displays its tooltip (which is set in the editWindow)
  • Speech bubbles - i.e. need to allow text to be written.
  • Add springs (or constraints) to the sticks. These are additional joining lines which constrain the nodes position.
    • May also useful to join figures together - e.g. a Hat figure attached to the head of a Man figure.
  • Allow overlay of video. Convert the video to stills, and then set the background of each frame to the still. http://www.geocities.com/absmindjay/jugglingman-stickfigure.gif
stickman