Animations

In the previous chapter we talked about Assets, the external resources (images, audio, video, fonts) used inside a Scene. Animations are special type of assets that exist only in Magnifico.

The Animation asset is a sequence of images that create the illusion of movement. You can look at the Animation as a short video or, more likely, as a GIF.

Animation can be created only from inside Magnifico. Just go to the Asset panel, choose the Animation tab and create a new one.

Inside an Animation you can create one or more Loops.
A Loop is simply a sequence of images where you can define the duration of every frame.

More than one Loop in an Animation

You’re asking why you can create more than one Loop? The answer is: just for convenience!
Think about a scene with one character. The character can walk and talk, so you need one animation for each action, or you can create two loops inside a single Animation. This way all actions related to your character can be found inside the same Animation.

How to use Animation in Scene

Animations are a little bit more complicated to use than other assets. The only core element that can use them is the Animation Element. Add one to the scene and select an Animation Asset as target asset.

Animations are paused at start. If you want to run the animation you have to use a Play Action.
So, for example, add a Scene Load event to you Scene and then a Play Action to the event. Finally select the Animation Element. Now your animation will start when the scene is loaded.

Above we talked about Animation Loops. To jump to a Loop within an Animation Asset you have to use the Seek Position Action.
Usually the Seek Position Action allows you to set a Position expressed as a number. This is handy for Audio and Video Elements, where you point to a time position, but when a Seek Position Action is bound to an Animation Asset it will let you choose a Loop from a drop down menu.