yes… i’m pretty much interested on doing that… after sequencer support i planned to get immediately on to create more implementations but i had some trouble that i had to take care of (real life sucks)
I will send you an email right away!
Guys… as we didn’t get the MEMO for the christmass sale … we decided to do a Post Hangoverr New year Sale on PaperZD.
So
from January 2nd to January 7th PaperZD will be on sale, as we prepare our next major update.
Will update here with more info, but feel free to ask anything
Happy everything guys!
Congratulations on growing popularity and the progress you’ve made with this plugin, as well as preparing to gear up for your major update!! Happy New Year!
On another note, I was wondering if you could help me out! I installed the plugin for 4.18.1 yesterday and the editor started up no problem. I worked on my project all day without any issues! But when I woke up today and tried to open the same project and was greeted with this message:
I tried the following and had no success:
I disabled the compilation manager in the project settings
I deleted the plugin from the folder, started the editor, closed it, and put it back in
Updated to 4.18.2
Went downstairs to drink a cup of coffee
Your help is greatly appreciated! 
Hey there man! sorry for the delay… just recovering from the holidays.
If the plugin is installed via the marketplace… the plugins are treated like Engine Plugins… and they are on the Engine folder… check if the plugin is in there… if it’s not… maybe it got uninstalled by some reason.
The other option is that you have a Project Plugin, in which case the Plugin folder should have the binaries to use.
My recommendation would be to check the launcher and see if maybe you need to re install it for some reason.
If this doesn’t solve the issue, i could give you the built dll so you can use the plugin as a project plugin
No problem, thanks for taking the time to respond. Hope you had a happy holiday!
I’m using the itch.io version. I removed it from the 4.18 engine folder’s plugins folder and reinstalled it multiple times. I tried the same in my project’s plugin folder also. I reinstalled 4.18 twice and still have issues trying to open the project I was working on and starting new projects as well. I installed the 4.17 version just fine and everything seems a-ok though!
I will be checking if there are issues on 4.18 … all the tests I do, i do them as project plugins, so i’m not entirely sure how does UE4 respond to a code injected engine plugin
Gotcha. Thanks for looking into it!!
Will have more info on weekend, work is crazy right now…
Remember to rate the plugin if you’d like, it helps me a lot to have an idea of the current state of the plugin itself and to be more attractive
Thanks!
Just a reminder, if anyone else has issues with 4.18, please send me an email, it appears in some cases 4.18 would not compile (although very rare).
I’m working on seeing if that issue is local or is a more general error that triggers under some circumstances.
Also, I’ve got news for you guys.
I’m halfway the next update for paperzd, i’m working on ordering the AnimNotify and AnimSequence structure, so the Editor uses a more generalized “AnimSequence” Object that can be re used not only on the States, but you can also use them as Montages (triggered via blueprint) or as a new concept i’m working on, called the Transition Queue.
The big idea is that, because some requirements on our game, our characters use a lot of transition animations, that would not be very sustentable if we code them as normal states, so the idea is to create a Push/Pop stack of transition animations that will be executed in order, BEFORE the corresponding State animation starts running. The idea would be to let the user decide wether to just add the transition to the stack or to reset the stack (if the character just passed a transition and you do not wish for it to add to the stack), this would ensure that transitions are not a chore to code and are bound to the proper transition node of the graph.
Also, with this new update, Conduits will make their debut, as it was a requested feature.
After the TransitionQueue has been developed, and the AnimSequence editor has been updated (currently is a State transition, not a Sequence transition, Sequences where born because of the Sequencer Update)… and as Sequences are an abstraction, i will have way easier time developing the Spine/Creature updates that i’ve been posponing for a long time due to time constraints on our programming team.
So… TL;DR
-Conduits
- State editor now becomes the AnimSequence editor, full with a new AnimationMode for easier access on the editor
- AnimSequences can be reused not only as state animations, but for uses on the transition/animation queue and montages
- Creature/Spine updates will come after that, due to the abstractions will be ready for this step to be worked on.
- 4.19 update will be released with this update, along 4.18 and 4.17
As always, thanks for supporting us, if there are issues (as the 4.18 issue I’m trying to work around) please remember to contact me on carlos.ibanez@criticalfailure-studio.com . Also, remember to check our channel for news on our game, which showcases the use of our PaperZD plugin at it’s fullest
Some small updates:
- All Animation and Notify logic was moved to a “PaperZDAnimSequence”, which can be shared through states AND TRANSITIONS
- A new “Animation Queue” was added, this lets the users enqueue animations to be run in a certain order, with all the notifies firing as they should
- The Transitions now self register to this queue before the State that they are connected to, this way you can run a neat transition animation if you like
- Animation Mode is completed (pending some minor tweaks), this is now the editor for ZDAnimSequences
- AnimStates And AnimTransitions have a custom built Sequence Selector.
Why are sequences needed?
- Because they let us abstract the animation logic, so we can support creature2d, spine or even scissors 2d if they allow us to.
- Because you can re use Sequences or even trigger them programatically
Pending:
- Delete Sequences
- GUID and give support to legacy AnimBPs so you don’t lose your work via this new version.
- Some sassy icons
- Documentation and an updated video… i’m not the best english speaker (verbally) but i will do my best
We will need some testers next week most probably, so if any of you are willing to do some beta testing, don’t hesitate to ask us.
As we prepare for the new version, we joined the Spring Sale too with 30% off… after this (and after testing) the new version will be released.
Right now we’re missing:
- Support for “legacy” animBP using GUID
- Add Comments
- Some nice looking buttons
- Testing
Any of you who have access or buy our plugin can also request to be part of the Beta Testing (we have some clients that are willing to help us out). So, if you wanna check in advance what’s in store for you and provide feedback or request some functionality that you deem necessary… hit us up!
Hey there! I have a feature request.
Would it be possible to add a type of animation notify specifically for volumes like sphere and box collisions where you can view them in editor? I feel like this would be a useful feature that would make spawning, adjusting and tweaking hitboxes a lot easier!
Sounds feassible enough… could you send me a PM with the details ? and some paint edited file of what you’re thinking about?
Greetings!
P.S.
For new version release:
- Need to add the GUID for old animbp support
- Betatesting
- Better graphics and design.
We’re thinking on rolling out the betatesting update this week, everyone who wants to test it, be sure to let us know! that way you can also roll in some feedback that we are gonna personally review with our team.
Official release would be the week after beta testing, that is… next week
Cheers!
Awesome, thank you very much for considering it! I’ll whip up something for you as soon as I can!
All ready to begin the beta testing of the new version.
4.18 is currently ready, just waiting for design changes.
want to support 4.19, 4.17 and maybe 4.16. This days will be used to beta test 4.18.
If any of you have a project with the old paperzd version and want to help us with beta testing the new version, while giving us direct feedback, please send us a mail at
carlos.ibanez@criticalfailure-studio.com
4.16 and 4.17. All versions will be rolled out next week.
Blacob’s request is being procesed as of now, but will be worked after the update, so as to have the new version first ASAP.
More info on our twitter
Everything is ready for uploading… did a few tests on our main project… everything works without any issues.
Yesterday the new icons for the editor came and we will be updating with them in mind… this has taken more time that originally planed, mainly due to wanting to debug the new version as thoroughly as possible
After 4.18 upload, 4.19 will be next, then 4.17
TODO:
- Add the new EditorStyle
- Build and upload
After this update… we will be concentrating our efforts on finally giving support to creature2d or spine… after a little break.
We also will be checking for new projects to do that are focused on 2d support
Finally, i personally want to do some tweaking on the engine source code, mostly aimed towards paper2d sprite editor and some issues it has while trying to edit Sprite source Regions and Sprite Sockets.
New Version is finally complete… here’s a sneak peek of the improved editor… all with Transition Queues and AnimTransitions (check the Transitions node, the new 3circle icon means there’s a transition on that node). A New Icon for PaperZDAnimBP was added too.
Few QoL changes will be added today and version 4.18 will be updated… followed tomorrow by 4.19 update and 4.17 Update.
4.16 and 4.15 will be deprecated, though.
After more time than I was comfortable taking, version 1.2 is out!. A lot of inner bearing were adjusted, creating a much more solid application.
Changes:
-
Added a new Animation Mode for managing the new Animation Sequences. All the Notify DATA and timming will be edited here.
-
States and Transition can now “equip” a sequence to play. States work just like before, but now transitions can choose to play a sequence before the connected state.
-
Sequencer templates were optimized.
-
AnimSequences are now SHARED on the actor, that means that you can re use AnimSequences between stated without having to re create all the notify data. This will be expanded to the BP eventually to support AnimMontages or to let the users manage the AnimQueue manually (on 1.3).
-
Several bugfixes regarding Multiplayer support with the same AnimBP.
I can’t seem to make Conduits; the option isn’t there. Also, there were error messages regarding missing explicit categories for some UProperties and a UFunction, though those were easily fixed.
Hey there… Epic has taken a while to re build the new version, but they told me that today would be ready. Though I had to pause Conduits as a new Node because AnimTransition, AnimSequence and all that ended up being a massive update, so i had to focus throughly on that… Comments were added because they didn’t need compilation to work (although the shortcuts are kinda wonky and i have to fix them still)
If you can send me which explicit categories are missing, i will surely look into it, my VS hasn’t been showing me all the Warnings lately, so they might have passed review.
I hope to do that fix at the same time I add conduits on a more relaxed HotPatch Update, which should be a very quick and easy update, so you don’t have to wait as much.
Any issues don’t hesitate to send me an email…
Thanks!