Unity Cutscene Creator / Camera Path - uSequencer [RELEASED]

I am a bit confused, as the free version I downloaded has features not documented anywhere in the manual or videos.

What the heck is a "object path timeline"?
I tried to use it, assuming it might be something I'm interested in, but it's confusing as all get out and not documented at all (it feels like anyway).

So far I really like uSequencer, as it's exactly what I need for my game. So much so, I had already wanted to create it (the Scrubber especially) before realizing it existed in the asset store. So I am certainly willing to buy the asset the moment I can figure it out, since it is EXACTLY what I wanted to create myself (but would save me all that time bc you already created it! )

I am trying to figure out if there is a way to make a gameobject (Character) move to a point, but at a constant speed. I do not like the idea of having to do the math myself or create a custom event for something I assume has already been done many times before.

For example, I am trying to get a character in the center of a room, to walk to the door and exit. I can naturally do this with just two or more keyframes, changing the transform position, no problem. However, I have to constantly Play/Stop and edit the time of the last keyframe (which adjusts how quickly they reach the door) until it is adequate enough. With multiple Characters, each one will have different speeds unless I do the math myself with a calculator

I'd prefer to simply type in a speed value and the destination, and have it tell me when they'd reach the destination. (If I make them walk to the door from 0s to 1s, they are super fast. If I do 0s to 3s it's much more realistic of a speed. I'd prefer it to simply add the last keyframe at the time based on the speed, like "They will reach the door at 5.3s". I need a constant speed.

Are there really no events or methods to do this easily without having to make scripts to do it? I'd imagine this would be something people would consistently want.

 

Ah, even better. The plugin crashed Unity, and since the Sequences are saved in the Scene, I lost all the work I did since last saved. (This sucks, and with other assets like Dialogue System, you don't have to save the Scene to save the work. An hour of testing out, gone. Ugh! Well, at least I now understand the interface much better )

I liked the idea of the Scrubber, but I am having second thoughts. I can't copy/paste keyframes (not sure if that is possible. I was unable to right click keyframes to copy/paste them in the timeline).

Oddly enough, the forward keyframe button (and key Alt + . ) does nothing but send me back to the original frame every single time, no matter where I am in the timeline. I have to select the timeline after the keyframe I want, then do the backward keyframe button, lol.

Perhaps this has to do with me using the free version, or simply not understanding the interface correctly. The mouse wheel also does nothing with the timeline, like it is suppose to.

Finally, I got a ton of Layout/Repaint warnings that mentioned something about "LightSkin", but they are completely gone now and haven't returned.

 

I also, after several attempts at searching for some kind of documentation that explains the asset, found (through a google search) a page that had a ton of tutorials on it. I didn't find this page on the website, or the documentation pdf when I clicked "Help Me?!". I found this after searching through tons of stuff, looking for some forum answer. It helped a lot more than the website or "Help Me?!" button.

I don't mean to be offensive, but this asset has such confusing documentation / links.
Simply for the fact it all seems to exist, but on a hidden website, which is not linked on the asset's website, not linked with the asset store page, not linked in the "Help Me?!" in the Unity Editor. Not linked anywhere.

For anyone interested, this is the actual documentation that is non-existent except when you do some google kungfu:
https://sites.google.com/site/usequencer/tutorials
^ finally, something understandable

Anyway, I am attempting to play a simple animation that I have for my 2D sprite. I added the correct Event Timeline, added the Legacy Animation event, and added the Animation Clip, with the correct playback (Loop).

It gave me 400+ errors/warnings, because the animation wasn't Legacy. To figure out how to solve this, I had to goto Unity Answers and learn I have to click "Debug" and then change the AnimationType (a hidden variable) to "1". No idea why this is required, or why there is no option to make it legacy for 2D Animations. But that's Unity's problem, not just uSequencer's.

Finally, all the errors went away. Yet when I preview the sequence, nothing happens. No animation at all.
Sometimes I will get

​

I also get

​

I want to like this asset, but in some places it screams "Alpha" From its bugs, to crashes, to non-existent (expected) features like copy/paste keyframes, to what is basically ninja-documentation, all the way down to features it is suppose to do not even working (scroll wheel, next keyframe button, animations not playing, etc).

I figure if I simply get the hang of it, or perhaps just create my own events?, that it'll eventually turn into what I need. Because really, that scrubber helps a lot making those cut scenes quickly.

 

I compiled my list of issues, and will edit them if I solve them before the reply.

Removing and then Reinstalling the asset seems to have fixed some issues.
Learning more and getting used to it (and finding out how some features work, even though it should have better usability or documentation) helped a bit too.

Every time I imagine trying my cut scenes without this, I am missing that damn important scrubber and editor previewing. That really helps a lot. The thought of having to script the actions and hit "Play" and view and review and review and review...and review...and review....just to create a 10 second cut scene, just makes me want to /wrist. That scrubber saves me so much time, so I really want to figure this out and eventually buy it so I can create cut scenes quickly. (I have a lot of them I need to create. Cutting the time it takes to make ONE, even by a few minutes, is valuable to me.)

• [QUESTION] What is an "Object Path Timeline"? I cannot find documentation for this feature.
• [QUESTION - IMPORTANT] Is there an event already in place to move a character at a constant speed?
• [RESOLVED] Crashed before. - Hasn't crashed again since.
• [FEATURE REQUEST] No auto-saving. Lost 1 hour of messing around with the cut scene after the crash.
• [RESOLVED] Forward Keyframe Button now works. I reinstalled the plugin, which seemed to fix it.
• [RESOLVED] Mouse Wheel Also Works Now
• [FEATURE REQUEST] Mouse Wheel to work (Scroll Wheel Zoom In/Out) anywhere on the graph, rather than only on the dark grey timeline. (On my 4k monitor, the dark grey timeline is itsy bitsy tiny. Probably explains why I thought it didn't work earlier. Perhaps I didn't have my mouse on the dark grey timeline box.)
• Still had the Repaint / Layout "Lightskin" warnings. Not a real problem, and they eventually go away, but they reappeared for awhiel after I reinstalled the asset.
• [MAJOR FEATURE REQUEST / ADVISE] Documentation is still sparse, confusing, unorganized. The only thing easy to find were the video tutorials. Documentation seems extremely incomplete and lacking, as well as a bit confusing compared to easy to understand documentation (Vectrosity, SpriteTile, have amazing documentation, if you want an example of great doc).
• Legacy problem with 2D animations?? (Not sure if this is a Unity problem or your problem. See above post for details.)
• [IMPORTANT] Animation do not play when setup correctly in the uSequencer window and previewing using uSequencer. I follow the tutorial exactly, and have triple checked I am doing it right. Could it be because it is 2D sprite animations? Legacy?

 

The website you found is actually the old uSequencer website before the newer Well Fired site was uSequencer's new home as far as I'm aware. It's odd though that this information wasn't moved over after all this time though... seems useful and easier to navigate with the jumplist on the right.

 

Hi, Well Fired

I am currently evaluating cutscene/animation tools for Unity. Since we have some very specific requirements, I thought I'd ask here*.

- Our game has levels generated procedurally, so the rooms/areas where we would play the sequences are not in a fixed place in the scene, but placed at runtime. Thus, we need the sequences to play relative to the position of the objects, or relative to the room the player is currently in (e.g. camera movements starting from the door the player entered, towards the centre of the room).

- Also, we want to be able to skip sequences, but still have the scene as it were if the sequence had been played. A fast forward till end in one frame.

- And, finally, I've read that animations are stored in the scene. Can they be saved into prefabs of objects, so each room would have its very set of sequences, which we could play at will?

Does uSequencer support these features? Or is there a way to extend uSequencer so it does?

Thanks,
Elideb

* The free version unitypackage fails to decompress in my Unity (4.3.4f1), so I cannot test it right now. I already contacted you regarding this issue.

 

Hello CarterG81!

Apologies for the late reply, I've been on vacation, so only just got the time to construct a reasonable response.

I will outline some of your options with moving an object along a path at a constant speed.

1) I've just created and uploaded a really small video showing how you might go about creating a simple Object Path with the Object Path Timeline You can see in the video I will manipulate the speed at which the object moves along the path and also that I create the keyframes and path in the scene view. Even if you can't use the object path timeline, it might be a nice entry level examination of how to create and use an object path timeline.

(Apologies about the lack of documentation on this timeline, it will come, soon!)

2) You should be creating / using a system for your in game character movement, so I'd say the best options for what you're trying to do, would be to write either a custom event (http://www.wellfired.com/documentation/usequencer/html/index.html#custom_events) or a custom timeline (http://www.wellfired.com/documentation/usequencer/html/index.html#custom_timelines) That way, your uSequencer objects will walk along paths, exactly as your characters do in the game. If you're using an solution for your runtime movement that is available on the Asset Store, let us know what you're using and we can write some custom events for you!

To be honest, the best approach would be approach number 2, since you likely have (or will need to soon have) some code to drive your character in the way you describe in other situations than simply cutscenes. Depending on your game type, it might not be reasonable to drive all character movement with uSequencer

All the documentation you should need (I hope) for uSequencer is outlined here : http://www.wellfired.com/usequencer.html#manual and for technical documentation, here : http://www.wellfired.com/documentation/usequencer/html/index.html I appreciate that this seems confusing to you and I love the feedback, I will endeavour to improve the documentation for users going forward.

As for Copy Paste! I would check out the documentation for hotkeys and duplication : http://www.wellfired.com/usequencer.html#man-hotkeys You can duplicate anything in the uSequencer Window.

I'm not sure if this is helpful to you, but we're just putting UI level control for duplicating Timelines, and whole Timeline Containers.

I hope that was helpful!?

Regards,
Terry

 

Hello Elideb!

To answer some of your questions

1) This should be possible, but will require you to think about how you're setting up your sequences ahead of time, so by all means test this out for your requirements before you commit. You should be able to animate (Property / Object Path Timeline) with localPosition and localRotation, so as long as your characters are set up W.R.T the object you want animate relative to, you should be good to go!

2) There is a method you can call, sequence.SkipTimelineTo(); There is also an event to replicate this behaviour. Any events marked as fire on skip will be triggered when you skip, though all events are not marked as fire on skip by default!

3) You can store sequences as prefabs, just remember to create / update them through the uSequencer UI, not the Unity UI. (I've had to do some trickery in order to get the sequences working as prefabs, for now).

Regards,
Terry

 

Thanks for the answers.

I've already got the evaluation version. Let's see if I get those things working.

 

What about the 2d animation clips not playing? Does uSequencer support changing 2D animations and viewing them in the preview? I have animation via unitys animation clips (4.5 update), but usequencer shows nothing animating despite the animation timeline.

 

Is there a way to get the new Animation Timeline to properly persist in a prefab? We love them, but they certainly are Alpha at the moment.

 

Alpha indeed! Glad you're enjoying them, feedback is always welcome. We've a version with Animation Timeline data persisting in prefabs available, if you're after the free version it's on our site, but if you want the paid version, send us an email at support@wellfired.com (It also has layering support!).

Feel free to leave any feedback here

Regards,
Terry

 

Hello Carter G81,

A little bit of an update, we're currently in the process of revamping our new site (www.wellfired.com) to include more documentation, we're going to split out the existing documentation into a documentation page and move the technical documentation into a dedicated page, in order to avoid confusion. We'll also be uploading a bunch of videos very soon, with more useful tips and tricks, including how to's.

Now that's out of the way, it would be great to get to the bottom of your 2d Animation issues. What kind of Animations are you trying to plan and on what kind of game object.

1) If you're playing Legacy animations on a none Animator GameObject, you will want to use an event timeline with animation events. Blending isn't live preview-able.
2) If you're using Mecanim Animation states on an Animator GameObject, you will want to use an Animation Timeline (Currently Alpha preview only). Blending is live preview-able.

Once I know what you're trying to do, I can better help you diagnose the problem. The error messages you mentioned earlier are in fact valid, it means something you've set up is incorrect and I believe them to be descriptive enough.

Regards,
Terry

 

I'm creating 2D animations using Unity's animation editor. I attached Animators to the gameobjects, but how I do it doesn't really matter to me- as long as I can use my 2D animation clips and preview them.

Currently, I just have an Animator on the characters and call an event PlayAnimation(string animationName) but that can't be previewed. (I dont remember how I tried it with uSequencer, since I stopped using that, switched to SWS, and currently have no animations going). As for Legacy vs Mecanim, I have absolutely no idea. I've never researched the difference, and neither are terms used when I learned how to make 2D animations in Unity. I'm guessing they are Mecanim because 2D animations weren't added until 4.5, and they use the animation window, animator, and animation clips. Like I said though, it's irrelevant how I do it (theres tons of ways to do simple 2D pixel art animations since they are only 1-4 frames max) so they don't have to use an Animator.

No blending required. My walk animation is literally just two frames, idles are 1 frame, my Death only 4 frames:

Simple stuff. A little too simple for Unity3D, especially when so many assets are for 3D work and the 2D features are brand new.

 

Hey CarterG81,

If you're using an Animator and using this Animation window MecanimShowcase.png You are indeed using Mecanim. For this, you don't need to mark your animations as legacy and should probably use the Animation Timeline. This feature is available in an alpha form. If you're interested and have bought uSequencer, we can provide you with a .unitypackage that will replace your existing one and add the Animation Timelines.

Also, if you want to provide us with a very small example of 2D Animations, we can create you a simple step by step, in order to get it working, including best practises.

Please email us at support@wellfired.com

Regards,
Terry

 

hi, the latest version can not pass WACK 3.4 , it still exist

• API System.IO.Stream.Close in SYSTEM.IO, PUBLICKEYTOKEN=B03F5F7F11D50A3A is not supported for this application type. uSequencerRuntime.dll calls this API.

Please fix it, thanks

 

Hello!

We have a version of uSequencer that runs through WACK quite fine, please send your receipt to support@wellfired.com and we'll forward you a package.

Regards,
Terry

 

ok, thanks

 

Hello,

Out team is currently using uSequencer, and we've enjoyed everything so far. Recently though, we've been encountering an error that prevents us from doing anything with the timeline. Opening the uSequencer menu and selecting a sequence works fine, as does setting the duration on the selected sequence, but trying to play a sequence in the editor (via uSequencer's play button), or attempting to use the timeline without adding a curve to a property, will cause the menu's to throw the following errors:

NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object
WellFired.USPropertyTimelineHierarchyItem.StoreBaseState ()
WellFired.IUSHierarchyItem.StoreBaseState ()
WellFired.USHierarchy.StoreBaseState ()
WellFired.USContent.StoreBaseState ()
WellFired.USWindow.StartProcessingAnimationMode ()
WellFired.USWindow.PlayOrPause ()
WellFired.USWindow.DisplayTopBar ()
WellFired.USWindow.OnGUI ()
System.Reflection.MonoMethod.Invoke (System.Object obj, BindingFlags invokeAttr, System.Reflection.Binder binder, System.Object[] parameters, System.Globalization.CultureInfo culture) (at /Users/builduser/buildslave/mono-runtime-and-classlibs/build/mcs/class/corlib/System.Reflection/MonoMethod.cs:222)

Then, the following errors will periodically be thrown while the sequence is 'playing':

NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object
WellFired.USPropertyTimelineHierarchyItem.DoGUI (Int32 depth)
WellFired.USHierarchy.DrawHierarchyItem (WellFired.IUSHierarchyItem item, Int32 level)
WellFired.USHierarchy.DrawHierarchyItem (WellFired.IUSHierarchyItem item, Int32 level)
WellFired.USHierarchy.DoGUI (Int32 depth)
WellFired.USContent.ContentGUI ()
WellFired.USContent.OnGUI ()
WellFired.USWindow.DisplayEdittableArea ()
WellFired.USWindow.OnGUI ()
System.Reflection.MonoMethod.Invoke (System.Object obj, BindingFlags invokeAttr, System.Reflection.Binder binder, System.Object[] parameters, System.Globalization.CultureInfo culture) (at /Users/builduser/buildslave/mono-runtime-and-classlibs/build/mcs/class/corlib/System.Reflection/MonoMethod.cs:222)

Closing the menu produces the following errors:

NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object
WellFired.USPropertyTimelineHierarchyItem.RestoreBaseState ()
WellFired.IUSHierarchyItem.RestoreBaseState ()
WellFired.USHierarchy.RestoreBaseState ()
WellFired.USContent.RestoreBaseState ()
WellFired.USWindow.StopProcessingAnimationMode ()
WellFired.USWindow.OnDestroy ()
UnityEditor.EditorWindow:Close()
WellFired.USWindow:CloseuSequencerWindow()

The real problem, however, is that doing anything with the timeline, including manually changing the Running Time property, after adding a curve to a property will cause Unity to hang until it is forced to quit. Looking at the console shows the following error:

NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object
at WellFired.USPropertyTimelineHierarchyItem.DoGUI (Int32 depth) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0
at WellFired.USHierarchy.DrawHierarchyItem (WellFired.IUSHierarchyItem item, Int32 level) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0
at WellFired.USHierarchy.DrawHierarchyItem (WellFired.IUSHierarchyItem item, Int32 level) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0
at WellFired.USHierarchy.DoGUI (Int32 depth) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0
at WellFired.USContent.ContentGUI () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0
at WellFired.USContent.OnGUI () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0
at WellFired.USWindow.DisplayEdittableArea () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0
at WellFired.USWindow.OnGUI () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0
at (wrapper managed-to-native) System.Reflection.MonoMethod:InternalInvoke (object,object[],System.Exception&)
at System.Reflection.MonoMethod.Invoke (System.Object obj, BindingFlags invokeAttr, System.Reflection.Binder binder, System.Object[] parameters, System.Globalization.CultureInfo culture) [0x000d0] in /Users/builduser/buildslave/mono-runtime-and-classlibs/build/mcs/class/corlib/System.Reflection/MonoMethod.cs:222

Sorry for the mountain of text in this post, but we're not sure how to fix the error. Hopefully you have some insight as to what is causing the problem.

 

Hello Akame,

I'm fairly certain I know what the problems are, however, I've no idea how you've managed to get into this state. Presumably there is a bug within uSequencer allowing your sequences to get into this 'broken' state, but it'll be quite difficult for me to try down, I will try and reproduce the error however.

We have actually added some local error handling for this problem, though it's no good us just handling the error and leaving the cause in the codebase, could you please confirm the following for me

If you click on your property timeline in the Unity hierarchy, then check in the inspector, you should see something like the following :



If it looks more like the following :



Then there is a problem.

You can resolve this locally by removing the None (or null) references.

One of the known reasons for this happening is people duplicating sequences without using the duplicate sequence button in the uSequencer window.

Regards,
Terry

 

Terry,

That was it, I had two blank fields for some reason. Not sure how it happened though, as I created the sequence by pressing the "Create New Sequence" button in the uSequencer window.

In any case, everything seems to be working again, thanks!

 

No problem, it seems to happen quite often, so I'll be trying to track down the cause of it! Glad it worked for you!

Regards,
Terry

 

Hello everyone,

Just a quick message to say we've updated our website to split the Technical (http://www.wellfired.com/technicaldocumentation/usequencer/html/index.html) and None Technical (http://www.wellfired.com/documentation/usequencer.html) documentation out into two sections, so that it's clearer.

We'll be adding a ton of additional video content in the coming weeks, so keep your eye on the documentation pages.

Regards,
Terry

 

Hi, my project using an old version usequencer ( i don't know what version so i attached below)
Now i'm bought an version passed WACK but when i upgraded, my cutscene not working.

In old version : it found scene .


In new version: I think new version can not find my intro01 scene



Please help me , Thanks

[edit: attachment removed--do not publicly post assets]

 

Hello Quangthang,

Please can you email us at support@wellfired.com, your pictures are not loading, please include them in your email

It would also be great if you could remove that attachment please.

Regards,
Terry

 

Did everyone see what Unity showed on Unite?
Will uSequencer get any of this awesome features?

 

Hello 5pointseven,

uSequencer already has all of those features apart from the video playback.

Regards,
Terry

 

Any news on that one?

 

Hello Parallaxe,

This is done, it just has not been pushed to the asset store, we're currently pending some bug fixes, if you'd like the improved, but not release version, send your receipt over to support@wellfired.com

Regards,
Terry

 

And that "composer" thing too with it's magical "operators"?

 

Yes, it doesn't have the video playback features at all. Though it seemed that Unity had created those operators and the composer in such a way that it could be utilised outside of the tool. Here's hoping.

Regards,
Terry

 

Is there a link to these new features ?

 

It was a demo from the Unite2014 keynote video. They were careful to say that these features were something they were working on but might not be released for a long time. Maybe not for a year or two. Maybe not even in the Unity 5.x release cycle.

The keynote video is pretty long but it's well worth watching for all the Unity 5.x feature demos.

Here's a link to the part where the new "director project" features are being shown.

 

Thanks for the link

 

Since we're talking about new features, it's worthwhile noting that I'm always interested in hearing new feature requests and if you guys want anything in future releases of uSequencer, you can always ask!

email directly : support@wellfired.com
User Voice Page : https://usequencer.uservoice.com
through the forum : http://usequencer.freeforums.org

It doesn't matter how outrageous or how small, I'll listen any suggestions, improvements or features you guys would like.

Regards,
Terry

 

I'm new to uSequencer, but it looks great. However, I'm having a strange project when I create a Property Timeline on a game object, trying to have the localScale change. I set that up, with just three keyframes (setting scale at 0, 0, and 1.0), but when I scrub it, uSequencer adds dozens or more keyframes, and they're all over the place. See screenshot. I was trying to do this with an NGUI object, but the same thing happens with a simple cube. What am I doing wrong?

 

Hello Gecko,

This can often happen with NGUI, specifically when using Anchors and anything that affectively modifies your animated property at the same time as uSequencer will. They effectively fight for control over positioning (or, in your case, scaling) the object.

uSequencer is listening for external modifications to the properties it monitors. When you scrub through the sequence, uSequencer modifies your properties, so does your third party script. This causes some contention and uSequencer notices the modification as a potential manual change.

As a general use case, if you want to use uSequencer with NGUI (which, of course, you can do, quite fine ) you can arrange your object hierarchies as follows.

+ Root Object
+ The Game Object with third party components on
+ Nothing but your Texture

This means that the second child object in your hierarchy will be manipulated by NGUI, (stretched, anchored, aligned) and the third child object will me manipulated by uSequencer.

As a general practise (and side note), it's always worthwhile modifying localPosition and localRotation as opposed to position and rotation. This helps to alleviate issues with very small or very large numbers

I hope this is helpful.

Regards,
Terry

 

Terry,
Thanks much for the quick reply. So can you be more specific about my NGUI setup? Current it is:
GUI Root/Camera/Anchor/Panel/Sprite

How should I simplify it?

Also, I'm now getting this error repeatedly whenever I scrub -- is it also due to the NGUI setup?

ArgumentOutOfRangeException: Argument is out of range.
Parameter name: index
System.Collections.Generic.List`1[WellFired.SplineKeyframe].get_Item (Int32 index) (at /Users/builduser/buildslave/mono-runtime-and-classlibs/build/mcs/class/corlib/System.Collections.Generic/List.cs:633)
WellFired.CatmullRomSplineSolver.GetPosition (Single time)
WellFired.AbstractSplineSolver.GetPositionOnPath (Single time)
WellFired.Spline.GetPositionOnPath (Single time)
WellFired.USTimelineObjectPath.Process (Single sequencerTime, Single playbackRate)
WellFired.USTimelineContainer.ProcessTimelines (Single sequencerTime, Single playbackRate)
WellFired.USSequencer.set_RunningTime (Single value)
WellFired.USWindow.SetRunningTime (Single newRunningTime)
WellFired.USContent.OnGUI ()
WellFired.USWindow.DisplayEdittableArea ()
WellFired.USWindow.OnGUI ()
System.Reflection.MonoMethod.Invoke (System.Object obj, BindingFlags invokeAttr, System.Reflection.Binder binder, System.Object[] parameters, System.Globalization.CultureInfo culture) (at /Users/builduser/buildslave/mono-runtime-and-classlibs/build/mcs/class/corlib/System.Reflection/MonoMethod.cs:222)

 

Hello Gecko,

This is actually due to a bug that has been resolved in the soon to be released version. For now, to ensure you can animate your UI's, if you could start with a clean sequence. I would recommend creating a property timeline for the object : Sprite (provided it has no more components on it).

It might also be wonderful if you could check the localScale values in the inspector. Maybe upload a little screenshot of your Sprite object's inspector window for me.

Apologies, I'm not 100% familiar with NGUI, I generally dip in and out when users are having compatibility issues.

Regards,
Terry

 

I created a new sequence and now the NGUI Sprite scales nicely. But I have all my previous work in the other sequence. Apparently there's a way to copy/paste? I tried the hotkey shortcut, but nothing seemed to happen (I'm on a Mac, so I used Opt-Ctrl-Drag) -- though I didn't want to drag it, I wanted to copy/paste it). Is there any additional written documentation besides that Quick Start guide and a few videos? If not, I would highly recommend creating some -- videos are a tedious way to extract specific information (if the desired info is even in the video, which you don't know until you watch it.)

Here are my current questions -- if these are answered somewhere that I missed, please point me there!

1) How do I copy a Timeline from one sequence to another?
2) Can I assign a different game object to a Timeline than the one I chose initially?
3) What does "Update Affected Object" mean?
4) When I create a new Object Path Timeline, it says "Double Click on an existing keyframe in the Scene view" -- but I don't see a keyframe in Scene view. I see two under the Keyframes array in the inspector, but they don't seem to be represented in scene view. The video above shows it working magically, but I can't tell what step I'm missing.

thanks
Dave

 

Hey Dave,

I'll write you a detailed response to each of your questions in a couple of hours, for now, I wondered if you'd seen the uSequencer documentation (we're currently in the process of re-vamping.)

http://www.wellfired.com/documentation/usequencer.html

Regards,
Terry

 

Yeah, I was using that documentation -- it's great as a quick start but, quite frankly, very inadequate as proper documentation.

 

It is indeed, quite lacklustre. We're bolstering it soon! So keep your eye on the page. Now, to answer your specific questions:

1) How do I copy a Timeline from one sequence to another?
We're currently implementing this feature into the UI and expect to have it ready for the next version (This is currently implemented, we haven't submitted it as of yet). For the time being, you can press the duplicate sequence button within the uSequencer UI, then close uSequencer and manually manipulate the object within the Unity hierarchy.

The uSequencer UI matches the hierarchy in Unity.

What you might see in uSequencer

Observer
Sprite
+Property Timeline
+Event Timeline
+Event Timeline
Another Sprite
+Property Timeline
+ Event Timeline

How this mirrors with the Unity hierarchy.

Sequencer
+Timelines For Observer
+Timelines For Sprite
++Property Timeline
++Event Timeline
++Event Timeline
+Timelines For Another Sprite
++Property Timeline
++Event Timeline

2) Can I assign a different game object to a Timeline than the one I chose initially?
If you select your new object in the Unity hierarchy, then context click on the timeline in the uSequencer window, you can set the affected object, which leads to the next question:

3) What does "Update Affected Object" mean?
The Affected Object is the object upon which all these timelines act. So for instance, if you have the following sequence

Observer
Sprite
+Property Timeline
+Event Timeline
+Event Timeline
Another Sprite
+Property Timeline
+ Event Timeline

The affected objects are Sprite and Another Sprite. The Property Timelines and Event Timelines act on these Affected Objects.

4) When I create a new Object Path Timeline, it says "Double Click on an existing keyframe in the Scene view" -- but I don't see a keyframe in Scene view. I see two under the Keyframes array in the inspector, but they don't seem to be represented in scene view. The video above shows it working magically, but I can't tell what step I'm missing.

The two keyframes will be visible in the scene view, you might have to look for them. In the version that is currently in development, these are always placed immediately in front of the camera. (The will currently look like regular object handles, but will display the text Start and End next to them).

I hope this was helpful!

Regards,
Terry

 

Thanks, that's very helpful. I'll get back to it tomorrow.

 

If you're wanting to wait and try the integrated duplication / copy UI, it should be available early next week!

Regards,
Terry

 

Hello all,

If anyone wants to test out the new integrated Copy functionality for all uSequencer objects as well as better easing on object path timelines, feel free to send us an email to support@wellfired.com and we'll send you the pre-release build.

Regards,
Terry

 

Finally getting back to this:

I'm trying to create an Object Path Timeline for the Main Camera. I place the camera at the starting point in the scene (transform location: 1045, 3, -1), and then drag the camera to uSequencer, then create an Object Path Timeline for it. But that timeline (and its keyframes) are placed at 0,0,0 (though the "Source Position" in the OPT inspector has the correct transform coordinates). I'm not able to drag that object to the camera location in the scene. I drag individual more keyframes to my desired location, but that is very very tedious. How do I place the parent timeline where I want it in the scene?

 

At the moment, the start and end points will always appear in front of the camera, you are completely correct though, it would make more sense to focus them around the object, the only issue is that most users are directly looking where they'd like the spline to go, hence the start and end, automatically being in front of the camera.

So, what you can do for the time being, is move your camera to where you'd like the new keyframes to be, then create your object path timeline.

We could probably make some usability improvements to the object path timeline and I'm open to suggestions

Regards,
Terry

 

Hi Everyone! Love this little editing package for animation/cutscenes. Quick question as we are diving into using it. Is there a built in method using uSequencer to have the sequence loop back to the beginning of the sequence once it reaches the end?
thanks!

 

Actually, I found the checkbox to make the sequence loop, just couldn't find anything about it in the documentation. However, I now have another question. Is there a way to re-organize the order of objects in the uSequencer view? They pop in the order you drag them in, but I can't seem to drag and drop re-organize them?