Creative [RELEASED] Panoply: Comics and Splitscreen for Unity

// VISIONS_1 // Born digital short horror comics from students in Denmark, made with Panoply—today's comic: A woman volunteers for an experimental treatment only to lose her grasp on reality in “Heavy Sleepers”.

 

Hi everyone!
I'm about to purchase Panoply, so I want to know if this plugin has a support for mobile device's vibration?

 

Hi @OzvaFC — no, Panoply does not include any support for vibration. (I'm curious, though—what kind of support were you thinking of?)

 

I just purchased the asset a few days ago and have been playing with it all weekend. I went through the basic tutorial and it really helped me get going. What i would like to know is if you have any tutorials on how to transition between panels using more than just the slide technique?

 

Thanks for the purchase @Openworldcomics — glad the tutorial was helpful. I don't currently have tutorials for other panel techniques, but other kinds of transitions are usually a combination of artwork movement and changes in color or opacity from one step to another. Camera movement can also have powerful impacts as well. You can also get some unique effects by setting the clear flags for a panel camera to "depth only" so the background isn't drawn, and than layering one panel on top of another (for example, to control elements that appear to be popping out of their panel). Hope this is helpful...

 

@opertoonist thank you. That bit of advice helped a lot.

 

Hello! I'm having problems to run my Panoply project in my Android device (Moto G 2). After Build and Run it, the app starts but then it crash with no apparent reason. Are there any specific settings that I have to set to run the project?

 

I have a question that maybe someone here can answer. How are you loading your comics on to your websites? I have not been successful with locating instructions thats clear.

 

Have you tried 'file' - 'build settings' - 'WebGL' checkout this link may help

 

Thank you! I will check it out.

 

Hi all,

I have watched all the videos and read through the docs and forums, and I am itching to buy this asset. I do have one question if someone could lend a hand.

I hope this isn't a silly question, I'm pretty new to Unity. Be gentle with me.

I understand that you can use PlayMaker for triggers to turn off the navigation, etc. But I am wondering if it would be possible to click on a panel and have it go to another panel on a different page/camera? As in, selecting their own path through the comic?

Thanks!
~Holly

 

I don't have Panoply, but I think you could probably adapt Panoply to do this with very little pain using the Unity GUI. Maybe configure it so there is a "button" of some sort per active panel, so that when the mouse (or touch) passes over it, you get a mouse-over effect (like a panel frame lighting up). Then, when you click (basically, clicking on the transparent GUI button that is on top of the panel), the built-in event can send you to another part of the comic book. Or something like that.

BTW, I'm sure this method - and any method - may turn out to be much more complex once you attempt to implement it. That's just the way it is.

 

Thanks for the interest! Panoply is designed primarily for linear stories, but yes, what you're talking about is possible. If you're working with a few broad story branches, you could split each branch into a separate Unity scene and then load the appropriate scene when a certain panel is clicked. If you match up the layout and content of the incoming scene with that of the outgoing scene, it could be fairly seamless. With a bit of scripting, you could do the same thing within a single scene. I wouldn't recommend this approach if you're planning on having story branches on every panel... Panoply as it currently stands probably wouldn't be a good fit for that. Hope this helps...

 

Thank you both so much for your explanation and suggestions! I'm very excited to give it a shot. And don't worry, @hopeful, I know that it's always more difficult than you think it will be.

@opertoonist if you don't mind me asking, what Unity asset did you use to get the video to play in your previous example? What a great tool----thanks so much for all your hard work!

~Holly

 

Hi Holly, which example are you thinking of? Let me know and I can give you a specific answer, but in general, for short clips and clips where you want frame-accurate control, I've found that image sequencing solutions work best—I've had good luck with Universal Video Texture, but you can also just use plain old Unity sprite animation too. For honest-to-goodness video, there used to be a free solution out there that worked well, but it's been pulled off the store. Lately I've been using AVPro Video which comes in a few different flavors at different price points. Definitely worth shopping around and getting trials of different packages (if available) to see what's the best fit for your project.

 

Thanks for the great suggestions! I apologize for my delay---I have teenagers. I was interested in the Mob City example you showed. I really love the mixture of video and stills. I'm afraid that I have a habit of getting an idea in my head and trying to make it work, rather than starting with a tool's limitations.

I'm absolutely infatuated with Rain and wish I was savvy enough to figure out Stepwise. Truly inspiring work.

Thanks again!
~Holly

 

It's me again. I've been looking at the documentation and fiddling with Panoply---which I truly love. It's the best asset I've gotten for Unity. So now I'm to the point of wanting to try out my 'the player selects a panel' idea. I want two panels to be links to other panels (definitely not more than that), and the multiple scene option sounds like the best bet.

1. I'm assuming that I need Playmaker for this so I can stop the navigation. I ask because I don't have Playmaker, but I will get it if it's needed.
2. Is there any documentation that would help me figure out how to do this?

Thanks again!
~Holly

P.S. And if you don't mind sharing, I would love to know how you get them to blink in Upgrade Soul. Is that multiple frames like I was talking about to do movies?

 

Glad you're digging Panoply! If you're loading a new scene you don't necessarily need Playmaker, because the current scene will be dumped immediately so you shouldn't have to worry about Panoply controlling navigation. It's basically just a matter of handling the click, which could be done a few different ways—you could check to see if the click was on a specific piece of art (there should be tutorials around for this) or if it was within the bounds of a specific panel's camera.

As for the blinking, if I remember correctly we had a specific piece of art that was just the closed eyelids, which was disabled most of the time, and then a script that enabled them for a frame or two at random intervals.

 

Awesome! Thanks again!

 

Anyone interested in helping me make a few menus using Panoply for a game i'm working on? I will pay of course.

 

Hello there! Is this asset still supported? Last update was almost 1 year ago

I'm interested in doing some stuff...

 

Is it possible to download comic images from server and set it in the app via script?
Can you set panel transition and key frames via script?

 

Hey @GamerPET, so sorry for the long delay in replying, I missed the forum post notification in my email (you'll see from my prior forum posts that I normally respond within a few days). Yes, despite the lack of updates, Panoply is still supported—I actually have a minor update in the works I hope to release in the next few weeks. Let me know if you have any questions.

 

It is possible to download images from a server and apply them with scripting—in this case you would probably want to bypass Panoply's own artwork management and just instantiate sprites in front of the appropriate panel cameras. What would be trickier is if the panels need to adapt to arbitrary aspect ratios or layouts—which gets to your second question—the answer being that no, Panoply isn't set up to allow modification of keyframes and transitions via script. I've done some research into a timeline-free, fully scriptable approach, and I think it's a promising direction, but I don't have an ETA on it.

 

Quick note—yesterday I submitted the v1.1.1 update for Panoply—mostly minor bug fixes, plus the ability to disable keyboard navigation. Will post again once it's live...

 

...and it's live!

 

Just curious: is it possible to have multiple hotspots on images on different panels?

 

@ocimpean Yes this is possible, though not something Panoply would handle itself—you'd be responsible for handling the interactions (and you'd probably want to use a script to set the disableNavigation flag when the user arrived at the appropriate step so that Panoply wouldn't try to intercept those interactions).

 

Are you planning to extend Panoply in the future and add interactivity?

 

@ocimpean I don't have any specific plans for this, mostly because I haven't seen a consistent way that people want to add interactivity. Some want to navigate a panel in 3D, some want to click on specific items in a panel, some want to click on the panel as a whole... I could maybe see adding PlayMaker actions to handle some basic cases.

 

Would it be possible to use a short looping video clip as a background instead of a still image and then introduce elements over the top of that in parallax.

 

The new Video Player component in Unity 5.6/2017 is easy to use, especially if the videos are online (it's a bit more hassle if the videos are embedded in the Unity project).

 

@giuseppeSerious Yes, definitely—panels in Panoply are just cameras, so anything you can put in front of a camera is fair game.

 

I guess any interactivity you chose to add in the future, is better than no interactivity.
Bought this while back, a standalone software, very similar to Panoply.
http://my.smithmicro.com/motionartist-motion-comic-software.html

 

Thanks, I will be getting this asset soon.

 

Greetings, @opertoonist!

I'm looking forward to purchasing Panoply, but have a question after checking out Ascent from Akeron (which looks fantastic, btw). It ran fine under Chrome on Windows 7, but doesn't seem to work on my iPhone.

The thought of publishing one webGL version of content on my own website is very appealing, as opposed to separate apps for separate OSs, for sale in separate stores, etc. I was hoping that webGL output from Unity would have progressed further than it has by now.

Anyway, how long (if ever) do you think it'll be before a webGL comic produced in Unity using Panoply will work on the majority of devices?

Thanks in advance for any info you could provide!

- Greg

 

@spacedievest Thanks for your interest and glad you enjoyed Akeron! Unfortunately I don't have a good answer for you—officially, Unity doesn't support WebGL on mobile devices, though they say it may work in some cases (see here: https://docs.unity3d.com/Manual/webgl-browsercompatibility.html). My gut feeling is that solid mobile support is still probably a ways off...

 

Thanks for your prompt and straightforward response - it's much appreciated. I think I'll pick up Panoply soon to help support its further development (and because your support of the the asset obvious). Hopefully, webGL support will eventually follow. Cheers!

- Greg

 

If you or someone you know has been eyeing Panoply, there's no time like the present—Panoply is currently 20% off as part of Unity's Mega Sale, now through December 8. And, if you need even further enticement, it doesn't get much better than this glowing endorsement on Twitter from Tiny Rebel Games, makers of the forthcoming story-driven puzzler Doctor Who Infinity...

 

@opertoonist: did you manage to implement the native frame borders solution you were talking about a while ago (June 2016, on page 2)?

Also, just curious, why you have this thread on work in progress forums and not on assets, you will get more exposure there, I believe?

 

@ocimpean Yes, native panel borders are included now, you can set thickness and color per panel. As for the thread, it seemed to be common practice to add [RELEASED] to the thread title and keep it going since so much conversation had happened here already...

 

Thanks for the answers. Glad to see Panoply is evolving nicely.

One more question: as each panel is a camera, and I have seen you importing video, I wonder if is possible to import sequences from Slate?

 

@ocimpean I'm not too familiar with Slate. Can you be more specific about what you'd like to do? Are you talking about animating geometry, cameras, both?

 

Slate can animate anything and create cut scenes. I bought it for the real time preview, with sound, much better than anything I tried in Unity.
https://forum.unity.com/threads/slate-complete-gameplay-cutscenes-cinematics-sequencer.388971/

 

@ocimpean If Slate will be controlling cameras then it probably won't play well with Panoply, which also wants control of cameras. If you're just using it to choreograph object movement in a scene then it's more likely to work, but it's tough to say for sure without trying it.

 

Is it possible to add video or multiple jpg to simulate video on a panel (say to show a TV with a program running
thanks..

 

@winberry Yes, basically you would do this using the techniques you would normally use in Unity—sprite animation, native video player, or another video or image sequence solution from the Asset Store. Move the object with the video texture in front of one of your panel cameras and you're set.

 

Hi all, just a note to let you know that Panoply 1.1.3 is now available—this version includes a significant performance boost for scenes with many steps and/or panels. Enjoy!

 

Hi Opertoon

I was hoping to get some clarity on story branching that Lostsprocket brought up.

You mentioned branching not being a good fit for Panoply. Would that be because of the additional programming work outside the asset? Or are there some deeper technical issues that come up that may block completion of such a project?

 

Panoply has it's own keyframe system tied to the next/previous user interaction (swipe), and the idea is to animate the panels and display artwork in a visually dynamic, layered style via the keyframes. The Panoply API is focused on these controls (there not much in the way of graphic controls that are exposed).

You could have conditional content within each frame (controlled by whatever external system) to swap artwork or alter the text – Playmaker's Set Property can easily change the text in the captions, for instance – but the overall comic structure would be difficult to change at runtime (if possible at all...?)

One option for branching narrative might be very short Panoply "cutscenes" between choice menus, but it is the classic problem of (potentially) being too slow to be a visual novel (there's a reason VNs put everything on one page with minimal interface), and too interrupted by menus to be an immersive narrative…. YMMV, and depending on your project, of course.

It's not impossible, but it's kneecapping what Panoply is designed to do (If you are not interested in Panoply's panel animations, there are less expensive ways to display sprites and word balloons). Not saying you shouldn't try… but the pitfalls are known territory.