Blit - A Bitmap Based Animation Tool

Project site: https://gitlab.com/define-private-public/blit

Doxygen source docs: http://blit.gitlab.io/SourceDocs/index.html

Please note that Blit is no longer in active development.

The goals of Blit were: 1. Be cross platform (developed on Linux, made using C++ & Qt) 2. Be a modern Spriting & Sprite Animation tool 3. Be useable for traditional 2D Animation 4. Handle Pencil tests 5. A simple Stop Motion interface

The source or this application is being released here in case anyone is interested in it. I don't think I'll be working on this anymore, but if someone wants to, I'm willing to answer any questions you have, redocument things, or provide any guidance. There is some out of date documentation in the source code, but most of it should be marked as such.

All of the known issues (and plans) that I have made, are logged in the issue tracker on GitLab.

When going through the source code you might notice some bad spellings or not so great grammar; please ignore it. If it is causing some confusion though, tell me and I'll fix it up.

While I feel like this was one of my "higher quality," projects, not everything in here reflects on my current programming standards. I haven't touched almost any the code in more than a year.

I've written a small memoir on my development of Blit. You can read it on my personal blog: https://16bpp.net/blog/post/blit-a-retrospective-on-my-largest-project-ever

Licenses

All of the source code, documentation, and everything else is licensed under the GNU GPLv3, unless otherwise noted. The text can be found in the file ./LICENSE.

This program uses some of Google's Material Design Icons, and those are licensed under the Apache License v2.0. See the file ./APACHE_LICENSE for details.

Required Software

Blit runs on Linux, Windows, and OS X. There are no binaries available, so you will need to build it yourself.

To Compile: - A C++14 compiler, I used clang - Qt 5.x, Qt Open Source is fine

For Documentation: - Qt comes with qdoc, you can use that - Doxygen is recommended though - Graphviz is optional, but needed for some stuff

Building

If you feel comfortable in the command line:

1. cd ./src/
2. qmake
3. make

Else, load ./src/blit.pro in Qt Creator and then click the "Build," button.

Basic Usage

One of my friends told me that Blit was kind of hard to use. I'd have to agree with him.

Blit Files

Blit will store all of the necessary files in a single directory. If that directory contains a sequence.xml and a palette.xml Blit will consider it to be a valid Blit file. So when opening files, you are supposed to open up a directory. Likewise when creating a new Animation, you specify a directory name.

All edits that you make are automatically saved to the disc. The exception is when editing Cels. Those are saved when you change the current Frame.

There is a sample animation in ./samples/blue_spirit_v2/

If you are interested in Blit's file format/structure, read ./doc/file_format_v2.txt.

Cels & Drawing

Blit is a Cel based animation tool. You can add/copy/delete Cels using the "Cels Window," (on the right side). The Cel size is determined by the Animation's set Frame size.

Colors can be chosen from the RGB sliders on the left. If you want to add a color to your swatches, press the "Palette +" button. If you want to remove a swatch, right click on it.

You have some basic tools available for editing:

1. Pen
2. Eraser
3. Line
4. Shape
5. Fill
6. Move Cel
7. Color Picker

Some of the tools have different properties that can be adjusted below the RGB sliders.

Frames & Timing

Frames are what contains a collection of Cels. Each Frame has a sequence number and hold value. You can adjust the FPS of the Animation in the lower left hand corner of the "Timeline Window," Like Cels, you can add/copy/delete them too. If you want to move Frames, you can drag and drop them within the timeline.

Playback buttons are in the lower right hand corner. There is an option to loop the Animation and to limit playback to a smaller section.

Other Things

• All of the sub windows are "Dock Widgets," which can be pulled off of the main window and moved around
• There is also a "Light Table," window; it can be used to enable Onion Skinning. It is found under the View menu
• You can adjust the color of the Canvas by going to Canvas -> Set Backdrop Color
• There is a grid that is shown when you change the zoom to 800% or greater. It's visibility can be toggled via Canvas -> Grid
• If you want to adjust the frame size of the Animation. Go to Animation -> Properties
• You can import existing images as Cels from File -> Import -> Still Image as Cel
• You can export Animations as a spritesheet from File -> Export -> As Spritehseet
• To change the background color on the spritsheet, double click the Background Color swatch

Documentation

Most of the source for Blit is documented. Using Doxygen or qdoc you should be able to generate documentation from the ./doc/ directory. There is some additional documentation in the ./web/ folder, which was part of a DokuWiki instance.