Just purchased Spine essentials. Image file-type question

Von Wulfen

Hello all.
I could not resist and have just purchased Spine essentials 😃
I have started to create my first image in sketchbook, a rather battered old voodoo doll.
The majority of the image will be static but I intend to animate the eyes so they go from black to glowing red and back to black.
I thought this would be a good project to start with as I only have to animate a small section of the image.
When I am more familiar with the app I could then look at adding subtle movements to the rest of the doll.
Now a quick question.
What file type should I save my image within sketchbook in order to export to Spine?

Von Wulfen

Nate

Welcome to Spine! 🙂

Spine will find image files with the .png, .jpg, and .jpeg extensions:
Images - Spine User Guide: Image file lookup

Most often you will want to use PNG, as JPEG doesn't support transparency.

FWIW, there is a workflow where you can export a JSON file from Photoshop, then you can load that file in Spine and all your images will already be placed as they were in Photoshop:
spine-scripts/photoshop at master · EsotericSoftware/spine-scripts

I understand you are using Sketchbook, but maybe you can save a file (probably in the PSD format) that Photoshop can open (or switch to Photoshop).

There are similar scripts for Illustrator, Inkspace, and Gimp, but unfortunately they aren't as powerful (less features, eg the don't support tags in the layer names). Affinity Designer has built-in support to export to a Spine JSON file (though without tags).

Von Wulfen

Nate wrote
Welcome to Spine! 🙂

Spine will find image files with the .png, .jpg, and .jpeg extensions:
Images - Spine User Guide: Image file lookup

Most often you will want to use PNG, as JPEG doesn't support transparency.

FWIW, there is a workflow where you can export a JSON file from Photoshop, then you can load that file in Spine and all your images will already be placed as they were in Photoshop:
spine-scripts/photoshop at master · EsotericSoftware/spine-scripts

I understand you are using Sketchbook, but maybe you can save a file (probably in the PSD format) that Photoshop can open (or switch to Photoshop).

There are similar scripts for Illustrator, Inkspace, and Gimp, but unfortunately they aren't as powerful (less features, eg the don't support tags in the layer names). Affinity Designer has built-in support to export to a Spine JSON file (though without tags).

Thank you again for the reply, Nate.
I just had a look on the Photoshop website. They have a monthly plan so I may now be able to switch to PS.
Never used PS before as the price was out of my budget but the monthly plan may be doable 🙂

Nate

Monthly gets expensive over time. FWIW, Photoshop Elements is likely sufficient and is a one-time purchase. I'm not a big fan of Photoshop really and would love to improve the tooling for other, cheaper options.

Von Wulfen

Nate wrote
Monthly gets expensive over time. FWIW, Photoshop Elements is likely sufficient and is a one-time purchase. I'm not a big fan of Photoshop really and would love to improve the tooling for other, cheaper options.

Just downloaded the 7-day trial of PS. It comes with a bunch of apps that I don't recognize and not sure if I have a use for them. Had a look on Adobe site and its £85 for elements.
Will, it have all the drawing and painting tools of the full version?
I don't want to pay for the app and later find it is missing crucial features.
Will Elements still be able to use your image script so my images will be placed in the same position as PS full version?

Nate

Photoshop Elements is a reduced functionality version of Photoshop intended for photographers, but supports the most often used features (clipping masks, adjusments layers, etc). I haven't used Elements personally, but yes, you can use the PhotoshopToSpine script with it. Here's a thread about it:
Tips: avoiding the Adobe PS subscription fee.

Another option is that Adobe has made CS2 available for download, though they ask that only those who legitimately purchased CS2 use it. It's no longer available directly from Adobe, but it's not hard to find from legit download sites (techspot looks OK to me). It's quite old but does run the Spine script and may be sufficient for you.

Von Wulfen

Nate wrote
Photoshop Elements is a reduced functionality version of Photoshop intended for photographers, but supports the most often used features (clipping masks, adjusments layers, etc). I haven't used Elements personally, but yes, you can use the PhotoshopToSpine script with it. Here's a thread about it:
Tips: avoiding the Adobe PS subscription fee.

Another option is that Adobe has made CS2 available for download, though they ask that only those who legitimately purchased CS2 use it. It's no longer available directly from Adobe, but it's not hard to find from legit download sites (techspot looks OK to me). It's quite old but does run the Spine script and may be sufficient for you.

Many thanks, Nate.
Definitely worth me doing some research 🙂