Functions with parameters

[monele]

As a way to speed up coding and ease readability, I was wondering if there was a way to use functions including parameters that would execute RenPy code (such as "scene", "show", "hide" and such).

I have this code :

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show sp_ship w at ship_pos
    $renpy.pause(0.01)
    hide sp_ship
    show sp_ship at ship_pos

and might want to use the same "animation" for another sprite... or for the same sprite but at another position.
(in that last case I'd edit ship_pos, but in the first case...?)

Can a python block do that ? I know a "call" won't do since it's just for procedures :/...

EDIT : btw, how does ImageReference work? ô_o;

[PyTom]

The functions renpy.scene, renpy.show, and renpy.hide correspond to the scene, show, and hide statements, respectively. The big issue with them is they take an image name as a tuple of strings.

So

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show sp_ship w at ship_pos 

Becomes:

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$ renpy.show(('sp_ship', 'w'), at_list=[ship_pos])

This can be placed into a python function, with code like:

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init:
    python:
        def showship():
             renpy.show(('sp_ship', 'w'), at_list=[ship_pos])

I'm sort of interested in what you're trying to do, since in your example, the hide statement doesn't accomplish anything, as there's no interaction taking place between when the ship is hidden and when the ship is shown again.

[monele]

I realize I should just tell what I'm trying to do XD.. Will be easier to get help too . So here it goes :

The show/hide stuff is just to make a one time blink animation. The sequence is :
greenversion, hidden, greenversion, normalversion, greenversion, normalversion.

(well that's one example at least).

It then stays on normalversion of course. Would SM.animation or any of this kind be better for this ? (I suppose it would but I just went the rough way for tests...)


And the use of functions would be to create a template animation or transitions sequence and be able to use it with different base images.

In the present case I have an overlay grid appearing over whatever background is already there and *then* the map appearing underneat

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show grid with dissolve
scene map
show grid
with dissolve

and then I make the map disappear :

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scene previousbackground with dissolve

It's that "previousbackground" that I'm having a problem with. Prevents me from using a "call" because I'll have to define what was the previous background in it... and it depends on the previous context ^^;... A solution would be to store the previous background name in a variable and use it to display it again later. I thought ImageReference could help but I don't understand how it works :/

[PyTom]

ImageReference isn't what you want. (In fact, it really shouldn't be documented at all.)

For a blink like that, I'd just use straight up Animation. If the argument list ends with an image, then the animation will not loop. (Actually, will take a year to loop, IIRC.)

As to the scenes, Ren'Py doesn't allow variable interpolation into script statements. So you'll have to write it in python, using something like:

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$ renpy.with(None)
$ renpy.scene()
$ renpy.show(previousbackground.split())
$ renpy.with(dissolve)

(This assumes that previousbackground is a space-separated string, like "bg caprica city night".

That being said, it's not obvious that this is worthwhile to save no lines of script. (-1 line scene, +1 line to set previousbackground.)

[monele]

I suppose that if I have 15 different sprites I want to blink in the exact same way, I'll still have to create 15 animation statements even though only the image reference changes ? :/


I'll try the python code tonight, thanks. And the idea is not to gain 1 line but to avoid repeating a set of commands all over my scripts for dozens of pictures. If I happen to change my mind and use a different transition, for example, I'd have to go through each copy of this sequence to update the scripts. If they all use one single function, I only change this function.

Oh btw, for the map+grid thing, I decided not to use "scene" but just "show" instead. This way the whole thing is displayed above the background and I just hide the map and grid when I'm done with them, revealing the previous background underneath. This lets me use a simple call so I'll try to stick to this whenever possible but I know I won't be able to avoid the use of real functions at times ^^

[Watercolorheart]

Sweetie, have you discovered composite images and sm.Anim functions yet?

I wish I still had my old in-progress copy of Limitation - I was using composite images and animation functions left and right to eliminate work, and create customized expressions. It was pretty fun.

Pytom, can you do me the honor of explaining these somewhat difficult concepts? Like how you can make ONE blinking animation and layer it using composites on every other sprite? I finally figured out the coding by brute force after an hour of tinkering with it, but I've lost it since ...

[PyTom]

I suppose that if I have 15 different sprites I want to blink in the exact same way, I'll still have to create 15 animation statements even though only the image reference changes ? :/

Yes, but you can use a function to make it easier.

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init:
    python:
         def flicker(im):
                return Animation(im, 0.25, Null(), 0.25, im)

    image flicker foo = flicker("foo.png")
    image flicker bar = flicker("bar.png")

And so on.

For performance reasons, you should really hide the bottom image when covered... even if it's fully covered, it still gets drawn, which takes some time.

Pytom, can you do me the honor of explaining these somewhat difficult concepts? Like how you can make ONE blinking animation and layer it using composites on every other sprite? I finally figured out the coding by brute force after an hour of tinkering with it, but I've lost it since ...

You can just store the blinking animation in a python variable, and let other people use it that way. You then need to use
LiveComposite to composite the animation against other bits.

For example:

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init:
     $ eyes = Animation(
          "eyes_open.png", 10.0, 
          "eyes_half.png", 0.10, 
          "eyes_closed.png", 0.10, 
          "eyes_half.png", 0.10)

     image foo happy = LiveComposite(
         (400, 600),
         (0, 0), "base.png",
         (100, 100), "face_happy.png",
         (100, 100), eyes)

     image foo sad = LiveComposite(
         (400, 600),
         (0, 0), "base.png",
         (100, 100), "face_happy.png",
         (100, 100), eyes)

[monele]

Mmm okie. Sounds good ^^. I'll try this out later, thanks!

[monele]

Hmm, is there a class similar to Animation that allows displayables (I'd need "image" at least) instead of needing filenames ? The thing is I'm tinting a source picture in full green and doing this with many pictures. As usual, I like the computer to do it on the fly rather than making colored clones of all the sprites as files ^^;

Edit : might SMAnimation be the solution ?

Edit : SMAnimation doesn't seem to let me use image variables either :/... The doc says it wants displayables though, so I don't get it ^^;

[PyTom]

Both Animation and SMAnimation should take displayables. They special case strings to images, but should take arbitrary displayables as well.

[monele]

Gyyuh, might it be that this doesn't apply to 5.3.3 ?
Otherwise, what am I doing wrong :

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image sp_urbania = "sp_urbania.png"

image urb_appear = Animation(sp_urbania, 0.01, None, 0.01)

Gets me this :

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-- Full Traceback ------------------------------------------------------------

  File "renpy\bootstrap.pyo", line 76, in bootstrap
  File "renpy\main.pyo", line 226, in main
  File "renpy\main.pyo", line 92, in run
  File "renpy\execution.pyo", line 76, in run
  File "renpy\ast.pyo", line 347, in execute
  File "renpy\python.pyo", line 768, in py_eval_bytecode
  File "game/Intro.rpy", line 24, in <expression>
NameError: name 'sp_urbania' is not defined

The last script statement executed was on line 24 of game/Intro.rpy.

Ren'Py Version: Ren'Py 5.3.3

[ShiraiJunichi]

I think the animation function takes a string filename, and not an image... I've run into this sort of problem a lot myself...

[PyTom]

Yeah, you want to use a string filename or displayable with Animation:

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$ sp_urbania = "sp_urbania.png"
image urb_appear = Animation(sp_urbania, 0.01, None, 0.01)

If I had Ren'Py to do over again, I probably would have reduced the number of namespaces it has. Right now, there's an image namespace, a label namespace, and a python namespace, and they can interact in odd ways.

[monele]

I think I really don't understand what a Displayable is then ô_o... Let's see :

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image name = "filename.jpg"

Not a displayable ?

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$ name = Image("filename.jpg")

Displayable ?

I'm kinda lost :/... But let's just say that I'd like to define picture I have once, maybe a few versions with filters (tint, alpha, whatever) and then use these in animations and such. If I'm right on that second code part, I'll be able to do it... otherwise I'll have to redefine things a lot of times it seems :/

EDIT : Quickly adding that

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Animation(sp_urbania, 0.01, None, 0.01)

returns an "AttributeError: 'NoneType' object has no attribute 'predict'"

EDIT2 :

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Animation(sp_urbania, 0.01, Null(), 0.01)

works though ^^

[ShiraiJunichi]

I think this is what you want...

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$ sp_urbania_filename = "sp_urbania.png"
image urb_appear = Animation(sp_urbania_filename, 0.01, None, 0.01) 

image sp_urbania = sp_urbania_filename