Animated mainmenu background: how to do it?

[zankizuna]

How am I supposed to place an animated background pic in the main menu?
I've tried doing some codes around "mm_root=" but I just can't get it right..
I've tried making a video to use then place it there, but it didn't work... what is the proper code?

[SundownKid]

You should leave mm_root blank and add the animated image directly to the screen code in the screens script. I don't think a video would work, though it would be useful to me if someone had a way to use it as a background.

[Fade Lalique]

I think it would be possible to convert the video you plan to use into a gif file. That way it might work

[Hijiri]

I think it would be possible to convert the video you plan to use into a gif file. That way it might work

Renp dosent support Gif files (Well, animated ones at least) you'll have to anomate via ATL code

[nyaatrap]

hm, if I remember correctly, the screen language doesn't support the repeat statement of ATL, does it? I think I read it somewhere in the forum...

[rinrin]

I think this should work:

Code: Select all

##############################################################################
# Main Menu 
#
# Screen that's used to display the main menu, when Ren'Py first starts
# http://www.renpy.org/doc/html/screen_special.html#main-menu

screen main_menu:

    # This ensures that any other menu screen is replaced.
    tag menu

    # The background of the main menu.
    window:
        xpadding 0
        ypadding 0
        add "youranimatedbgpic"

youranimatedbgpic is defined where your other images are defined - ATL's repeat statement should work normally.

For example:

Code: Select all

    image youranimatedbgpic:
        "assets/rotating-image.png"
        xanchor 0.5
        yanchor 0.5
        rotate 0
        linear 50.0 rotate 360
        repeat

[TrickWithAKnife]

I think what the original poster was looking for was a method of showing an animation using either a .gif with different frames, or cycling through different images.

hm, if I remember correctly, the screen language doesn't support the repeat statement of ATL, does it? I think I read it somewhere in the forum...

I'm only guessing, because I'm not having much luck getting ATL code to work, but if you can use ATL to create an animation, maybe it would be possible to place the animation in a label, and then loop the label itself.

[rinrin]

I think what the original poster was looking for was a method of showing an animation using either a .gif with different frames, or cycling through different images.

The principle is the same. Only this part changes:

Code: Select all

    image youranimatedbgpic:
        "assets/image1.png"
        pause 0.1
        "assets/image2.png"
        pause 0.1
        "assets/image3.png"
        pause 0.1
        repeat

No problems with repeat, it works just fine on the title screen. Or is title screen not what we're talking about?

[zankizuna]

Thanks a lot guys I think rinrin got the code right..
GIFs are not supported by ren'py.. I've known this ever since.
I really needed a code like that. thanks.

[BlackRose4eva]

I've also wanted to do this too and I've been looking at various threads in order to achieve this.

Below is my code at the moment that I tried placing in the script.rpy and screen.rpy (at different times) but it has had no effect. My main aim is to cycle through some images which place the main menu one bit at a time until it's completed and then things go as normal.

Code: Select all

image animated_main_menu:
    "images/GUI/main_menu_plain.png"
    pause 1.0
    "images/GUI/main_menu_1.png"
    pause 1.0
    "images/GUI/main_menu_2.png"
    pause 1.0
    "images/GUI/main_menu_3.png"
    pause 1.0
    "images/GUI/main_menu_4.png"
    pause 1.0
    "images/GUI/main_menu_5.png"
    pause 1.0

I am not quite sure what is going wrong here so any advice would be highly appreciated. I have tried things like

Code: Select all

label before_main_menu:

and placing this code after it but that didn't seem to work either

[trooper6]

Have you added your image to the main menu screen?

[BlackRose4eva]

I have added the main image for my main menu screen in the options.rpy as

Code: Select all

mm_root = "images/GUI/main_menu_small2.png"

so it isn't part of my animation because it is the same as another on of my files within the animation that I want to do ("images/GUI/main_menu_5.png")

[trooper6]

This quote by rinrin is how to create an animated image using ATL and then show it on your main menu, which is done by adding it to the main menu screen.

I think this should work:

Code: Select all

##############################################################################
# Main Menu 
#
# Screen that's used to display the main menu, when Ren'Py first starts
# http://www.renpy.org/doc/html/screen_special.html#main-menu

screen main_menu:

    # This ensures that any other menu screen is replaced.
    tag menu

    # The background of the main menu.
    window:
        xpadding 0
        ypadding 0
        add "youranimatedbgpic"

youranimatedbgpic is defined where your other images are defined - ATL's repeat statement should work normally.

For example:

Code: Select all

    image youranimatedbgpic:
        "assets/rotating-image.png"
        xanchor 0.5
        yanchor 0.5
        rotate 0
        linear 50.0 rotate 360
        repeat

If you have done this and you get no effect it is probably because your basic main menu root image is the final end state of what you want the menu to look like, so the animation isn't visible as it is just placing images over images that are already there in the base image. Try changing your base image to solid black (or whatever your base color is).

[BlackRose4eva]

I actually have read that one before posting here and I tried implementing it but it didn't work for me for some reason (although, since I am a real noob, it's probably something stupidly simple I'm screwing up here)

I placed

Code: Select all

image animated_main_menu:
        "images/GUI/main_menu_plain.png"
        pause 1.0
        "images/GUI/main_menu_1.png"
        pause 1.0
        "images/GUI/main_menu_2.png"
        pause 1.0
        "images/GUI/main_menu_3.png"
        pause 1.0
        "images/GUI/main_menu_4.png"
        pause 1.0
        "images/GUI/main_menu_5.png"

in the script.rpy file since that is where most images are declared (I assumed) and

Code: Select all

screen main_menu():

    # This ensures that any other menu screen is replaced.
    tag menu

    # The background of the main menu.
    window:
        xpadding 0
        ypadding 0 
        add "animated_main_menu"
        

in screens.rpy

Right now, it's just showing my main title screen without the animation effect.

[trooper6]

As I said in my last post, I suspect this is because you made your mm_root an image that is the same as what the animation looks like when it is finished. If all the parts are already being shown and the animation puts those parts up on top of the parts that are already there in the base image, you aren't going to see the animation even if it is working. As I suggested in my last post, make your mm_root a plain black screen (or whatever your base image is).