PSD Project Creation/Import Failing [SOLVED]

Discuss issues pertaining to the Creature Animation Editor here.
Post Reply
ruffenman
Posts: 3
Joined: Tue Dec 27, 2016 6:50 pm

PSD Project Creation/Import Failing [SOLVED]

Post by ruffenman » Tue Dec 27, 2016 7:29 pm

Hello!

I recently purchased Creature and was looking forward to using the new PSD pipeline as shown in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awet-jEGm3E

Unfortunately it seems like both methods are failing to import my PSD. If I try to create a new project from my PSD, it seems to fail silently as nothing happens when I click the 'Create' button at the end of the process.
If I create an empty project and attempt to import the PSD into the existing project, I am shown the following error message:
Image

The PSD isn't anything outrageous, just something I was going to use to get started. If necessary for debugging, it can be found here: https://adobe.ly/2hujzC7

Thanks in advance for any assistance!
Last edited by ruffenman on Mon Jan 16, 2017 1:18 am, edited 1 time in total.

chong
Posts: 1178
Joined: Thu Feb 19, 2015 2:21 am

Re: PSD Project Creation/Import Failing

Post by chong » Tue Dec 27, 2016 8:18 pm

Hello,

Thank you for your submission of the PSD document.
I took a look at it and it seems like your PSD file's character has a layered hierarchy.
Creature's PSD import requires the document to have a flat layer order ( that is, you cannot make say the ear the child of the head for example in your layers, it must be a flat ordering of layers).

This is documented here:
http://www.kestrelmoon.com/creaturedocs ... eline.html

"Only a Single Level Hierarchy is supported for layers. All body part images should be in each of these layers."

Also, I noticed that you have some sort of background image of your character ( with grass etc. ) in it. You will probably want to remove that from your file for import in order for the system to place the body parts correctly during the rigging phase:

"Make sure there are no extra body parts/layers other than the ones required for the character and that they are all placed in their correct positions of the character."

After I flattened your layers ( moved all the child layers upwards so they are just listed one after another instead of being a child/parent ), I saved the PSD and could import it into Creature.

For the next update, I will work on better error reporting so that users know what PSD file to prepare for the import case.

Cheers

ruffenman
Posts: 3
Joined: Tue Dec 27, 2016 6:50 pm

Re: PSD Project Creation/Import Failing

Post by ruffenman » Tue Dec 27, 2016 9:12 pm

This seems to have been the main issue, thanks! I didn't even realize that all that source image data was in there since it was "outside the canvas". Are there any plans to have the pipeline ignore hidden layers in the PSD? Also it might be really cool to have a 'Reconstruct Meshes From PSD' menu option in order to pull the latest PSD changes into the editor without having to restart the import process from scratch. Either way, thanks again!

*EDIT: regarding a 'Reconstruct Meshes From PSD' option: You can update your texture/mesh regions by clicking the import button, selecting Import Multiple PNGs or PSD File, and selecting your PSD file again.
Last edited by ruffenman on Tue Dec 27, 2016 11:49 pm, edited 1 time in total.

chong
Posts: 1178
Joined: Thu Feb 19, 2015 2:21 am

Re: PSD Project Creation/Import Failing

Post by chong » Tue Dec 27, 2016 9:22 pm

Hello,

Yes that is something that will be investigated. The reason is because the PSD format is closed off so 3rd party devs like us have to guess how to interpret their format from the raw binary which is quite complicated :)

Having said that, the first thing that will be in for the updates is to have a much better/informative error reporting for PSD files. This will help users figure out how to structure their PSDs if they encounter such problems in the future.

Cheers

ruffenman
Posts: 3
Joined: Tue Dec 27, 2016 6:50 pm

Re: PSD Project Creation/Import Failing

Post by ruffenman » Tue Dec 27, 2016 10:41 pm

I understand. I hope you're able to make some headway! You've probably already seen it, but just in case it's helpful, I searched around the web for a bit and found this doc describing the Photoshop file format: http://www.adobe.com/devnet-apps/photos ... 7409_75067

Thanks again for the quick response earlier!

chong
Posts: 1178
Joined: Thu Feb 19, 2015 2:21 am

Re: PSD Project Creation/Import Failing

Post by chong » Wed Dec 28, 2016 2:14 am

Hello,

Good news, I think for the next update I should be able to get a version up that reads in PSD files with a simple hierarchy ( parent/child layer ) structure. I made a couple changes to the PSD loading code and successfully loaded the PSD you provided earlier today that contains parent/child layers.

Stay tuned.

Cheers

Post Reply