Animation Feedback Thread 2.0

David said: I have uploaded several small animated gifs which converted to .webm successfully and are appearing on the map.  But on the Art Library tab the preview is broken and they cannot be dragged onto the map either. Is this a known issue and is there a workaround? I had a similar issue with new uploads not having a preview when I sorted them into folders before a preview was generated. When I deleted them from the folder, they reappeared in Recent Uploads with a preview image. You might try sorting them into folders so they disappear from Recent Uploads, then delete them from the folder so they reappear in Recent Uploads.

Brian C. said: David said: I have uploaded several small animated gifs which converted to .webm successfully and are appearing on the map.  But on the Art Library tab the preview is broken and they cannot be dragged onto the map either. Is this a known issue and is there a workaround? I had a similar issue with new uploads not having a preview when I sorted them into folders before a preview was generated. When I deleted them from the folder, they reappeared in Recent Uploads with a preview image. You might try sorting them into folders so they disappear from Recent Uploads, then delete them from the folder so they reappear in Recent Uploads. Yeah I a found it the other posts up thread thanks it worked but this still an issue. 

My uploads do the same thing.  If you refresh your browser, it should work.  Also, try uploading images with more than two frames.

Also experienceing problems when setting an animated imgsrc via the API. When logged in as a GM via firefox the animations do not play. When logged into chrome as a player via a seperate roll20 account on the same computer the animations will automatically play. When logged into both firefox and google using the seperate account as a player on a different computer on the same network the animations do not play. None of my players report being able to see the animations. This might indicate some sort of networking based weirdness. Either way this problem could be temporarily dealt with by adding API access to the pause/play commands for animated graphic objects. My script is similar to Fek's but instead i create a new token with the following function. function _createGif(currentPageID, top, left, width, height, img, name) { var animation =createObj('graphic', {name: name, pageid: currentPageID, left: left, top: top, layer: "objects", imgsrc: img, width: width + 10, height: height + 10, controlledby: '', playersedit_name: false, playersedit_bar1: false, playersedit_bar2: false, playersedit_bar3: false, playersedit_aura1: false, playersedit_aura2: false } ); toFront(animation) return animation } The top, left, width, height parameters are taken from some target token and the name param is a reference for the type of animation so the graphic can be deleted later. An example of the url sent to the img param is shown below. img = "<a href="https://s3.amazonaws.com/files.d20.io/images/105558454/2uqHxIykTpIK_PUEaRbRRg/thumb.webm?1582453018" rel="nofollow">https://s3.amazonaws.com/files.d20.io/images/105558454/2uqHxIykTpIK_PUEaRbRRg/thumb.webm?1582453018</a>" Hopefully this can be resolved soon as it really opens up some cool possibilities for triggered effects on dice rolls such as animated attacks and 1 click drop spell animations. Fek said: Setting an animated imgsrc via the API causes the animation to pause / not loop. Synopsis When a token is given an animated imgsrc via obj.set("imgsrc", url), the token accurately changes to the new image, but the animation does not play. This happens whether the original imgsrc was static or animated. In order to make the animation play correctly, you can right-click the token and toggle Animation &gt; Stop Looping, then Animation &gt; Loop. This seems to kick the animation back into gear. Unfortunately, there is no way (that I know of) to do this automatically, via API or otherwise. Reproduction 1) Create a new API script, with the following code: setAnimatedImgSrc.js 2) Make sure that the "newImgSrc" variable on line 12 leads to a valid animated asset in your library. 3) Select any token on the map, then type "!animate" into chat to trigger the script. Expected Outcome The token's image is changed to the animated image specified in the script, which begins to automatically play and, ideally, loop. Actual Outcome The token's image is changed to the animated image specified in the script, but it is stuck/paused on the first frame. Although the token's context menu suggests that it should be playing and looping, it will not do either unless you manually toggle Animation &gt; Stop Looping, then Animation &gt; Loop.

I'm experiencing an issue where gifs with transparency from this pack&nbsp; <a href="https://marketplace.roll20.net/browse/set/3798/weather-overlays" rel="nofollow">https://marketplace.roll20.net/browse/set/3798/weather-overlays</a> &nbsp;lose that transparency after being tabbed out for a few minutes, just becoming black on white, as shown here. &nbsp; I tried it with other gifs from the same pack, without a change. A different pack I tried, this one:&nbsp; <a href="https://marketplace.roll20.net/browse/set/3705/asv3-weather" rel="nofollow">https://marketplace.roll20.net/browse/set/3705/asv3-weather</a> &nbsp;did not seem to have the same issue. It should be noted that the second pack is significantly lower frame rate, which could have an impact. Here is the game this was occurring in:&nbsp; <a href="https://app.roll20.net/campaigns/details/4120048/in-days-of-death" rel="nofollow">https://app.roll20.net/campaigns/details/4120048/in-days-of-death</a> Occasionally the issue seems to resolve simply by waiting, but typically the only way to fix it is to reload the page. Dynamic lighting, page size, and image size all seemed to have no impact on the issue. It occurred both with dynamic lighting on and off, as well as on pages as small as 20x20 up to 40x40. I've encountered it occurring on images as small as 1x1, and as large as 35x35. I am running the most up-to-date version of google chrome. I first encountered this today when I downloaded this weather pack. Speaking of, can I get a refund on that since I apparently am not going to be able to use it functionally?

Sam S. said: Also experienceing problems when setting an animated imgsrc via the API. When logged in as a GM via firefox the animations do not play. When logged into chrome as a player via a seperate roll20 account on the same computer the animations will automatically play. When logged into both firefox and google using the seperate account as a player on a different computer on the same network the animations do not play. None of my players report being able to see the animations. This might indicate some sort of networking based weirdness. Plausible theory, and it's backed up by the fact that injecting code to manually resend the pause/play commands over the network is all it takes to correct it. Fingers crossed we can get an answer on this, soon - all we need for a functional workaround is the ability to pause/play from the API.

I've just given up on animations. They look pretty but the performance is...lacking. Also with the debacle surrounding the new light and that feature being in such a broken state I honestly don't think we will see animations fixed within the foreseeable future.

Ravenknight said: I've just given up on animations. They look pretty but the performance is...lacking. Also with the debacle surrounding the new light and that feature being in such a broken state I honestly don't think we will see animations fixed within the foreseeable future. Sure we will.&nbsp; It'll just take a few rounds of testing and updating.&nbsp; Maybe a couple months.&nbsp; We'll work out the kinks.&nbsp; For now, just make sure your animations have at least three frames, and that you are using Google Chrome and you HAVE UPDATED WINDOWS AND&nbsp; JAVASCRIPT .

Uh, you don't need Java for Roll20. Javascript, yes, but that is a different thing, despite the similar name.

Just checking back after 7 months. Seems it's still broken. I honestly feel bad for the creators who spent time and money to create cool animations that no one can use. It's a shame.&nbsp;

Hello everyone, I'm in the same situation as a lot of you, animation files doesn't work really well. But something intrigue me, my webM files (about 5Mo) won't upload correctly but gif files (near 10Mo) upload an appear correctly on the screen. I'v read a lot of similar post but not the kind where gif were more viable than webM... appologise if i've missed this one.

Hey guys, I've hit this wall as well. I am a bit disheartened to have come across this thread and the lack of hope for any near-term fixes. I attempted a few workarounds with mixed results, hopefully I can save some time and headache to others that may get the same ideas. I can post code if requested, but its pretty ugly as I just wanted test the methods before dedicating a bunch of time into it. Switching still-frames with imgsrc The obvious place to start is just emulating what a gif is doing using built-in features. Using setTimeout, I tried cycling through 4 frames in under a second to produce the animation. While it technically works, the inherent delay between new images loading is only further ruined by the fact that the old image is blanked out beforehand. Maybe it will work for someone with a better connection than I, but I doubt it and it would also require your players to have the same. Altering frames already loaded This probably goes without saying, but using the existing properties within the 'graphic' object has much better results. What surprised me was how well considering the other issues I've run into so far. I've only thoroughly tested the 'rotation' property this way, but I'd guess the others would have similar results. Using setTimeout, I was able to get as far as 1 degree of rotation every 50 ms before it started glitching. This made the animation (a windmill, in my testing) pretty damn smooth. Granted, there were still occasional connection hiccups where it would skip a bit to catch up, but still very usable verses a spinning gif and you can have frame-by-frame control within your API. Disclaimer: &nbsp;I also wanted to add a caveat that I have no way of knowing how much these methods will hinder the performance of your sandbox or the overall servers, so if you do try them, use them sparingly. I wouldn't be surprised if you got a nastygram (or worse) from the admins if you had every token running their own animation cycles at tenths of a second. :-P

Just wanted to add an update with more recent discovery. Single-use effects with non-looping GIFs I've noticed that when setting a token's imgsrc to an gif (or webm, since they are converted on upload) that it does still play through the animation once. I've been taking advantage of this by momentarily creating tokens for single-use spell effects when customfx won't cut it, then using setTimeout to remove them after a few seconds or so when it should be finished. If you do this, be sure to make the first frame of the gif blank , as it seems to default back to that one afterwards before the timeout can remove it. Also, the server doesn't seem to care if the original gif is set to looping or not. If you manually toggle the looping setting by right-clicking it, the animation will still repeat either way. I think this has more to do with it being converted to webm, though. Again, lag can hinder this effect. If things are running particularly slow, the animation might be half way done before the token "appears" but it's the best I've been able to come up with so far. UPDATE: As of this edit, the above method no longer seems to be working. The animations now only seems to get past a few frames before freezing back at the first one. I don't know if something changed on the site in a recent update or if it's just some kind of lag somewhere, but it's not really reliable enough to use right now. Messing with the original gif seems to give differing results but requires further testing. This is kind of a bummer because I was enjoying making retro-style Action/RPG weapon attacks and spell effects this way. Oh well... (v_v)

What's with the webm files ? still unable to upload even the small one (1mb or less). Did roll20 give up on this ?

Steph said: What's with the webm files ? still unable to upload even the small one (1mb or less). Did roll20 give up on this ? As far as I have tested, .gif files are the only ones which work.&nbsp; Roll20 apparently converts them to webm as soon as they upload into your library.

Gargamond said: As far as I have tested, .gif files are the only ones which work.&nbsp; Roll20 apparently converts them to webm as soon as they upload into your library. Yeah, and unfortunately the process is a bit of a black box. Since we don't know the specifications of how they are converted and we cannot convert them ourselves before uploading, dealing with frame-by-frame control of the gif is a bit more magic than science at this point. :-( In my experience, the frame timing seems to be ignored in some cases while honored in others. The trial-and-error process can get really frustrating, especially with the upload times being so bogged down by the conversion process. It can take 2-3 minutes to upload (and convert) a single 5 kb gif. (-_-')

FarricSarhorn said: Hey guys, I've hit this wall as well. I am a bit disheartened to have come across this thread and the lack of hope for any near-term fixes. I attempted a few workarounds with mixed results, hopefully I can save some time and headache to others that may get the same ideas. I can post code if requested, but its pretty ugly as I just wanted test the methods before dedicating a bunch of time into it. Switching still-frames with imgsrc The obvious place to start is just emulating what a gif is doing using built-in features. Using setTimeout, I tried cycling through 4 frames in under a second to produce the animation. While it technically works, the inherent delay between new images loading is only further ruined by the fact that the old image is blanked out beforehand. Maybe it will work for someone with a better connection than I, but I doubt it and it would also require your players to have the same. Altering frames already loaded This probably goes without saying, but using the existing properties within the 'graphic' object has much better results. What surprised me was how well considering the other issues I've run into so far. I've only thoroughly tested the 'rotation' property this way, but I'd guess the others would have similar results. Using setTimeout, I was able to get as far as 1 degree of rotation every 50 ms before it started glitching. This made the animation (a windmill, in my testing) pretty damn smooth. Granted, there were still occasional connection hiccups where it would skip a bit to catch up, but still very usable verses a spinning gif and you can have frame-by-frame control within your API. Disclaimer: &nbsp;I also wanted to add a caveat that I have no way of knowing how much these methods will hinder the performance of your sandbox or the overall servers, so if you do try them, use them sparingly. I wouldn't be surprised if you got a nastygram (or worse) from the admins if you had every token running their own animation cycles at tenths of a second. :-P This is a clever workaround! Like you said, though, that performance hit has gotta be awful. Then again, maybe a sudden performance hit would finally get the attention needed to bump this issue higher up the todo list! XD Honestly super disappointing to see that this issue still hasn't been fixed.

Steph said: What's with the webm files ? still unable to upload even the small one (1mb or less). Did roll20 give up on this ? If nothing has changed since when I uploaded several last year, uploading .webm does &nbsp;work, but it takes around 30-60 minutes per MB.

If you’re having issues with animated tokens, I can only suggest using a tool like ezgif to convert your file to an actual gif file, and either optimize frame rate, frame quality, or frame count. IDK, multiple megabytes for one file seems a little excessive to me, but that’s because I use 16-bit era graphics which only take up 5k-50ish k. Trust me. Just try ezgif or something like it. Make sure your frame count is between 3 and 80 frames. Anything more than 80 is getting to be too much. And I wouldn’t try to upload anything more than 1meg unless it’s a map or something that you plan on using every session.

Fek said: This is a clever workaround! Like you said, though, that performance hit has gotta be awful. Then again, maybe a sudden performance hit would finally get the attention needed to bump this issue higher up the todo list! XD Honestly super disappointing to see that this issue still hasn't been fixed. Yeah, I only just joined up a month or so but it looks like some of you have been waiting on this for much, much longer. From what I understand, it's all hands on deck to fix/finish the lighting update right now. Since they seem to be switching to another rendering method, I can understand not wanting to poke at other graphical features and accidentally blow up their main focus. That said, popping in once in a while to give us some kind of status update or just simply let us know it hasn't been forgotten would be nice... :-P&nbsp;

&nbsp;issues I've found seem to have improved, but that maybe down to my attempts at optimizing file sizes and scale, however i do notice these problems still occur. When returning to game page after building a map including animated files, those files are no longer visible on the page, sometimes the file has effectively moved to the back and sending everything else to the back they are there. Sometimes the files remain invisible after several attempts to load the page/ restarting browser clearing cache etc. they seem to reappear randomly and all at the same time. This is quite a significant problem as the tendency on the users end is to drop a replacement in there, further burdening the page, which in turn (from what i can tell) exacerbates the animated assets 'dissapearing'. Obviously the files are still on the page (as they turn up sooner or later, usually much later) but seem to be floating around in the ether somehow, and then *Bam* something triggers them all returning.&nbsp; I will continue to work on my upcoming animated packs as im already invested, but obviously these problems are going to be a concern.&nbsp; Will the Roll20 team be prioritizing an update to support animated tokens more? and if so could we get any kind of 'guesstimate' as to when? Thanks for reading&nbsp;