How to Draw While Your Animation Plays in Aseprite (Similar to GameMaker)

Guides
1

Hey Aseprite community! ^^/

Inspired by a question from user Gizmo199 in the Discord channel, I’ve been experimenting and found a workaround that lets you draw while your animation “is playing” in Aseprite, much like the feature in GameMaker.

Demonstration Videos:

How it works in GameMaker:

How it works in Aseprite:

Here’s a step-by-step guide to help you achieve this.

Prerequisites:

  • Aseprite software installed (Note: This process also works seamlessly with LibreSprite).
  • Autohotkey: You can download it from here https://www.autohotkey.com/ . (I used v1.1, which is now deprecated, but you can have both versions installed if needed).
  • Basic knowledge of modifying shortcuts in Aseprite (or LibreSprite).

Steps:

  1. Install Autohotkey:
    Download from the provided link above and install.

  2. Modify Aseprite Shortcut:
    Change the shortcut for “Go to next frame” in Aseprite to the “s” key.

  3. Download & Use the AHK Script:

  • Download the provided .ahk script from here.
  • It’s just plain text, so feel free to open it with any text editor like Notepad++ to inspect its content.
  • Double-click on the script to run it.
  • Enter the millisecond delay you want for each frame.
  • Now, you can open Aseprite and start drawing while the animation “plays”! :smiley:

Note: This method has a few issues. Sometimes, it might not detect when you release the mouse button. But it’s a fun workaround until we get an official feature (or script).

I’d love to hear your feeback, so please share your experiences and suggestions to refine this method further!

Happy animating! :slight_smile:

2 Likes
2

This is really clever!

1 Like
3

wow! really nice technics

1 Like
4

I have just realized that I didn’t uploaded or linked the AHK script in here ^^UUU that’s how idiot I am XDDD

You can download the AHK script I mentioned before from this link.

Also I’ve just updated the 1st post with the link. Sorry for the inconveniences! ^_^U

5

“Until we get an official feature (or script)” I’m on it! XD Messed with this idea today and it was super fun to play with, though there were some tricky issues when dealing with mouse input and basically faking the painting XD Also leads to a lot of undo actions because of this hahaha BUT made great progress on it today I think! :smiley:

1 Like
6

That’s great! :smiley: I’d love to see this implemented in one of your scripts! :smiley:

By the way, I loved “The Tween Machine”, it’s very useful! :slight_smile: (I worked on a similar script long ago, but I didn’t then have much time to learn enough Aseprite scripting, so mine only does very basic tweening and it’s long forgotten somewhere on my hard disks XD)

7

Absolutely! I’m excited to keep working though the little querks Ive got currently with this. Love this technique. It was so much fun to mess around with even at this state. :slight_smile:

Oh thats amazing to hear! Would love to see what youve been tweening! Im glad you were able to check out the tween machine :smiley: Once you figure out how it work it too is super fun to play with.