Is there a tutorial for Spine portraits?

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dutchy_b
Posts: 9
Joined: Mon Mar 14, 2022 7:55 pm

Is there a tutorial for Spine portraits?

Post by dutchy_b »

https://www.pixelcrushers.com/dialogue_ ... spine.html
Hello I've tried following the above instructions but I just can't seem to get any spine assets to show.
I'm probably missing some obvious step so I'll just ask- are there any videos of anyone setting up a conversation with Spine character portraits?

Thanks!
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Tony Li
Posts: 22104
Joined: Thu Jul 18, 2013 1:27 pm

Re: Is there a tutorial for Spine portraits?

Post by Tony Li »

Hi,

There aren't any videos for that yet. I'll add it to the wish list.

Does the example scene included in the Spine Support package work in your project? If so, can you examine it to see what's different with your own scene setup?

A few things to check:

1. Did you add a SpineDialgoueActor component to your character's GameObject?

2. On your dialogue UI's subtitle panel(s), did you replace the StandardUISubtitlePanel components with the SpineSubtitlePanel script? Change the Inspector to Debug mode and drag SpineSubtitlePanel into the StandardUISubtitlePanel's Script field to retain field assignments.

3. Are there any errors or warnings in the Console when you play your scene?
dutchy_b
Posts: 9
Joined: Mon Mar 14, 2022 7:55 pm

Re: Is there a tutorial for Spine portraits?

Post by dutchy_b »

Hello, I've figured out what the problem is.
The demo always worked and it seemed to be a problem with my spine files -
I was using spine 4.0 and to be frank - it's MUCH easier to simply save my files back into 3.8.
Now the demo is allowing me to swap to my spine animations so I assume I can get the rest up and running again.

Just looking into esoteric's spine forum about updating a unity project from 3.8 to 4.0 - it seems more trouble than it's worth (for anyone reading this thread later).
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Tony Li
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Re: Is there a tutorial for Spine portraits?

Post by Tony Li »

Hi,

Thanks for letting me know. I'll take a look into Spine 4.0 and see if I can figure out what's going on with the Unity - Spine integration.
dutchy_b
Posts: 9
Joined: Mon Mar 14, 2022 7:55 pm

Re: Is there a tutorial for Spine portraits?

Post by dutchy_b »

Okay I tried and failed :(
I made a recording of my attempt (apologies for the terrible sound).
I'm obviously doing something wrong but after several attempts I'm none the wiser.



So this is an adventure creator project - I'm trying to launch the dialogue UI and have 2 spine character show at talk.

Thanks in advance to anyone who has some insight on what I'm doing wrong!
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Tony Li
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Joined: Thu Jul 18, 2013 1:27 pm

Re: Is there a tutorial for Spine portraits?

Post by Tony Li »

Hi,

It looks like almost everything is set up correctly. Please try this:

1. In your scene, remove the Basic Standard Dialogue UI Spine GameObject from your Dialogue Manager's Canvas.

2. Assign the Basic Standard Dialogue UI Spine prefab to the Dialogue Manager's Dialogue UI. Click 'Use Prefab'.

Then give it a try.

If that works, then this is the explanation: You assigned Basic Standard Dialogue UI Spine to the Dialogue Manager's Dialogue UI field and clicked 'Add Instance'. This created an instance of the dialogue UI as it existed at the time you assigned it. This instance is no longer connected to the original Basic Standard Dialogue UI Spine prefab. Then you modified the original Basic Standard Dialogue UI Spine prefab. So the prefab is configured for Spine, but the instance in the scene isn't.

If you had done it in the opposite order -- modify prefab first, then assign to Dialogue UI and click 'Add Instance' -- then it probably would also have worked that way, too.
dutchy_b
Posts: 9
Joined: Mon Mar 14, 2022 7:55 pm

Re: Is there a tutorial for Spine portraits?

Post by dutchy_b »

Thanks for the speedy reply -unfortunately it didn't work.

Neither un-edited Basic Standard Dialogue UI nor edited (swapping in spine script) versions work to show the spine characters.



As you can see here I took a clean version of the Basic UI and switched the spine script again.

Thanks,
dutchy_b
Posts: 9
Joined: Mon Mar 14, 2022 7:55 pm

Re: Is there a tutorial for Spine portraits?

Post by dutchy_b »

Okay I think I'm making some head way.

I've changed the spine characters from SkeletonAnimation to SkeletonGraphics, and dropped them into the main camera canvas - that seems to have worked for the NPCs - still having an issue with the Player but that's probably just something I've missed on my end.
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Tony Li
Posts: 22104
Joined: Thu Jul 18, 2013 1:27 pm

Re: Is there a tutorial for Spine portraits?

Post by Tony Li »

Hi,

If the Player isn't appearing right away, check the player subtitle panel. You may need to set its Visibility to Always From Start.
dutchy_b
Posts: 9
Joined: Mon Mar 14, 2022 7:55 pm

Re: Is there a tutorial for Spine portraits?

Post by dutchy_b »

That worked!
Thanks for helping me push through this - I have limited time to work on my own projects so every little bit of help makes an enormous difference!

For anyone reading this later - if you get the spine demo working, and you want to add 2d Spine character portraits to a 3d game - make sure the spine component is SkeletonGraphics not SkeletonAnimation(as used in demo).
Drop that into a canvas on your main camera (in adventure creator) and you're golden.
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