Hitboxes and points¶
A game needs to know more about a pose than how it looks. Where can the character be hit? Where does the sword hurt? Where should a thrown dagger appear? Hitboxes and points answer these questions, and you set them on the frames you already draw.
You do not need them to make sprites look right. Add them when a programmer asks, or when you know the game will need them.
Hitboxes¶
Choose Hitboxes above the stage. Choose a type in the inspector, then drag on empty space to draw a box of that type. Drag a box to move it, drag a corner to resize it, and nudge it with the arrow keys.
Hitbox types in the inspector lists the kinds of boxes your project uses, each with a colour, for example "Hurt" for where the character can be hit and "Attack" for where it hurts others. + Add type makes a new one. The checkbox next to a type shows or hides its boxes on the stage. Deleting a type asks first if boxes still use it.
Points¶
Choose Points above the stage. Shift-click to place a point of the chosen type, drag it to move it. Points mark places: a hand that holds a weapon, the spot a projectile leaves from, where dust appears at the feet.
Roles¶
A box or point can have a role, a short name such as head, blade or hand_front. Roles let the game find the right box in every frame without counting them. Agree on the names with your programmer.
Copy them to other frames¶
Right-click a frame in the list:
- Copy Hitboxes & Points and Paste Hitboxes & Points move them to another frame.
- Copy Hitboxes to All Frames... and Copy Points to All Frames... put them on every frame, for example a body box every pose needs. The editor asks whether to add them or replace what other frames have.
Remove empty boxes in the inspector deletes boxes without an area in every frame.
They move with the animation¶
In an animation, a step's offset, flips and turns move its frame's hitboxes and points too. Turn on Collision and Points in the Animations tab's view bar to see them while the animation plays. While you arrange parts in the Frames tab, Hitboxes and Points in the view bar keep them visible.