Skeleton

Skeletal (cutout) animation from Spine or DragonBones exports: bones, meshes, skins, IK, events; crossfades; scripts can turn bones.

Type: SkeletonNode · Category: Animation & Effects · Also found as: skeleton, spine, dragonbones, bones, rig, cutout

Properties

Property	Type	Default	Description
file	string	""	The skeleton: a Spine .json export or a DragonBones _ske.json (project-relative).
atlas	string	""	Its texture atlas; empty = next to it (name.atlas for Spine, name_tex.json for DragonBones).
armature	string	""	DragonBones: the armature to show (empty = the first).
animation	string	""	The animation played when the scene starts (and shown in the editor).
skin	string	""	The skin (attachment set); empty = the default skin.
loop	boolean	true	Play the animation over and over.
autoplay	boolean	true	Start the animation when the node becomes ready.
speed	number	1	Playback speed (1 = as authored). Range 0 to 5.
mixTime	number	0.15	Seconds to crossfade from one animation to the next. Range 0 to 2.
tint	color	#ffffffff	Multiplies every slot’s colour.
showBones	boolean	false	Draw the bones over the art (also in the game, for debugging).

Plus the common properties every node has.

Lua methods

Call them on the node (self.node in its script, or self.node:get_node("path")). Every node also has the Node methods.

SkeletonNode:connect(event, handler)

Connects a handler to one of this node’s events: animation_finished (A non-looping animation ended (Aseprite: a tag’s repeats are done)), skeleton_event (An event key of the skeleton’s animation fired (its name)); the tree events; custom ones.

self.node:connect("animation_finished", function(value, source) Log.info("animation_finished") end)

• event SkeletonNodeEvent|string
• handler fun(value: any, source: SkeletonNode)

Returns integer id Connection id for disconnect

SkeletonNode:get_property(path)

Reads an Inspector property by its path (vectors and colours as tables); “script.” reads a field of the node’s script.

local value = self.node:get_property("file")

• path SkeletonNodeProperty|string

Returns any

SkeletonNode:set_property(path, value, y)

Sets an Inspector property by its path: vectors as {x, y} or x, y; colours as {r, g, b[, a]} 0..1 or “#rrggbb[aa]”; enums by name; “script.” a field of the node’s script.

self.node:set_property("file", "text")

• path SkeletonNodeProperty|string
• value any
• y? number

SkeletonNode:skeleton_play(name, loop, mix)

Plays an animation (crossfading over mix seconds; default: the node’s Mix Time). False when the skeleton has no such animation.

skel:skeleton_play("run")

• name string
• loop? boolean Default true
• mix? number Seconds

Returns boolean ok

SkeletonNode:skeleton_stop()

Stops at the current frame.

skel:skeleton_stop()

SkeletonNode:skeleton_is_playing()

An animation is playing.

if not skel:skeleton_is_playing() then skel:skeleton_play("idle") end

Returns boolean

SkeletonNode:skeleton_set_skin(name)

Switches the skin (attachment set).

skel:skeleton_set_skin("armored")

• name string

SkeletonNode:skeleton_animations()

The animations’ names.

for _, a in ipairs(skel:skeleton_animations()) do print(a) end

Returns string[]

SkeletonNode:skeleton_skins()

The skins’ names.

local skins = skel:skeleton_skins()

Returns string[]

SkeletonNode:skeleton_bones()

The bones’ names.

local bones = skel:skeleton_bones()

Returns string[]

SkeletonNode:skeleton_bone_position(name)

A bone’s position in the world (nil: no such bone).

local muzzle = skel:skeleton_bone_position("gun_tip")

• name string

Returns Vec2?

SkeletonNode:skeleton_bone_rotation(name)

A bone’s rotation in the world (degrees).

local angle = skel:skeleton_bone_rotation("arm")

• name string

Returns number?

SkeletonNode:skeleton_set_bone_rotation(name, degrees)

Overrides a bone’s local rotation (degrees) over the animation; nil gives it back to the animation.

skel:skeleton_set_bone_rotation("arm", aim_angle)

• name string
• degrees? number

Returns boolean ok

SkeletonNode:skeleton_duration(name)

An animation’s length in seconds (default: the current one).

local t = skel:skeleton_duration("attack")

• name? string

Returns number

In a scene file

{
  "type": "SkeletonNode",
  "name": "Skeleton",
  "position": [
    0,
    0
  ],
  "properties": {
    "file": "",
    "atlas": "",
    "armature": ""
  }
}