🎬 CartoonMaker

A desktop 2D animation editor — place characters on a scene, set keyframes and watch them come to life.

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📖 About

CartoonMaker is a Windows desktop application for creating simple 2D animations. You load sprite-based characters, place them on a scene, record their movement using keyframes on a timeline, and play the result back in real time.

Animations are saved in a custom binary format .AFC and can also be exported as GIF.

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✨ Features

• 🖼️ PNG sprite support — load animated characters from folders (frame strips)
• 🎭 Scene editor — place, drag and scale objects on a 1920×1080 canvas
• 🔑 Keyframe animation — record object movement with start/end points and timing
• ⏱️ Custom Timeline — visual timeline with time ruler, scrolling and zoom
• ▶️ Playback — real-time animation preview with play/pause
• 🔄 Mirror support — flip characters horizontally per keyframe
• 💾 Save / Load — custom .AFC binary format for scenes
• 🎞️ GIF export — export your animation as an animated GIF
• 🔍 Scene zoom & pan — mouse wheel zoom and middle-click pan

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🏗️ Architecture

Module	Description
Main	Main form — scene rendering, mouse interaction, playback loop
LoadManager	Loads PNG sprite resources from the Animation/ folder
SceneManager	Manages scene objects, keyframe linked lists, save/load to .AFC
TimeLine	Custom VCL component — timeline with ruler, keyframe blocks, scrollbars
DialogAddFrame	Dialog for configuring a new keyframe (duration, animation, mirror)
CustomSpinEdit	Extended float spin-edit control
FileWork	File open/save helpers for .AFC and GIF formats

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📁 Project Structure

CartoonMaker/
│
├── Main.pas / .dfm         # Main form — scene, toolbar, splitters
├── LoadManager.pas         # Sprite loader (reads PNG folders)
├── SceneManager.pas        # Scene objects and keyframe management
├── TimeLine.pas            # Custom Timeline VCL component
├── DialogAddFrame.pas      # Add keyframe dialog
├── CustomSpinEdit.pas      # Float SpinEdit component
├── FileWork.pas            # File I/O helpers
│
└── Animation/              # Sprite resources folder
    └── CharacterName/
        ├── main.png        # Preview / idle frame
        ├── idle.png        # Idle animation strip
        └── walk.png        # Other animation strips

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🚀 Getting Started

Requirements

• Delphi (RAD Studio) — any version supporting VCL
• Windows OS

Build & Run

1. Open the project in Delphi IDE
2. Make sure the Animation/ folder with sprite resources is next to the executable
3. Press F9 to compile and run

Using the editor

1. Place sprite folders in the Animation/ directory — each folder is one character
2. Select a character from the Loaded panel on the left
3. Left-click on the scene to place the character
4. Select the character, press Add Keyframe and drag it to a new position
5. Press ▶ Play to preview the animation
6. Save your scene via File → Save (.AFC format)

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🛠️ Tech Stack

Language	Object Pascal (Delphi)
UI Framework	VCL (Visual Component Library)
Graphics	TPngImage, TBitmap, GDI
Platform	Windows (Win32/Win64)
Scene format	Custom binary .AFC
Export	GIF animation

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📜 License

Distributed under the MIT License. See LICENSE for details.

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Made with ❤️, Delphi and a timeline full of keyframes.