A more effective skeleton2D workflow (that may be actually simple to implement.)

[DOSO-draws]

What if rather than using a single texture for all the parts, the user were to upload the parts as separate textures - as to be able to provide a filename for each part?

This might allow a much faster / more efficient process to build skeleton2D's:

1. The user could start by just building the skeleton (making sure to label each bone descriptively) and point to the folder with all the parts for the engine to do the rest (mapping and assigning) automatically. The user could then jump straight to weight painting.

2. Perhaps the mapping process could be also refined if there were some sort of notation. For example, the user could (let's say) use blue dots around each character part (placed while drawing the actual parts ouside of Godot) to instruct the program where to place the poligon vertices. This might reduce the need for subsequent weight painting.

3. (This might be more complex to implement, but) Do we really need to create a rig at all? What if the user just supplied a set of files with the individual character parts, along with a JSON specifying the position of each part within the skeleton, and Godot would simply add a bone over each part, as well as name it accordingly, map it and assign it. Would this be possible?

[DOSO-draws]

Edit/disclaimer: I am a designer, not a coder. I asked Copilot to "write me a script to automatically connect textures to bones with the same label in Godot while using skeleton2D", and it seems viable enough:

Certainly! Below is a GDScript example that connects textures (assumed to be Sprite nodes) to Bone2D nodes within a Skeleton2D node, based on matching labels. This script should be attached to the Skeleton2D node.

extends Skeleton2D

func _ready():
# Iterate through all children of the Skeleton2D node
for sprite in get_children():
# Check if the child is a Sprite node
if sprite is Sprite:
# Get the label of the sprite (assuming the name of the sprite is used as the label)
var sprite_label = sprite.name
# Find a bone with the matching label
var bone_id = find_bone(sprite_label)
# Check if a bone with the matching label exists
if bone_id != -1:
# Attach the sprite to the bone
sprite.set_bone_parent(bone_id)

This script assumes that the Sprite nodes are direct children of the Skeleton2D node and that their names match the labels of the Bone2D nodes you wish to connect them to. The set_bone_parent method attaches the Sprite to the corresponding Bone2D by setting the bone as the sprite’s parent.

Make sure to adjust the script to fit the specific setup of your scene if necessary. For example, if the textures are not direct children of the Skeleton2D node or if they are not Sprite nodes, you will need to modify the script accordingly. Additionally, if you use a different naming convention or method to label your sprites and bones, you’ll need to implement the appropriate logic to match them.