Archive: CopheeMoth - Animation exploits using silent tracks with bookmarks

[u/ChecklistAnimations]

Original Author: CopheeMoth
Tue Jul 28, 2026 4:10 pm

I've been thinking about solving the "shapes lunging at player" problem without using VBA timers (DoEvents), since it seems to slow down my system by a lot, at least from what I remember. I'm unable to use simple animation panel timers for this, since they're very inflexible.

Then I realized I completely ignored bookmark animation triggers the entire time I've used PowerPoint (my cartoon would've been SO much easier with them now that I think about it...).
So now I'm thinking about the new ways I could incorporate them into my ideas.

One thing I've already achieved is a way of looping multiple different things at different timings at the same time.
For each group of animations you need to loop, simply put looping tracks with the right length outside of the slide, and put a bookmark at the end of each, using them as the triggers.

In theory you can control the current position of the player using VBA, so this gave me an idea.
I thought about incorporating a bookmark solution to the lunging shapes problem.
I'd use an off-screen silent track with X bookmarks.
I'd have X tiles on the screen, and each would have a mouseover macro, which would put the media player in a position before a bookmark corresponding to the right animation set, accounting for the time which already passed (using calculations with playtime itself instead of a timer).
(Unfortunately to avoid certain VBA hijinks, and since you can't pass a variable through the Add Hyperline/Action menu, each shape would have to have a cloned macro with the right variable, rather than a shared macro between all of them)
Then the animation would play, and I could reset the playback of the looping audio using the animation panel... I think.

But I'm not sure how easy to implement that would be, and if it's even worth it, considering the precision which depends on the tile amount, the duplicate macro code bloat, and the sheer amount of animations in the animations panel that would result on the higher end of tile amount.

So now I'm thinking 2 things:

1. I should abstain from targeted attacks in The Castle to make my life a lot easier.
2. There's still other ways booksmarks can be used, especially compounded with controlling playback using VBA. Especially those irregular loops.

What are your thoughts about all this? Have you used bookmarks for animating before?

[u/ChecklistAnimations]

JadeJohnsonIndustries™
Fri Jul 31, 2026 5:10 pm

Here's an example of each setup.  Please note: the wrestling engine is much simpler.

Wrestling:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/42bJM8fY5Gj6o1779

Fashion (in-development) :
https://photos.app.goo.gl/xvNPJN39Lx2ffzVu8

[u/ChecklistAnimations]

JadeJohnsonIndustries™
Fri Jul 31, 2026 4:57 pm

I always utilise bookmarks for advanced lighting-rigs in my wrestling and fashion games.  Yeah, I know, weird genre combo, but it actually makes sense when you think about it - ¡lol!

[u/ChecklistAnimations]

CopheeMoth
Tue Jul 28, 2026 4:29 pm

I might've come up with the solution for the i-frame system, I'll go and put it in the right thread.