[wxPython-users] Best way to display a series of PNG frames as an animation?

[Robin Dunn]

Gloria wrote:
> Hi there,
> I am trying to find the best way to display a series of .png frames in 
> series. I want to control the timing, looping, etc. similar to your 
> animated GIF interface. I don't see PNG support in the animate() 
> methods, am I missing something?
> I have also attempted doing the display myself in a threaded wxpython 
> app, but I only see each image if I set an interactive breakpoint, wait 
> for it to draw, and hit "c" for continue. There must be a better way.

Take a look at the wx.lib.throbber module.  You may be able to make a 
custom version in a derived class that handles having variable durations 
between frames, otherwise it will serve as an example of what you need 
to do.

In essence you'll want to do things something like this:

* Have a widget with a EVT_PAINT handler that draws the current frame of 
the animation sequence in the handler.

* The widget will have a timer that is initially set to the time 
duration between the first and second frames in the sequence.

* When the timer expires the handler will change the "current" frame to 
the next in the sequence, wrapping around to the beginning if needed, 
restarting the timer with the next duration, and then call Refresh so a 
new paint event will be sent so the new image will be drawn.  (You may 
want to add an Update() there too so the paint will happen immediately.)

-- 
Robin Dunn
Software Craftsman
http://wxPython.org  Java give you jitters?  Relax with wxPython!