Modding Help Passing data between regular script and animation script

So, i'm trying to create a better paint tool than the one the base game gives you. I've been fairly successful so far and have figured out how to create drawables to highlight the area you're aiming at, but i've run into a problem - the animation script and regular script for the item are separate and I don't know how to pass information from one to the other, such as what color or brush sizes are currently selected. This is hamstringing my effort to provide the player with more visual feedback from the paint tool, to say the least.

Right now I just have a static 3x3 area that looks like this, even when shift is held to paint single blocks:

I'd like the highlight to visually expand/shrink and be colorized depending on what the player is doing, but I can't do that without being able to transmit data from the main script to the animation script, and since animationScripts doesn't seem to have access to the activeItem lua functions, this is a problem.

The pertinent files are as follows:

{
"itemName" : "isn_paint_tool",
"shortdescription" : "Portable Paint Tool",
"description" : "A high-end paint tool for artists and construction workers.",
"rarity" : "Legendary",
"price" : 500,
"level" : 1,
"maxStack" : 1,
"category" : "Tool",
"twoHanded" : true,

"inventoryIcon" : "isn_paint_tool_item.png",

"animation" : "/items/isn_paint_tool/isn_paint_tool.animation",
"animationParts" : {
"middle" : "isn_paint_tool.png"
},
"animationCustom" : {
"sounds" : {
"paint" : [ "/sfx/tools/paint_splash.ogg" ],
"switchcolor" : [ "/sfx/tools/flashlight_toggle.ogg" ],
"switchmode" : [ "/sfx/tech/tech_multijump.ogg" ]
}
},
"scripts" : ["/items/isn_paint_tool/isn_paint_tool.lua"],
"scriptDelta" : 1,
"animationScripts" : ["/items/isn_paint_tool/isn_paint_tool_anim.lua"],
"animationDelta" : 1
}

require "/scripts/util.lua"
require "/scripts/vec2.lua"

function init()
self.paintradius = 2
self.paintcolor = 0
self.paintmode = 0
self.paintbg = false
self.paintfg = true
self.lastfire = "none"
self.blocklock = nil
self.colorCache = {}
self.fireOffset = config.getParameter("fireOffset")
updateAim()

animator.setParticleEmitterBurstCount("isn_pnttoo_msg_both", 1)
animator.setParticleEmitterBurstCount("isn_pnttoo_msg_fg", 1)
animator.setParticleEmitterBurstCount("isn_pnttoo_msg_bg", 1)
animator.setParticleEmitterBurstCount("isn_pnttoo_msg_bl_on", 1)
animator.setParticleEmitterBurstCount("isn_pnttoo_msg_bl_off", 1)
animator.setParticleEmitterBurstCount("isn_pnttoo_msg_bl_error", 1)
end

function update(dt, fireMode, shiftHeld)
updateAim()
local aimpos = activeItem.ownerAimPosition()
local posX = aimpos[1]
local posY = aimpos[2]

if shiftHeld == true then self.paintradius = 0
else self.paintradius = 2 end

if fireMode == "primary" then
for x = 0 - self.paintradius, self.paintradius do
for y = 0 - self.paintradius, self.paintradius do
if self.paintfg == true then
if self.blocklock ~= nil then
if self.blocklock == world.material({posX + x, posY + y}, "foreground") then
--sb.logInfo(tostring("BL: " .. self.blocklock))
--sb.logInfo(tostring("FG: " .. world.material({posX + x, posY + y}, "foreground")))
world.setMaterialColor({posX + x, posY + y}, "foreground", self.paintcolor)
end
else
world.setMaterialColor({posX + x, posY + y}, "foreground", self.paintcolor)
end
end
if self.paintbg == true then
if self.blocklock ~= nil then
if self.blocklock == world.material({posX + x, posY + y}, "background") then
--sb.logInfo(tostring("BL: " .. self.blocklock))
--sb.logInfo(tostring("BG: " .. world.material({posX + x, posY + y}, "background")))
world.setMaterialColor({posX + x, posY + y}, "background", self.paintcolor)
end
else
world.setMaterialColor({posX + x, posY + y}, "background", self.paintcolor)
end
end
end
end
animator.playSound("paint")

elseif fireMode == "alt" and self.lastfire ~= "alt" then
if shiftHeld == true then
if mcontroller.crouching() then
if self.blocklock ~= nil then
self.blocklock = nil
animator.playSound("switchmode")
animator.burstParticleEmitter("isn_pnttoo_msg_bl_off")
else
local bgtile = world.material({posX, posY}, "background")
local fgtile = world.material({posX, posY}, "foreground")
if fgtile ~= false and fgtile ~= nil then
self.blocklock = fgtile
animator.playSound("switchmode")
animator.burstParticleEmitter("isn_pnttoo_msg_bl_on")
elseif bgtile ~= false and bgtile ~= nil then
self.blocklock = bgtile
animator.playSound("switchmode")
animator.burstParticleEmitter("isn_pnttoo_msg_bl_on")
else
animator.playSound("error")
animator.burstParticleEmitter("isn_pnttoo_msg_bl_error")
end
end
else
animator.playSound("switchmode")
self.paintmode = self.paintmode + 1
if self.paintmode > 2 then self.paintmode = 0 end
if self.paintmode < 0 then self.paintmode = 2 end
if self.paintmode == 0 then
self.paintbg = false
self.paintfg = true
animator.burstParticleEmitter("isn_pnttoo_msg_fg")
elseif self.paintmode == 1 then
self.paintbg = true
self.paintfg = false
animator.burstParticleEmitter("isn_pnttoo_msg_bg")
else
self.paintbg = true
self.paintfg = true
animator.burstParticleEmitter("isn_pnttoo_msg_both")
end
end
else
animator.playSound("switchcolor")
if mcontroller.crouching() then self.paintcolor = self.paintcolor - 1
else self.paintcolor = self.paintcolor + 1 end
if self.paintcolor > 8 then self.paintcolor = 0 end
if self.paintcolor < 0 then self.paintcolor = 8 end
animator.setAnimationState("color", tostring(self.paintcolor))
end
end

self.lastfire = fireMode
end

function uninit()
end

function updateAim()
self.aimAngle, self.aimDirection = activeItem.aimAngleAndDirection(0.0, activeItem.ownerAimPosition())
self.aimAngle = self.aimAngle
activeItem.setArmAngle(self.aimAngle)
activeItem.setFacingDirection(self.aimDirection)
end

require "/scripts/util.lua"
require "/scripts/vec2.lua"

function init()
self.colorCache = {}
end

function update(dt, fireMode, shiftHeld)
localAnimator.clearDrawables()
local aimpos = activeItemAnimation.ownerAimPosition()
local highlight_offset = -0.5
local image_to_use = "/items/isn_paint_tool/isn_paint_tool_highlight_3.png"
local posX = math.ceil(aimpos[1])
local posY = math.ceil(aimpos[2])

if getCurrentRadius() == 0 then
image_to_use = "/items/isn_paint_tool/isn_paint_tool_highlight_1.png"
end

posX = posX + highlight_offset
posY = posY + highlight_offset

localAnimator.addDrawable({
image = image_to_use,
fullbright = true,
position = {posX, posY},
centered = true,
color = {255, 255, 255, 100}
}, "overlay")
end

function uninit()
end

Any help is appreciated!

 

I haven't looked exactly what the active item animation scripts have access to, but try the messaging system.

 

If message.setHandler exists in the animation script -> set up one or two way communication between the two scripts.
If world.sendEntityMessage exists in the animation script -> set up one way communication from the animation script to the item script to ask for the data.
If status exists in the animation script -> use status.statusProperty to obtain the data and update it in the item script with status.setStatusProperty.

If you don't know how to set up message handlers, I hope this documentation helps: https://github.com/Silverfeelin/Starbound-MessageHandling-Demo/wiki

 

Do activeItems have an entity id I can use for the first argument in world.sendEntityMessage? I didn't think items counted as entities?

EDIT:
Oh hey, I seem to have stumbled on the solution! Turns out there's dedicated functions for this.

On the transmitting end:
activeItem.setScriptedAnimationParameter(String parameter, Json value)

And on the recieving end:
animationConfig.animationParameter(String key)