Ok, solved my problem. As nearly always, the problem was in fact mine xD I was extracting the frames from the atlas and creating CCsprites with them, then using those CCSprites as the MenuItemImages sprites.
Problem was, I was adding also the sprites as childs to the layer, so they were being drawn on (0,0) also.
Stupid, right?
well, I think I'll end up buying a license, flash 1024x1024 limitation isn't good enough now with ipad and iphone4 on the table.

I'm having a really strange problem with An Atlas Texture created with Zwoptex Flash version. ( Can't test on app right now, because trial finished, but when I did a few weeks back, It was working ok..)
A picture is worth a thousand words so..

Those "white images" in the bottom left corner are the "selected" sprites of the CCMenuItems. ANd I have no clue why this is happening. I've tried generating it again with same resaults..

also, here is the .png and .plist generated by Zwoptex.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/313914/Mainmenu_atlas.png
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/313914/Mainmenu_atlas.plist

any ideas?

I think I found a bug in zwoptex 1.0 regarding the sprite trimming.

Please read this topic for all info:

http://www.cocos2d-iphone.org/forum/topic/8059

Thanks!

Well, I just thought a bit more about me buying zwoptex, and I realised that I also should support riq. So I just also donated $25 to Riq. If everyone does that he'll sure be happy :)

Thanks a lot for the info, Robert. Get well soon!

Marco

EDIT: By the way - I´ve just bought it, too ;-)

@marcotronic

I've had the flu and a terrible cough so before I make video tutorials I'm trying to get a little bit better so you don't hear me coughing! Hopefully this week :)

@nocell There is always the flash version that will remain free forever for anyone to use. It may be less feature complete but hence why the desktop is a paid version. I don't contribute Zwoptex revenues directly to the cocos2d project but I have contributed to the project personally monetarily and time wise for testing/patching etc.. and will continue to do so.

@VTX I briefly looked at the development branch and the patch is in there. Are you 100% sure you are getting the proper branch?

@riq:

I downloaded the development (yesterday) branch via: git clone git://github.com/cocos2d/cocos2d-iphone.git develop

but it did not include the patch that added the rotation feature. I had to apply the patch myself?

Just purchased a copy of Zwoptex for a game I'll be releasing soon. Highly recommend to anyone working with Cocos2D.

I would pay 30$ for Zwoptex If I knew that there is a share of 10$ for riq.

Just pretend that Zwoptex is $35 then... Give $25 to Zwoptex and $10 to Riq. Or give $25 to each, whatever the value is for you! This is how open source stuff works, the core thing is often free and open source, but the tools for adding extra functionality are paid. At the end of the day, everyone would still like to make a living doing this stuff, but they go about it in different ways.

I see the point you're making, but I don't think money that's given to Zwoptex should be money that you won't give to Cocos2D, instead, pay for Zwoptex AND donate to Cocos2D, it's the best of both words :)

-Matt

Well, I don't say that zwoptex is harming cocos2d! I just say that I would be glad to see cocos2d utilities (like zwoptex or particles designer) to give some portion of their profits to the developer of cocos2d.

Such software can be very helpful, but it is somewhat strange to get the drink for free and pay (someone else) for the rocks! If the drinks were free and you paid for the rocks knowing that this keeps the party alive for longer, that would be the perfect model. I, for one, would be ready to have my whiskey on the rocks...

P.S: I consider Riq to be a great, and respectful, altruist. He backs everything that brings value to cocos2d developers, without really considering his personal interest. I get this as a good reason that we should also care for what helps his project being kept a viable one.

I don't think its an issue, if the community thought it was harming cocos2d or Riq in particular they'd vote with their feet and it'd get buried.

You'll probably find quite a lot of people looking for a spritemap tool discover cocos2d at the same time. I can't speak for Riq but I'm guessing if he wasn't happy with it he wouldn't be adding the patches to keep the two projects in sync.

Yes, but in a great extend it owes its success on cocos2d userbase support. No?
(without saying it is not a very good product of course!)

@abitofcode :)

@noocell Do you realize that Zwoptex is standalone tool in no direct way associated with cocos2d?

I agree with noocell, I'm gonna ring Adobe this afternoon, they've been leaching off the community for far too long with Photoshop! Apart from resizing cocos2d assets and the occasional drop shadow I can see it serves no other purpose ;)

Robert, any news on the video tutorials and introduction?

Thanks,
Marco

I would pay 30$ for Zwoptex If I knew that there is a share of 10$ for riq.

I don't feel well to pay someone for accessories on a product that is free and this fact puts in danger the future of the product.

Just my thoughts...

Just bought it. Thanks :)

Applied Robert's patch (Zwoptex v1.0 support) in "develop" branch:
http://github.com/cocos2d/cocos2d-iphone/commit/478f6ca9a0aa73f4ee2bb2fba19d02b7958f929d

Basically it is v0.99.4 + Zwoptex 1.0 support patch

To download it:

$ git clone git://github.com/cocos2d/cocos2d-iphone.git develop

Just purchased...Great tool, saves so much time and effort when paired with cocos2d.

The amount of time it saves is a no brainer purchase.

I bought it immediately on release with great happiness. Being a non-graphics person it has help me immensely in the past and I for one appreciate all Robert has done. Worth every penny. As a developer I love to support other developers. I have bought several tools that have saved time and time is money. This is a great program.
-Jim

@pearapps

I agree. The tool is rather complex in terms of what it actually does and is hard to explain with documentation.. though in general help/documentation needs to improve unfortunately it's something I have had to leave until last.

The videos will help a lot - Still wearing of updating to 1.0 until I KNOW I am going to make the purchase, because of the trial and I am working on a semi big project. :D

@brendang I'm not quite sure I understand what you mean by "multiple different sprites on a single sprite sheet". Do you mean you could say for instance have a fox animation, a duck animation and some UI on a single sprite sheet?

If so then yes you can put whatever texture data you want into a single sprite sheet. cocos2d has different ways of using sprites from sprite sheets and they have different levels of optimization in terms of draw call count and performance but that is unrelated to the texture data itself.

@Pearapps @finder39

While not official supported by cocos2d the rotation is a small patch that is available on the website.. see http://www.zwoptexapp.com/extras.php. I'll be doing some video tutorials/feature introductions on Zwoptex in the coming days to help explain the feature set and it's advantages and how to use it to it's maximum potential.

-Robert

Great stuff! Once I sell a few copies of my game, I will be able to afford it... It's be a no-brainer!

Zwoptex is truly the must have app for sprite based games! Buy it!

@finder39 Same - the rotation thing looks insanely clever.

i may buy after is supported in cocos2d

Gah, so torn on whether too purchase. Someone - please push (convince) me too purchase just a tad bit more :D

@ Robert - sure we have originals. Just I, as a programmer, have no need to keep the orignal psds ;)

Robert, 1.0 looks awesome and I will purchase my license over the weekend. Quick question. You have multiple images on your Sprite sheets. Can I use multiple different sprites on a single sprite sheet? And Cocos2d will know where to grab them from?

(Spritemanager2 for Unity 3D works like this, but that's a horse of a different color)

If it does, and has functioned like this, I have some serious optimising to go back and do...lol

thanks,
B.