.gif Question!

[Baroque]

Greetings, reader.

I got a question, a rather important one. I would really like to create a new sig, better said a .gif sig. I am rather close to finish it but noticed, that it became really HUGE. 1 MB, that would not work. It's a normal .jpg with an added .gif...the problem is, I think it could be made different. At the moment, the .jpg was duplicated 100 times, which first caused a slow down on the animation and made the whole thing bigger...I think.
I've seen other sigs like what I have in mind, but they were small, the animation smooth, everything like it should be. How does that work? Anyone an idea? I'm sure Fusion Fox has! ...if he reads that. Ever.

[Commander Argus]

If an animated .gif has too many frames, it's going to be big, and people are going to be upset with you for having something that takes forever to load (or folks like me would just block the image)

If you look at my animated gifs (created in JASC Animation Shop 3) they're pretty simple. The transition between the images is only 3-4 actual images themselves.

To keep things smaller, I took the transitions out of my avatar, because it is up to 13 full images. Imagine how large the file would be if I put 3-4 transitional frames between each one.

The trick is finding a balance between smoothness and file-size. You can also play with the quality level of each image itself.

[Fusion Fox]

Did somebody say my name?

The reason you file is so big is because 100 frames is a large number in this situation. That's the same as loading a page with 100 jpeg images, slows down everybody quite a lot

My avatar has 45 frames and my sig has 30, I always try to keep the number as low as possible.

But there are other ways to reduce file size, I dont know what program your using but...



Increasing loss or decreasing the number of colours reduces file size and also quality, it's just up to you to find some kind of middle ground between graphics and size...

Obviously decreasing the size helps, but the number of frames seems to be your biggest problem.

Hope that helped

[Baroque]

Ok, well...ahm I've looked a bit around and someone had a sig, (height like a userbar but width like...a normal sig) with 200+ frames and it was only 32kb big. Or 64 or something, don't know. How's that possible? And no, it wasn't just a black picture or something.
I'm using Ulead Gif Animator at the moment...but got a problem there, that I can't open Photo Impact files (program freezes then) which means I couldn't put a frame around the gif. Which programmes could I use to make my picture as I want? And is there a way to...well, how should I explain, got only that one .jpg as some kind of background and inside of that frame the .gif is playing? Understandable? NO!

[Warbandit]

I think I understand what you're saying...you want a still .jpg image to border around your animated .gif? In which case, you'd just need one big animated .gif with the border unanimated, while the rest animates normally. I don't know a lot of animated GIF programs myself, but the two I've used in the past are Adobe ImageReady and GIF Construction Set Professional. GIF Construction Set might be free...I had the shareware version, and it could get this done. But that would mean you have to add the "border" to every frame individually, and so when you compile the .gif, the border will be present in every frame (unanimated). If you have access to ImageReady, it would be a lot easier with the use of layers.

As for the filesize...I have trouble keeping that down, too. But Fusion Fox! You seem to be very educated in that field...do you happen to have any sort of tutorial on optimizing .gif filesize and quality? I read what you posted above, but what program is that?
If not, what program do you use? I've noticed your GIFs are always high quality, but low filesize...you must have special powers

[Fusion Fox]

Special powers? Maybe, but none that help animating gifs ;D

And believe it or not I've only ever read one book on multimedia editing and that was this book which gives an introduction to the Macromedia MX2004 suite, the suite of programs I use. Other than that all my knowledge is self-taught


As for programs... the image editing software is Fireworks MX2004 but to make animated gifs, I get a little help from Flash MX2004. After all, the programs were designed to be used together. With these two I can do anything I ever need to do and never think about jumping on the photoshop bandwagon

Fireworks:

---

Here's how the magic happens:

-I import the video into flash and it allows me to trim it to the correct size. I import it at the highest quality because if I start with the highest quality, when I shrink it down it will look even better




I know this isnt the proper use of flash, that's much more impressive, but this is a brilliant way of making animated gifs


-I then export as an animated gif instead of the usual flash movie file (.swf)


-I then open the gif in Fireworks. The quality is low but the size is big, because of this, when I resize it the quality is good




-In the frames panel, I can do real work with the actual frames. This includes:

Deleting frames
Adding frames
Re-ordering frames
Changing the frame rate (speed at which frames change)
Manipulating frames eg: adding static text/boarders that I want to appear on every frame and not move




-This image has 36 frames and has a reasonable file size




-I then export the finished thing as a second animated gif and its done

---

And that's about it

And you're right, to get a static object (boarder, text etc) just put it on every frame

[Warbandit]

Cheese and crackers, Fusion Fox! That's amazing!

Ooooh wow, I have Macromedia Flash as well, but have never thought of using it for this purpose before! You're a genius. Meh...Photoshop and Fireworks were pretty similar to begin with, and now with Adobe owning Macromedia they probably are even more similar I'm hoping I can still use your guide with PS So do you typically use 128 colours? Or less?

Thank you so much for the guide, Fusion Fox! You have no idea how thankful I am ;D Now I know how the master does it

[Fusion Fox]

I'll always share what little knowledge I have. no problem ;D

As colours go, 128 or 256 are my usual. To be honest, when working on avatars and signatures, its hard to tell a difference due to the small size. What it really takes it trying it out and seeing how it looks (that's what the preview button is for )

Youre probably right, now they've merged there wont be any more Fireworks and I'll have to get Photoshop sometime ;D

I tried to convert a while ago but I couldn't get used to it, guess I just need more practice (and to read a guide or two ). I know that's what the pros use and I'd like to get good at it sometime

And 'master'?! ;D

[Baroque]

Finally found the sig that shows exactly what I mean!



Pretty much like this. I made it a bit different then Fusion, first made an .avi out of the video, loaded that into Ulead Gif Animator and deleted all the frames I didn't want to have...or couldn't have because it would've been even bigger then. Even now with just...55 frames it is over 200kb big...and I still can't insert the nice frame around the .gif. Ah man...

[Fusion Fox]

Well that images is 342kb and it's fine

And that is an example of having something static on every frame. If I open it in fireworks...





Each frame has that boarder on it

[Baroque]

Too bad...well, Fireworks and Flash aren't for free, hm?

[Fusion Fox]

No

But any image editing program (photoshop etc) should be able to do it

[Warbandit]

fusionfox said:

No

But any image editing program (photoshop etc) should be able to do it

Which unfortunately is also not free

For free options, I might recommend the image editing software IrfanView: www.irfanview.com/. Although it may be really tedious to paste the border image on every individual frame...

Your best bet may be to try some of the .GIF editors out there. Again, GIF Construction Set is a free one I've used in the past (www.mindworkshop.com/alchemy/gifcon.html). Otherwise, if you have any video editing software, you could always get the border on the video itself, and export the .GIF again.

[Fusion Fox]

Ah, I've used video editing software to make gifs before. That's also a good way to do it

But I actually paste the boarder image onto each individual frame on mine, its not that bad

[Warbandit]

fusionfox said:

Ah, I've used video editing software to make gifs before. That's also a good way to do it

But I actually paste the boarder image onto each individual frame on mine, its not that bad

Lol I've done that a few times too...but I find I reach border-line insanity with the amount of repetitive "factory" work it takes Point...click...CTRL+V...point...click...CTRL+V...

[Fusion Fox]

Yep it's rough...

What's worse is

Paste
Click
Shift+click
Modify>mask>group as mask
Click
Path outline

[repeat 45 times ]


But it's worth it to get that sweet 'cut out' look for my rounded banners

[Warbandit]

Holy...that is pretty rough But like you said, definitely worth it. Your rounded border on that "Respect" animation is a nice touch.

I hope Baroque can find a less..."labour-intensive" method for his purposes

[Baroque]

warbandit said:

Your best bet may be to try some of the .GIF editors out there. Again, GIF Construction Set is a free one I've used in the past (www.mindworkshop.com/alchemy/gifcon.html). Otherwise, if you have any video editing software, you could always get the border on the video itself, and export the .GIF again.

Haha, the Gif CS is funny, "If you buy it I will disappear forever!".
I tried to make that now in ImageReady...oh my are these Photoshop thingies complicated. I'm not really satisfied with how it turned out but...better than nothing.