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Post by GreenJag on Jul 28, 2005 13:28:53 GMT 1
I have been asked to throw some light on the subject of creating animated GIFs. These can be used for all manner of things, such as sending animated messages to a friend by e-mail, but in the context of PCP, I maily use them for my animated siggies and avatars, which I like to change every couple of days. I believe they brighten and decorate our Forum, and in some cases can provide a bit of a chuckle as well! How many people are actually interested in this, would it be worth proceeding. I should point out that it has been a slow learning curve for me, and I only did my first one about 6 months ago. I started with very simple text messages which I found I was able to animate, and every time I used the software, I learned a little more! The basic requirement would be an Animation package, I use Animation Shop, which is the only package I am familiar with. Those of you who have recent versions of Paint Shop Pro, which I use for my JPG work, may find Animation Shop came included with it! A full working demo version can be obtained at the Corel site, so that you can see if this is really something for you, before purchasing it. Click here for Download page![/b][/color][/url] Please add names below if you are interested. It may even be that we can create a new sub-board so as not to confuse our work with that already in this sub-board!
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Post by AliBullie on Jul 28, 2005 13:36:43 GMT 1
I'd like to give it a go, though I'm not a quick learner, and need to have things written down one step at a time in triplicate. Will ask hubby which paint shop thing we have. Ali
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Post by fldave on Jul 28, 2005 13:44:11 GMT 1
Terry, I'll be a willing but challenged student as "I might be dumb but I'm not stupid!"
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Post by mugsy on Jul 28, 2005 17:45:00 GMT 1
Count me in Terry, but I will be on holiday from Monday to 4th September. I will be home for about 4 days in the middle. They do brighten up the forums, especially if we can put them onto others with TRPD on
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Post by Old Dragon (Al) on Jul 28, 2005 18:32:25 GMT 1
Me too! (Although I'm challenged with these things, but do have the same programme as you. ) Al
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Post by GreenJag on Jul 31, 2005 9:25:56 GMT 1
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Post by Selina the Moorland Minx on Jul 31, 2005 11:22:09 GMT 1
Just to clarify T, cause you know I'm a bit slow on the uptake at times, do we need Paint Shop Pro or Animation Shop to make your clever gifs or both
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Post by GreenJag on Jul 31, 2005 11:58:11 GMT 1
you know I'm a bit slow on the uptake at times [/color][/size][/quote] How right you are S. Several people have tried to tell me to the contrary, but I repeatedly stick up for you, and say that you are!!! Paint Shop is for viewing and editing single frame images, such as .jpg, and .bmp. You need Animation Shop, or similar, in order to do the same with multi frame files such as .gifs.
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Post by mugsy on Jul 31, 2005 13:20:15 GMT 1
I am off on holiday tomorrow and won't be in a position to do this until 4th September, but if I get a chance, I will download this today.
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Post by GreenJag on Jul 31, 2005 16:09:18 GMT 1
OK Al, just for you, here is some very basic information to familiarise you with a few of the basics. The first shot is a screen shot of Animation Shop with pig3.gif loaded. This is what that GIF looks like when animated. In answer to your question Al, you don't need to tell an animated GIF to animate, that is just what it does. However, when creating a GIF, you can control the duration individual frames will be displayed for, and whether or not to "Loop" it, that is to say play continuously, or just play a set number of times then stop. Not clearly seen in this small screen capture, under each frame are the letters F and D. F stands for FRAME, and when dealing with large animations made up of 40 or 60 frames, it makes it easy to see at a glance where you are in the animation. Also, when previewing the animation, before saving, the window displaying the moving animation also shows exactly which frame is showing as it plays. This makes it easy to track down a frame you wish to modify. D stands for duration, and frames are display in graduations of 100ths of a second. Most of my standard GIFs are set for about 15/100ths of a second each frame, although if there are frames of text alone displayed, those might be from 200 to 300/100ths, (2 to 3 seconds) to give the viewer time to read it. If there are several frames in the GIF, individual frames can be selected by left clicking on them. Then Right click to see what you can do with that frame, such as insert additional frames, cut one or more out, or add text or image effects. Great fun. To work on several frames at once, and possibly all of them, left click on the first you want to work on, then SHIFT and left mouse button on the last. The frames to be affected will all be highlighted. This is going to be a major task, but I think next time we will just look at starting a new animation off and adding some basic text effects.
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Post by AliBullie on Aug 1, 2005 9:50:01 GMT 1
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Post by AliBullie on Aug 1, 2005 11:12:49 GMT 1
Lets see if my first one works
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Post by GreenJag on Aug 1, 2005 11:53:04 GMT 1
By the way, you are taller and much slimmer than I had expected Ali! It's strange how you build up an image of someone in your mind before actually seeing them!
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Post by fldave on Aug 1, 2005 14:29:47 GMT 1
Funny Terry, that's the image I had but with nicer hair though!
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Connel
Wildcat Team Member
Posts: 8
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Post by Connel on Aug 1, 2005 19:08:02 GMT 1
I've cheated - Terry has just done one for me - I thinks its just great. Thanks Terry.
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Connel
Wildcat Team Member
Posts: 8
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Post by Connel on Aug 2, 2005 8:04:54 GMT 1
Terry - where is my piccie?
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Post by AliBullie on Aug 8, 2005 21:51:14 GMT 1
Heres another one This took 2 hours to make
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Post by fldave on Aug 8, 2005 22:01:33 GMT 1
Brilliant Ali! Looks like you'll be creating havoc in no time!
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Post by GreenJag on Aug 8, 2005 22:17:21 GMT 1
Looks like I'll have some real competition at this rate Dave. It was a couple of weeks after starting to experiment with GIFs that I started trying to do anything with images, having concentrated purely on text.
Between Ali and myself, we will have the whole of TRPD decorated with GIFs before long.
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Post by AliBullie on Aug 15, 2005 18:14:06 GMT 1
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