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Animated GIF Question

VanMac

VanMac

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
May 26, 2005
914
0
Rampaging Tokyo
Hey.

I'm not much of a graphics guy, but willing to learn.

I would like to create an animated gif based on an existing image I have. It is more for fun then anything else, but if it works out OK, I may include it in the development project I'm working on for a client.

The image is fairly basic. It is a triangle, with 3 'spheres' lined up horizontally in front of the triangle. Each sphere has one letter. The 3 letters form the company acronym.
The triangle and sphere are somewhat shaded to give a 3D effect(minor).

I would like to animate this so that the 3 spheres would look like tumblers in a Slot Machine. They would be scrolling by, then letter 1 would stop, letter 2 would stop, then letter 3 would stop...just like a slot machine.

For tools, I have Dreamweaver Studio 8, so that give me Fireworks and Flash. I'm so-so in Fireworks, and even less knowledgeable in Flash.

So, any guidance appreciated. I know there are a few how-to's on the web, but just thought I would post here first to get me going on the right track.

Thanks in advance,
 
Hi. I know what you're trying to do and I think I *might* be able to help. It would be sort of complicated to explain so I was wondering if I might be able to try it myself? (I have Flash) Then you can see how I did it. I think I can get it to work, at least I hope so.;) If you PM me exactly what you want I can give it a go. Let me know

Kevin
 
I use Gif Fun <-- direct download.
If you can't figure out how to use it you need help. :)

Edit: After rereading your post I'm not sure Gif Fun will do what you want.

What it does is: You give it two or more image files. You can then specify the duration each image last before the next image appears . It then saves the image as an animated gif file. (like some peoples avatars)
 
schaef2493 said:
Hi. I know what you're trying to do and I think I *might* be able to help. It would be sort of complicated to explain so I was wondering if I might be able to try it myself? (I have Flash) Then you can see how I did it. I think I can get it to work, at least I hope so.;) If you PM me exactly what you want I can give it a go. Let me know

Kevin
Click to expand...
Thanks for the offer Kevin.

I would prefer to muck around with it myself. Just looking for some guidance/tips if possible. I've pretty much explained what I need as best as possible.

Thanks again.
 
Ok thats fine. What I would do is in Flash make the little slot machine animation as a few motion tweens and then just export it as swf. Make a new FLA and make it the same size as the previously exported swf. Next, import the swf w/ all of your animations into that Flash Document and then export it as an animated GIF. Don't ask my why you can't export as animated GIF in the first place, I dont know.

That is what I would do..:)

Good Luck. Kevin
 
Fireworks does animated gifs quite well also. You literally can dupe down frames and build it frame by frame, and set the display time of each frame, how many loops, etc.
 
VanMac said:
Hey.

I'm not much of a graphics guy, but willing to learn.

I would like to create an animated gif based on an existing image I have. It is more for fun then anything else, but if it works out OK, I may include it in the development project I'm working on for a client.

The image is fairly basic. It is a triangle, with 3 'spheres' lined up horizontally in front of the triangle. Each sphere has one letter. The 3 letters form the company acronym.
The triangle and sphere are somewhat shaded to give a 3D effect(minor).

I would like to animate this so that the 3 spheres would look like tumblers in a Slot Machine. They would be scrolling by, then letter 1 would stop, letter 2 would stop, then letter 3 would stop...just like a slot machine.

For tools, I have Dreamweaver Studio 8, so that give me Fireworks and Flash. I'm so-so in Fireworks, and even less knowledgeable in Flash.

So, any guidance appreciated. I know there are a few how-to's on the web, but just thought I would post here first to get me going on the right track.

Thanks in advance,
Click to expand...

ImageReady would probably be the easiest thing to use for this. Flash is powerful but has a somewhat steeper learning curve, and is also dependent upon the viewer having the latest Flash plug-in...

So you don't have Adobe Creative Suite?
 
If he were going to use imageready, he might as well use Fireworks, since he stated he has it. I also think it's better at this sort of thing.
 
beatsme said:
ImageReady would probably be the easiest thing to use for this. Flash is powerful but has a somewhat steeper learning curve, and is also dependent upon the viewer having the latest Flash plug-in...

So you don't have Adobe Creative Suite?
Click to expand...

The OP already said that he wanted to make an Animated GIF, not flash. You can import an swf into an fla and then export the whole thing as a GIF. Therefore, no need for the plug-in...
 
schaef2493 said:
The OP already said that he wanted to make an Animated GIF, not flash. You can import an swf into an fla and then export the whole thing as a GIF. Therefore, no need for the plug-in...
Click to expand...

he also said he didn't know much about graphics, so I took into account the possibility that he wasn't quite sure what he wanted/needed to do. Please bear in mind I'm trying to offer the easiest possible solution.

and here again, IMHO
Flash=slightly complicated
ImageReady=comparatively simpler

EDIT: Fireworks I have, but have not used, inasmuch as I have ImageReady as well. Though if it is in fact easier I may well try it.
 
decksnap said:
If he were going to use imageready, he might as well use Fireworks, since he stated he has it. I also think it's better at this sort of thing.
Click to expand...
Yes, and actually, I would prefer to learn how to do this in a tool that I have, so I become better at it.

I've started doing a little digging. I've never created an image with layers and effects and frames and what not, so this will be a lot to swallow. I need to do it though, as I would like to understand how this works. I sometimes watch TechTV, and see these guys come on and do all kinds of stuff to a image in Photoshop. It's pretty wild what they do, so it will be nice to figure it out.
 
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