| Importing Your Images into Gif
Animator
Open up Gif Animator 5.
The Start Up Wizard will appear. Click on Animation Wizard.
The next screen is where
you set your canvas size. All of the images are 100 x 102. Put in the size as
shown in the screen shot below and click Next.
The next screen that
appears is where you will be browsing to add your seven images. Click on Add Image
and browse for the folder to where you saved your images. Open the folder to the
saved images and while holding down the control key, click on 7.gif, 6.gif, etc. It
seems as if you are importing them sequentially backwards but they will open up in Gif
Animator in the order you made them. You can see this in "File Name" shown
in the screen shot below. Click on Open.
The next box will show you
your selected files. Click on Next.
The next box is Frame
Duration. Set the Delay Time at 10 and click Next.
When the last box appears
(which is your last chance to make changes), click on Finish. Your seven images will
now show up in your Frame Panel. See below.
Adding Frames
for Your Text
Click on Frame 7 in the
Frame Panel to highlight it. You will need to make 9 copies of this frame.
Just underneath the Frame Panel is the icon to Duplicate Frame(s). 
Click on Duplicate Frame(s) 9 times.
You should have a total of 16 Frames.
In the Frame Panel,
highlight Frame 16. Click on the Text Tool located on the left side panel.  Click
on the working canvas above the Frame Panel and the Text Entry Box will appear. This
is also where you'll add your text. Add the text "contact us" in
the Text Entry Box. For this tutorial we are using Verdana and a dark blue
color. You can enter any font or color of your choice here. Make sure
antialiasing is checked and your text is centered. See the screen shot below.
Click OK and your text
will appear in Frame 16. Use your mouse to center the text within the envelope.
Be careful not to move the envelope. While the text is active, hit Control C
to copy the text to your clipboard. Highlight Frame 15 in the Frame Panel and hit
Control V. The text will be pasted into Frame 15 with the exact alignment as in
Frame 16. While the text is active, right click and Convert To Image. Click on
the eraser tool. Set the size to 4 and erase the letter "s". While
the text box is active, copy the text again, highlight Frame 14 and paste. Use the
eraser to erase the letter "u". Continue copying and pasting into the
previous frames, erasing one letter at a time until you reach Frame 8 which should
have just the letter "c".
To view your animation,
click on the Preview Tab in your work area. You now need to time your animation.
Timing
Timing is one of the most
important things in creating an effective animation.
To start changing the
timing, highlight Frame 1. Right Click and you'll see Frame Properties. Click
on this and the Frame Properties Attributes Box will appear. In Delay, put in 150.
Click OK. Highlight Frame 4. In the Frame Properties put a delay of 75.
Highlight Frame 16 and put a delay time of 200. Click on the Preview Tab and
view your results.
Saving Your
Animation
Once you're satisfied with
your animation it's time to save it. Go to File, Optimization Wizard. The
first dialogue box will appear. Leave the default settings and click Next.
The next box allows you to
set the number of colors, the highest being 256. Lowering the amount of colors helps
in reducing the size of your animation. Since there is a bit of a gradient in the
lighting on the envelope, set the number of colors to 150. Lowering the amount of
colors too much with certain graphics may cause the image to appear too grainy. Click
Next.
The next box will ask you
if you want to remove "redundant pixels" and comment blocks. Keep this at
default as it also helps in reducing the size of your image. Click Next.
The next box gives an
overview of your options that you selected. Click Finish.
The last box to appear is
the Optimization Result box. This is where you can preview your animation and view
the size of it. If you're satisfied with your results click Save As, and name your
animation and click OK. If you want to change anything before saving your animation,
click on another try and you will be able to change your options.
Your animated envelope
would look great as a hyperlink to your email on your website.
I hope you've enjoyed this
tutorial.
Part 1
Part 2
|
See our
online course for Gif Animator 5 at the Visual Arts Academy for a more indepth way to learn animation. You
will leave with a solid foundation of knowledge and experience of the program and how to
animate! Click here
to see what former students have to say about the course. |
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