Animated GIFs

This might seem like a stupid question .... but how do I make animated gifs? I have CS 4 and know my way around it pretty well, but just never have made animated gifs, is it even possible with PS? or do I need one of the other glorious applications within the CS4 package?

....?

As far as I understand the matter, it makes no difference if the original file format is GIF, PNG or JPEG, because it is converted to the JPEG 2000 format when uploaded to SL. I doubt that JPEG 2000 supports animation, in which case I think the animated frames in a gif might be lost on conversion but I might be wrong.

Animations are usually created in SL using a sequence of images tiled in one texture, which are animated using llSetTextureAnim in a script.

If you're asking whether you can use animated GIF's in SL, the answer is no, you can't.

First, SL does nto support the GIF format at all. It can import TGA, BMP, PNG, and JPEG only. If you've got a GIF you want to import, you'll need to convert it to a different format first.

Second, the kind of image animation SL uses is entirely different from the kind of animation GIF uses. SL animates images (textures) in one of two ways. It will either slide the whole image around the surface (smooth animation), or it will flip through displaying various portions of an image in sequence (filmstrip animation). GIF, on the other hand, animates by displaying layered frames in sequence (flipbook animation). It's an entirely different process.

If you want to convert an existing animated GIF into a filmstrip for SL, there are two ways to do it. One is just to take all the frames/layers, and paste them by hand (in order) onto a single large canvas. Another is to automate the process via a simple Web app, developed a few years ago by FlipperPA Peregrine, a long time SL resident. The app is at http://www.peregrinesalon.com/anim/

The next thing you'll need to to know is how to use the llSetTextureAnim command in a script. There's already an example of it in your library, if you want to see it in action. For more information, see the script wiki entry: http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/LlSetTextureAnim If you need further help after that, Scripting Tips would be a better place to ask than Texturing Tips. Most of us here aren't nearly as good at explaining script stuff as those guys are over there.



If you're asking just more generally whether Photoshop is capable of making animated GIF's the answer is yes, it is. It used to be you needed to use its companion program, ImageReady, which used to come with it. But a few years ago, ImageReady was finally merged into Photoshop, and discontinued.

To make animations in Photoshop CS4, use the Animation panel. (Window -> Animation) I won't get into a long explanation of how it works here, because it's outside the scope of this forum. It's not directly related to SL. I'll give you some links, though.

Photoshop's Online Help: Creating Frame Animations - http://help.adobe.com/en_US/Photoshop/11.0/WSB8C58284-9DEB-44f2-9D8F-7F77594A8CC2a.html

Creative Tip: Build Animated GIFs in Photoshop - http://creativetechs.com/tipsblog/build-animated-gifs-in-photoshop/ (Just try to ignore the pretentious idiotic yellow rectangle at the top that says the information is for Mac users only.)


If you have PS CS4 Extended, you can also do timeline animations, in addition to just frame animations. This opens up more options, and can be a tremendous time saver, depending on what you're doing.

Photoshop's Online Help: Creating Timeline Animations - http://help.adobe.com/en_US/Photoshop/11.0/WSfd1234e1c4b69f30ea53e41001031ab64-746fa.html

PixelPainter: Creating an Animated Avatar in Photoshop CS4 - http://pixelpainter.com/wordpress/?p=169

Hi Niah!

Assuming that you have your animation, if you use Flipper's gadget, it will make the script for you.

In the webpage that opens, after you click the Process button, just copy all the text from the word "default" to the end of the last curly bracket.

Then, in SL, click your Prim, go to Contents, and click the New Script button. (The prim will say, "Hello Avatar".) Click to open the script, zelect everything in it, and replace that with the stuff you copied. Click Save, and wait until it tells you it has.

As soon as it's done that, you'll see your animation playing on all the faces of the prim! It's really that simple, (thank you Flipper!)

You'll get the .tga file from Flipper's gadget, too, complete with alpha if it requires one. It'll have a long tmpfile name, but you can easily change that. (If you still have plywood on the prim, that's what you'll see animating. SL doesn't care what the image is, of course.)

If you want it to play on only one side, just replace "ALL_SIDES" in the script with the side you want to have it on. And that's all it takes.

Hope this helps!

Robin

Thanks Robin & Chosen,

both posts were tremendously helpful and surprisingly its quite easy to make gifs in PS if you've found the anmation window.

I have a second problem now. I want to make a banner ad for Xstreet and the format limitations are driving me nuts. It has to be 438x40px and a max of 40kb.
That means no more than 5 frames as I found out. But my problem is no matter what I do it always turns out blurry. I tried making it double the size than reducing or making it directly in that size. Even the text (I even tried rasterizing) ends up being blurry at that size.
What am I missing, cause I know that cant be right. Are there some things I should avoid or do to keep it sharp?

I will continue my quest but have tried nearly any setting variation there is.

WooHoo! I somehow missed this thread the first time it came around, probably because I wasn't paying any attention to animated GIFs at the time. I just spent some time last week, though, trying to find an "un-GIF" program that I can use to bring some animated files in world for an exhibit. I had just about given up. Thanks, Chosen!

I thought the size requirement was 468x60, not 438x40

Perhaps that's the problem? If you're creating it at 438x40, and then the site is stretching it to fit a 468x60 space, it's going to blur.

Or are you saying it's blurring in Photoshop before you even upload it? If that's the case, then I've got two suggestions:

1. Remember, GIF's can only support 256 colors. If you've been working with 24-bit RGB color all along, and then converting it to a 256 color index only at the end when you save as GIF, the results won't always be pretty. But if you work with a 256 color palette from start to finish, you'll know exactly what you're getting. This is not always the best way to proceed, but sometimes it is.

2. For text, experiment with the different anti-aliasing options. Different fonts respond differently at different sizes, and against different backgrounds. There's no one-size-fits-all solution for AA with text.

thanks chosen,

yes 468x40 .. typo on my behalf.

I just checked I was working in a 8-bit-RGB and for some reason it converts it to 128 RGB. Anything below that is unusable. I also saw that I had a fairly low resolution (72px) from the start. Would it help to go up to 300 .. and will it make the file size of the gif bigger or does that only depend on actual pixel size & frames?

I think the font is mainly whats causing the issues, so I might have to say good bye to the one I was using .. I will see what difference that makes.

Multiple thanks again

I'm not sure what you mean by "128 RGB".



Again, not sure what you mean. Can you clarify?



DPI makes no difference. It only matters for print. All that's important are the actual pixel dimensions and the number of frames.

If you had to pick a number, though, 72 is the loose standard for Web imagery. So you've got it right where it should be. But again, it really doesn't matter.

I meant 128 color index which is set by default in the "save for web window"
Anything below (e.g. 64) makes the colors look weird.

What do I choose when creating a new file, I can only choose between different bit options under RGB. You said I should start off with 256 color index, what RGB bit size would that correspond to? Or do I need to change the setting for the original file somewhere else?

I did play around with the different anti-aliasing options for the font, which already helped a lot. but its still far from being crisp, but on it's way..

If you want to work with 256 colors all along, click Image -> Mode -> Indexed... and then choose the index you want. This option is not available in the File -> New dialog. I've never understood why.

As for the Save For Web settings, there is an option in there for 256 colors. You should see a dropdown menu near the top right for Colors. You might also want to play with the dithering options, as that will affect image clarity as well.

The problem is that I am not allowed to go over 40kb. At 468x40 that allows you 5 frames if you set it to 128 0% dither.
That doesn't leave many options, I just wanted to make sure I didnt make any major mistakes before I cut down on frames

Thanks so much Chosen