tool for ceating smaller animated gifs

[cjdj]

I have been creating some animated banners for my website, and am looking for some better tools to do the job.

Right now I am using Adobe PhotoShop LE (I have the full version also, but use LE more often) to create each frame, and then I use Barbarosa GIF animator to animate the frames.

They both do their job well, but I would like to be able to get the file size down.

The thing that is making the file large I am sure, is the fade effects I have done. The text fades in and out. I've tried bluring the faded text as it is fading but that seems to make the files even bigger instead. The example in here doesnt have any actual images in it, just text, so it is not too large. When I add a bitmap to the thing, then it starts getting even bigger/

Is there a tool or technique to create animated gifs like this (faded text) with a small file size?

I've included an example image.

http://laughmybuttoff.com/images/banners/Banner-01.gif
This file is about 40k.

Thanks.

[Bad Hair Day]

Originally posted by cjdj
Is there a tool or technique to create animated gifs like this (faded text) with a small file size?

I've included an example image.

http://laughmybuttoff.com/images/banners/Banner-01.gif
This file is about 40k.

Thanks.
I would have thought that animated gifs would be the last thing to use to gain that sort of effect, because of the size factor.

Macromedia flash will handle all the effects you need very well.

You could try using javascript.

www.javaboutique.com would probably be as good a starting place as any...........

Or, am I missing something?

BHD

[cjdj]

Yeah, your probably right... and reading my post again, I realised that I didnt really make clear what I was after.

That faded text banner was just an example. Most of the animated gifs I am creating dont have those elaborate fades.

What I am looking for however is some sort of tool that will take a gif file and compress it better (presumably reducing the quality of the image at the same time), then I can put the smaller images in the animated result.

Rather than manually trying all the different options for each frame, I was hoping there was something out there that does it automatically. Especially since there are some frames that dont need to be crisp.

For the most part the banners I am creating dont use any fades, so they are not too bad.

Thanks for responding.

[Bad Hair Day]

Originally posted by cjdj

What I am looking for however is some sort of tool that will take a gif file and compress it better (presumably reducing the quality of the image at the same time), then I can put the smaller images in the animated result.
Thanks for responding.
Macromedia Fireworks works well for me, because it doesn't re-draw each 'full' gif image in the animation sequence. It only seems to update the part of the image that has altered from one frame to another - Hence the finished article is smaller than most.

There might be some others that do it better. I believe ULead have a 'dedicated' package for that purpose.

Maybe a look around a couple of search engines for 'Gif Animators' will help you find just what you need.

BHD

[muijefr]

I used PSP's Animation 3.5 optimizer and reduced your 40k animation to 26k. You can judge the image quality yourself:
http://www.the-ebiz.net/forum/banner_01.html

Animation 3.5 also has a onion skin effects tool that transitions images for a much smoother behavior. Faders may not be the answer unless you actually want a fader effect. But, I'm not selling PSP. The real clue to reduce text animations size/K is the number of colors used. You used 63. I used 31 and could have used less. JavaScript animations are a poor substitute and of limited use compared to graphic animation. Stay the course. Your on the right road.

[cjdj]

Originally posted by muijefr


I used PSP's Animation 3.5 optimizer and reduced your 40k animation to 26k. You can judge the image quality yourself:
http://www.the-ebiz.net/forum/banner_01.html





EXCELLENT! Thats just what I've been looking for.

Thanks!

[Bad Hair Day]

Originally posted by cjdj



EXCELLENT! Thats just what I've been looking for.

Thanks!
Whereas, Fireworks trimmed almost an extra 10k off to get it down to under 17k..........

;)

http://www.bad-hair-day.com/grfx/Banner-01a.gif

BHD

[cjdj]

Thanks a bunch guys!
Those tools do just what I was wanting to do. Thanks!