How to Create .gif Animations
All of your Internet friends have cool avatars and you don't; maybe you want to do some simple computer animation. You want to learn how to create gif animations. This opens doors and makes you the envy of lesser cyberspace denizens.
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Instructions
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Easy
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1
Develop and sequence your images. This is simply making the images for the animation so that they can create the illusion of motion (think flip-book). Save them in .gif format, or some other bitmap format as long as it's consistent.
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2
Move your images, sequentially, into the tool of your choice.
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3
Compile the images into a single file that animates the lot. This should result in a .gif animation that you can use. If not, reevaluate the tool.
Challenging
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4
Learn a programming language, such as javascript, that allows you to manipulate .gifs.
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5
Set the image names equal to a numerical value in order of when they should appear.
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6
Create a loop that increments the image by one for every period. Periods can be as long as you like. Traditional American animation happens at a frame rate of 1/23 seconds. Anime uses 1/19 seconds per frame.
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7
Run the program.
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1
Tips & Warnings
For looping animations, choose something that can run cyclically. An example might be a ball that bounces down, then up, then down, then up... repeating itself every second step.
There are many tools online for making animated .gifs. Consider the value of your time versus making a .gif animation that is completely yours and go the route you want.
Use a single-frame background you can animate against. This saves space and gets your animation going faster.
