Ryden@Unrest wrote: If you are using ImageReady or Flash, the steps are much simpler. However, if you're using Microsoft GIF Animator, then yes, you create the frames for fading and add it in. What I would recommend doing is setting your image on a solid black background (same color as these forums) and then fading it by 2/3rds (66% approximately). Then set the faded frames at 1/4th of a second (25 on the GIF Animator). This will create a nice fade-like effect without adding a lot of unneccessary frames.
Old link to the animator was broken this is new one. http://www.versiontracker.com/php/d...%2Fgifsetup.exe
I have 4 characters that I've made sigs for and I have access to ImageReady and Flash CS4. I'm trying to get them to animate with one sig displaying after the other with 3 second intervals and I can get it to do this just fine. The trouble I'm having is with my image quality being downgraded drastically and looking horrible. Any suggestions on how I can keep my good image quality?
Eeannan@Crushbone wrote: The best I can offer is to use a similar color palette for each and every frame. GIFs are limited to 256 colors, and if you're using a broad palette, that means that the "in-between" colors are going to get tossed. Using a narrow palette -- all reds, for instance -- means that those 256 colors are much more closely related and the "in-between" colors will be mostly preserved. You can see the differences pretty well in my animations gallery. Graphics done for multiple characters are much, MUCH more grainy than graphics that have two or more frames for a single character. This is because I like using different palettes for different sigs (4 sigs animated together = 4 different palettes), while single-character animations only use one or two major colors and therefore look much smoother in the finished graphic. Hope this helps a bit.
Eeannan@Crushbone wrote: Another tip is to avoid images with subtle gradients. GIFs don't do gradients real well anyway. A bold graphic design with areas of solid colors works better in a GIF.
I think that they all use a similar colour scheme, but to make sure I'll post them below so that you could give me some feedback on what to change.
I took a screenshot of your post, moved your sigs next to each other to get rid of the page background color, then saved it as a GIF. This is the result: You can see that there are a few areas where the color loss is VERY noticeable. If you can make the colors and gradients in those areas more closely match the corresponding areas in the sigs that didn't get hit as hard, it will help make the final product a bit less rough. Using fewer colors and gradients in the background will also free up a lot of those 256 colors to be used in your characters, where preserving the gradients is most important.
