Step 11 : Using Ulead GIF Animator
For small to medium animations the program is great but for large animations (my Santa Departure sequence contains 127 frames) the program is PAINFULLY SLOW! Maybe it is just my PC, but it can take five minutes to do a colour reduction or compression or saving of the file! For normal editing along the way it is fine and you only do the above things at the end so it is not too bad.
It takes a little while to understand the concept of the program. The main screen shows the current frame. Across the bottom you have icons showing all the frames in your animation. You can add, delete and rearrange the frames at will.
Down the right hand side you have a list of objects. The objects are your GIF images or parts of images. You can add, delete, rearrange and edit the objects at will. (Click “View” if you don’t see them.) What you need to understand is how the two interact. It is a little confusing until you get used to it.
Each frame at the bottom contains one or more of the objects on the right. You can turn any number of objects on or off at will. When you select a frame, a little eye will appear beside all objects that are turned on in that frame. You click on the eye to turn the objects on or off in the current frame. Objects higher in the object list will be overlaid over those lower down in the list.
The photo above is just a partial snapshot of the elves gif. I have shrunk the main screen down so you only see part of the image that is in frame
There are two objects. The bottom one is the master slide showing the complete scene with Santa with the elves in position 1. The second object above it consists of just the elves' arms in position 2, plus some black or background colour to hide the arms in position 1.
There are two frames. Frame 1 has object 1 only turned on. Frame 2 has both objects turned on. Because the object for the arms in position 2 is above the object for the whole scene in the object list, it overlays the master slide and hides the arms in position 1. The animation is a “loop forever” type so it keeps displaying the two frames in sequence.
To achieve the above result: (Pretending for the moment that there is only one moving part in the animation, not 3)
- File/Add Image - GIF file 1 (The complete scene with arm in position 1)
- File/Add Image - GIF file 2 (The complete scene with arm in position 2)
- Click on object 2 (NOT frame 2) (It is the one at the top of the list of objects)
- Use the lasso tool to draw around the second arm, plus the area where the first arm is
- Click “Selection Options>>”
- Click “Invert” (to select everything but the bit you want)
- Press Del. You are now left with just the arm surrounded by transparent background.
- You now have 2 objects with the top one being just the arm and the bottom one being the whole scene. If the arm is not the top one, drag it up to the top of the list.
- Select Frame 1 and turn on just object 1 (click on the first little eye square on the bottom object).
- Select Frame 2 (or add a new frame 2) and turn on both objects.
- Right click on each frame, select Properties and set the timing for each (see next step).
- Click Optimize
- In the top left corner change the colours from Photo 256 to Photo 64 or 32 or 16. The lower you go the smaller the file.
NB. In the elves animation above there are three moving areas (see below). I therefore had to cut and paste 3 separate areas. I did it as follows:
- Select the second photo
- Lasso the first arm and copy to clipboard.
- Paste the arm. It appears as a new object on the right.
- Select the second photo again
- Lasso the second arm and copy to clipboard
- Paste the arm. Same as above.
- Ditto for the moving cog wheels.
- I then had five objects on the right. The original two photos plus the three small pieces.
- Highlight the three small objects and select Object/Combine as Single Object
- Delete the unnecessary photo 2.
- I then had the two objects you see in the photo above.
- Turn on just the second object in frame one and turn both objects on in frame 2.
When you want to edit an object you have to click on it on the right. You will find yourself repeatedly trying to edit an object only to be told “No object is selected”. Just remember to click on it in the object list on the right so it highlights. Not on the eye, on the object icon itself. The main window shows the complete current frame but you are only editing one object. To make it easier, temporarily turn off any other objects that are turned on in that frame.
