Animated GIF & PTE

[Lin Evans]

While we anxiously await the beta1 of PTE 7.0 with video clip capabilities, I thought perhaps that many haven't fully exploited the possibilities of animated GIF files. Though we generally think of animated GIF's as cute little animated clips which are rather simple and perhaps amateurish in nature, there are a few low cost as well as freeware programs which allow creation of more realistic type animated GIF files. Xara allows some really nice 3D text with professional animation and Squirlz Water Reflections allows some fairly realistic and useful water animations which can be sometimes nice when not overdone.

Below is a sample using Squirlz Water Reflections. It took all of about 3 minutes to create including creation of the animated GIF's and the PTE program. I just set it to a Gordon Lightfoot tune I particularly like - have a look if you're inclined to....

http://www.learntoma...olfripplepc.zip (about 6.5 meg)

http://www.learntoma...lfripplemac.zip (about 6.6 meg)

Lin

[BootZilla]

Lin -

Cool FX. I could see it working in certain conditions.

Greg

[colin hill]

Hi Lin,

Very good effects. I have a lot of ideas regarding animation, just to put them into practice.

Thank you for showing what can be done in so short a time and for sharing with us.

Colin

[Lin Evans]

Hi Guys,

Thanks! The interesting thing is that with the powers of PTE, we can actually do things with some of the animated GIF's which go beyond their native animated scope. For example, with Sqirlz Water Reflections, it's possible to get a rippling water effect (sort of a sloshing reflection effect) or you can have little circular spreading ripples as if rain drops were falling on still water, etc. You can have rain or snow effects with either of these, but you can't have the "sloshing" reflection AND the little circular ripples together. However, with PTE it's very easy to create two animated GIF files and combine them with variable opacity to get the desired effect not possible with either original.

Likewise with animated text such as we can get from XARA. We can combine 3D transforms, flips, etc., and get much more from these animated GIF's than what they provide on their own by using the various masking, 3D Transform, variable opacity, parent/child relationships, etc. PTE is indeed an amazing tool for creating very sophisticated effects if one simply takes the time to learn to use it.

Best regards,

Lin

[8321]

...Though we generally think of animated GIF's as cute little animated clips which are rather simple and perhaps amateurish in nature, there are a few low cost as well as freeware programs which allow creation of more realistic type animated GIF files. Xara allows some really nice 3D text with professional animation ...

Hello Lin,

All this needs is a quick phone call but a post will have to do instead.

I am using PTE 6.5 beta 8 (maybe that is my problem!) and Xara3D6.

Animation settings 60 fpc, 15 fps, 0 pause, loop ticked and any number from 1 to 99 times. Export animation as .gif.

In PTE preview the animation goes through only one cycle and then stops when it should loop.

What is the trick I am missing? Thanks a lot.

Regards,

Jeff

[8321]

Hello Lin,

All this needs is a quick phone call but a post will have to do instead.

I am using PTE 6.5 beta 8 (maybe that is my problem!) and Xara3D6.

Animation settings 60 fpc, 15 fps, 0 pause, loop ticked and any number from 1 to 99 times. Export animation as .gif.

In PTE preview the animation goes through only one cycle and then stops when it should loop.

What is the trick I am missing? Thanks a lot.

Regards,

Jeff

Upgraded to v7 (not the problem)

Found O&A, Adjust image and border. Set parameters there and problem solved!

In Xara3D6 loop must be ticked and set to a large number (depending on how long the object must perform).

Jeff

[Lin Evans]

Hi Jeff,

Sorry, I didn't see your earlier post! Yes, in O&A where you adjust Image and Border you also have an Animation tab. In there you can set both the speed for the animated gif display as well as the option of setting the number of times it repeats.

Best regards,

Lin

Upgraded to v7 (not the problem)

Found O&A, Adjust image and border. Set parameters there and problem solved!

In Xara3D6 loop must be ticked and set to a large number (depending on how long the object must perform).

Jeff