Graphics: Animations
Welcome to Thursday’s part of the Graphics Weekly Workshop! Today’s instalment is about making animations.
This article will guide you though making an animation and give you tips and tricks so you can make an animation of whatever you want!
SoftwareTo make an animation you’re going to need animation software. A popular choice is Jasc Animation Shop. Other software is available, but this is what I will be using throughout the demo.
The latest version can be downloaded from the
Jasc Software Download Center (click here). Select “Animation Shop” from the “Product to download” drop down menu and click “Continue”.
This is a trial version which can be used for 60 days. After this it will stop running. To continue using the software either purchase the full version or uninstall your existing version and download the software again.
As with any graphics software it can take a while to get accustomed to, but with a bit of practise there’s no telling where you’re imagination can take you!
How to Make a Basic AnimationWe’ll start off by making a simple 60x60 pixel animated avatar using LOTR images.
Stage 1 – ImagesTo begin you’ll need some images to put in your avatar. These will need to be the same height and width. Starting with images which are already 60x60 pixels is simplest, but any square image will do (I’ll tell you why later
). These images could be ones you’ve made yourself, or existing avatars taken from websites etc. They need to be saved onto your computer.
The images I’m going to use in this demonstration are:
Stage 2 – From Images to Animation1) In Animation Shop go to File on the menu bar then select New. A window will appear called “Create New Animation”. Change the width and height to 60 pixels each and select Transparent for the Canvas Colour, as shown in the image below:
Click on OK. You are now ready to begin inserting your images.
2) On the Menu bar go to Animation, then Insert Frames, then From File. A window will appear called “Insert Frames from Files”. Click on Add File to browse for the images on your computer. When you have selected the images you wish to use you need to alter the settings underneath.
“Insert before:” – This is the number of the frame which the images will be inserted before. This can be left as 1. It isn’t important in this case, as that frame will be deleted later.
“Delay time:” – This is how many 1/100ths of a second the frame will be shown for. A good number for this is 50.
“Location within frame:” – This is where the image will be set in the frame. I always set this to “Centered”.
“Fill rest of frame with:” – This is what the area of the frame not covered by the image will appear as. Set to “Canvas color”.
“Scale frames to fit” checkbox – This is important if any of the images you are using are larger than the animation size. Checking the box will resize the image so that it fits perfectly into the frame.
The window should now look like this, with the names of your images in the white box:
Click on OK. Your images will now be inserted as frames into your animation.
3) Your animation will have a blank frame in it which you may not want included in your final avatar. Click on the frame you want to delete and press the Delete key or go to Edit and then Delete. You will be left with the frames you want in your animation.
4) To view your animation as an animation, go to View on the menu bar and select “Animation”.
5) Your animation is now finished! All that is left is to save it. Go to File, and then Save As, and give your animation a filename. Save your animation as a CompuServe Graphics Interchange file, also known as a .gif file. Click on Save to save your animation. This will also launch the “Animation Quality Versus Output Size” window (see next step).
6) The “Animation Quality Versus Output Size” window allows you to determine the level of quality of your animation. The higher the quality the larger the file size. Usually for avatars this doesn’t really matter because the file is small anyway, but for larger animations you may wish to consider reducing the quality to make the file size smaller. When you have decided on the level of qulity you are going to use, click Next. This will “Optimise” your file. When it is finished optimising your file click Next again. It will show you a preview of your file, at which point click Next again to continue to the last screen where it will display the size of your file and how long it will take to download at different internet connection speeds. Clicking on Finish will complete the saving of your animation.
Congratulations! You have now completed your animation!Here is the one I made as an example:
Applying Special EffectsNow that you’ve had a go at making a basic Animation you might feel up to making it a little bit more special. This can be done by using the special effects available from the Effects area on the menu bar. The types of effects available are:
[/li][li] Insert Image Transition
[/li][li] Insert Image Effect
[/li][li] Apply Image Effect
[/li][li] Insert Text Effect
[/li][li] Apply Text Effect
Insert Image TransitionThis is the way the animation moves from one frame to the next. There are various effects you can use include Fade, Wipe, Zoom, and many more. Below is the same animation as before but with the Star Wipe, Slash Wipe, Fade, and Page Turn transition effects:
Insert Image EffectThis is something you can do to a single frame to make it a bit more snazzy. Here’s two examples of the effects you can use:
Rotate colours:
Scratches:
Apply Image EffectThis applies the same effects as the Insert Image Effect but only to the selected frame. So instead of getting an animated effect you get a still effect.
Insert Text EffectThis puts an animated text effect onto your animation, for example the marquee effect shown in the image below:
Apply Text EffectThis applies the same effects as the Insert Text Effect but only to the selected frame. So instead of getting an animated effect you get a still effect.
And we’re done!Hopefully now you’ll have a rough enough idea of how to make animation. Animation Shop 3 also has some other features you might like to have a go at using, like altering the Frame or Animation Properties (found in the Animation menu).
Good Luck and Happy Animation Making!
(oh and Evenstar: that Jack Sparrow wallpaper is amazing!
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It didn't used to do that is there anywhere I can load my pics? And how do I do it, Upload-It was really simple but now I'm confused 
