ANIMATED GIFS

Adapted from http://facweb.cs.depaul.edu/sgrais/creating_animated_gifs_in_photos.htm

WHY GIF?

The GIF file format supports animation JPEG format does not support animation The browser treats an animated GIF the

same as a static GIF file In the browser an animated GIF displays

several images in sequence - like a slide show

different frames can contain different timings (some slow, others with quicker speed)

GIF FILE SIZE FOR WEB

Animated GIFs will always be larger than static GIFs ImageReady has 2 animation compression features

—Bounding Box & Redundant Pixel Removal  These compression features are turned on by

default ImageReady will add file size only for the areas

that have changed in your animation i.e. In a photographic background, if the only thing

that changes is some lettering that fades over it, the photographic area will be written only once to the file, limiting the total file size

TIMING ANIMATED GIFS

Animation is time-based it depends on time passing and artwork

changing Slowly changing artwork appears to sit for a

long time and then change Quickly changing artwork appears to have

more fluid movement For slide-show style animation - GIF format

supports delays between frames, which allows for timing to change within a single animation file

PLAY-BACK RATE

Video & film animation are time-based mediums Key difference from animated GIFs: they play

back at specific frame rates (video: 30 frames per second; film: 24 frames per second)

Animated GIFs may play back at different speeds depending on the computer upon which they are viewed.

You can’t control the viewing speed of an animation you make

ANIMATION AESTHETICS: THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY

Animation creates an emphasis point on the page

Question: Is the subject matter you pick for animation worthy of more attention than other images on the page?

Note: Animation will distract from the important content --rather than enhance it

Good uses for animation might include diagrams brought to life or slide shows of photographs