1.14.1. Animated GIF

 

Animated Gif images are often used on web pages and are widely supported on all web browsers. They have a relatively small file size compared to video formats and can be easily embedded into web pages, but may result in poorer quality since they support a maximum of only 256 different colours. This restriction can be partially overcome by selecting the dithering option, described below. Animated gifs also support transparency, but not semi-transparency.

 

Click 'Export Animation' in the File menu and select Animated Gif from the submenu. Then specify a file name and location and click 'Save' to display the animated Gif options. After setting the options, click 'Export' and wait for the progress bar to reach the end.

 

Make sure that the speed of your animation is correct when playing before Exporting the animation because the same frame rate will be used when exporting the Gif. This can be adjusted using the scroll bar next to the Play and Stop buttons.

 

 

The Height option allows you to specify the dimensions of the exported gif. The default value matches the height of the animation set in Options. The width is determined automatically from the animation aspect ratio. Note that a larger value will increase the file size.

 

Select the Loop option so that the exported animation loops back to the beginning when it reaches the end. This is recommended if the animation is to be used on web pages. If not selected then the animation will play once and then stop on the last frame.

 

The Dither option can be used to improve the appearance of the animation when the animation contains a large number of colours and particularly when the animation contains gradients of gradually changing colours. Dithering is therefore often required when backgrounds or sprite images are used that are derived from photos or if a gradient background has been set. The option will be selected by default if the animation contains an image, gradient background or figures containing sprites. Note that although dithering often improves the quality of the gif it will also increase the file size.

 

   

 

Select an option from the drop-down list. When set to Smooth Edges, the figures will have smooth anti-aliased edges as they do when editing, although sprites may still not appear smooth. When set to No Smoothing, the figures will have jagged edges and appear pixelated. Most of the time you will want Smooth Edges enabled. However, setting to No Smoothing may be useful if you want a more retro look, want to reduce file size or because you want to fill areas after exporting. When set to Smooth Sprites all figures and sprites will appear smooth. This setting uses super-sampling and so takes longer to export. There is no advantage to using Smooth Sprites if your animation does not use sprites.

 

               

 

Animated gifs can be exported with transparent regions so that they can be overlaid onto other components of web pages while allowing the areas behind to be seen. Firstly set the background of the animation to solid transparent using the background colour editor. Set the opacity to 0 when selecting the colour. Now when you export the animation to animated gif the visible areas of background will be transparent.

 

Note that animated gif does not support semi transparency, so areas of the gif will be either fully transparent or fully opaque even if semi transparent backgrounds or figures have been used. For animations with semi transparency try exporting to the animated png format.