Planning Animation

A. 5 frames
-
1681 bytes

Flips Books -

The simplest type of animation is the flip book. Fundamentally it displays a sequence of images, one after the other. Each image completely covers the previous image. The 5 images shown ABOVE are the frames that make up the first animation (A).

Since the GIF format efficiently compresses large areas of flat color, this process works really well when the background is a solid color, and the object in motion is small and also a solid color.

Increasing the number of frames in the animation, makes it look smoother, but at the cost of additional file size. All of the animations (A --> E) are small because the background is a solid color (black), and the moving item is small and solid colored (white with minor shading).

The final three animations are all repeats of GIF C., but all are running at full speed. They are slightly smaller than the original, but notice that transparency and disposal method have no effect on their size.

The final two may look slightly different depending on the browser that you are using. NetScape does not handle the frame "disposal methods"** properly (version 1-4). The animations are many times faster in NetScape, but may appear incorrect.

 

B. 9 frames
-
3007 bytes

C. 13 frames
-
4274 bytes

D. 18 frames
-
5839 bytes

E. 24 frames
-
7685 bytes

Frame 1 in each of the above animations has its delay (the time to display the frame) set to 80/100, and the other frames are set at 20/100. This is done to better define the beginning of each sequence, and to slow them enough so you can see the individual frames. The examples below are running at full speed for comparison.

C. full speed
(3136 bytes)

C1. full speed
(3136 bytes)
transparent background

C2. full speed
(3136 bytes)
transparent background
proper frame disposal

** Disposal methods and their significance will be covered in a later portion of this "GIFOLOGY".

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