GIF stands for “Graphic Interchange File”, a type of file created by CompuServe. Whether you want to learn how to make GIFs that use animation, use transparency or both, GIFs are really the only way to do that without knowing how to create scripts or advanced programming. When you see an animated ad banner that cycles through pictures or short blocks of text, that is usually a GIF file. With proper software, GIFs are easy to create. However, in order to complete this tutorial, you must have access to photo editing software. If you plan to make an animated file, you will also need GIF creation software. The instructions given here will not be specific to any particular software program.
How to Make Transparent GIF
In order to make a transparent GIF which looks “cut out” or which conforms to a shape other than rectangular, you will need to have a uniform background to create transparency in most software programs. If you will be drawing the image yourself, start with a background color that will not be used in the rest of your picture. If you are planning to cut an existing picture, use the “magic wand” selection tool to highlight everything that will not be in your final GIF. Color everything within the selection the same shade, again taking care to use a color not present in the rest of the image.
In the section of the photo editing software related to colors, there should be an option for setting transparency. If transparency is grayed out, try reducing the colors of the image to 256. Set the transparency color to match the color you chose for the background. You may not be able to view the transparency within the program unless you select “test transparency”. If you cannot find a test option or just want to make sure the GIF works correctly, GIF transparency and animation should work when the picture is applied as your desktop background.
How to Make Animated GIF
How to Make GIFs
Animated GIFs can be made using many types of images, such as frames from an AVI movie file or just panels of text. To make animated GIF images, it will be best if your photo editing software works in conjunction with your GIF creating software so that you can easily import the images between the programs, but copy and paste will do the job, if necessary. The better you prepare your images ahead of time with photo editing, the less importing or pasting you will need to do once you begin creating your animated GIF.
Open all the images for your animated GIF with your photo program. There are three main areas that need editing for the purposes of animating your GIF. All the frames of the GIF must be the same size, so your images should be adjusted accordingly. The images should be reduced to 256 colors, the options for which can be found under the color section of the program’s file menu. Whether you need to use “standardized octree”, “median cut” or one of the other options will depend on the images you are using. Test each one until you find the one that looks best. Third, you need to check the alignment of the pictures. If you are using text only, make sure they are all centered. If your image is supposed to appear to move around the frame, make sure the image moves at even intervals.
Start a new animation in your GIF software. Import or copy all your images into separate frames of the animation, in order, adding a blank frame at the beginning and at the end. Do a test play of the GIF. If it is too fast or slow, adjust the frame rate up or down and retest.
If the animation seems choppy, consider transitional frames. These are frames which takes parts of two frames and combine them so that they appear to flow from one to the next. Remember that the more transitional frames you use, the bigger the file size will be and the longer it will take to load on a webpage.
There are probably ready made transitions in your software, but you can also create these transitional frames yourself in photo editing. To do this, simply create copies of both frames. On each image, paste a copy of the other image as a layer with the opacity reduced to about 35%. Save each as a “flattened” or “merged” image before importing back to the GIF program.
Saving the GIF File
Save or export your GIF file. Your program may require that your GIF be “optimized” before saving. If you reduced the colors previously, choose the same options again, and the optimized GIF should not look very different from the original animation. Test the file on the desktop to make sure it works properly before closing your software.
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