How I create GIF animations

[Miek]

Hi guys! @salioelsol12 recently asked me to do a video tutorial, since I have no idea how to do that I thought the next best thing is to do a tutorial sans video! lol! but before I start, I'm going to say I'm horrible at explaining stuff... ;_;

First off I used:
Flash CS5.5 - to draw and construct the visuals, frame by frame
unFREEZ - to compile all the drawings into one animated GIF


This is an animation I did a while ago


So basically I drew around/or less than 41 drawings (that's how many frames this animation took)

Here is a mega blown up version of the gif almost real size to the drawings I do in Flash (41 FRAMES) and it's very slow down.

Not so glamourous looking right? haha, shrinking it/animation definitely hides the imperfections :D


So after I draw everything and have what I need I export it as a GIF sequence (at a certain size you want) which gives you seperate frame files as GIFs, which looks like this.



I drag those files onto unFREEZ, and compile and make the finishing result!

[Miek]

2nd post for more visual explanation



timeline - This is where you create frames on your timeline (highlight the amount and press F6 for frame by frame, and F5 for an extended frame)
layers - Organize your animation by separating things!(character/effects/mob/arrows/effects2 etc)
visble - turn off certain layers to help you animate
new layer - creates a new layer
frame rate - the rate frames go by in a second, I believe 12 FPS is standard GIF, 24 fps is for very smooth, I think for tv shows or something!
onion skin - IMPORTANT - you need this to animate much more efficiently it will be explained down below


ONION SKIN:




If you have any more questions feel free to ask! I'll try to, at the best of my abilities! thanks!

-miek

[salioelsol12]

Best guide ive seen, thanks
Can you tell me how do you draw your stick man? Mine is like... Mm.. Sucks. Lol

[Miek]

Best guide ive seen, thanks
Can you tell me how do you draw your stick man? Mine is like... Mm.. Sucks. Lol

Knowing all the technical stuff is one thing, but in order to draw efficiently, you have to practice a lot!!

The more you practice the more you will get better! It's cliche and redundant but it's definitely true!

I must've done hundreds of these by now haha.


goodluck!

[Sn1perJohnE]

Speed is also a good way to hide imperfections.

Also, have you tried exporting the flash file as a GIF? Straight from Flash?

[ShinkuDragon]

a program i recommend is jasc animation shop, there's more advanced ones if you want .png animations (allow for transparency without a background)

picture of how the program looks (i didn't make the sprite, it's from KoF) and the onion skin is activated


and the final result:


that animation has 50 pictures in it.

[Miek]

Speed is also a good way to hide imperfections.

Also, have you tried exporting the flash file as a GIF? Straight from Flash?

I never have, and as I post this I just tried it! it's soooooooo MUCH better!!

thanks so much john! I don't know how I never saw that before! jeez! It makes the animations Identical to the flash! yay hehe, shows how much I know about flash @_@!

a program i recommend is jasc animation shop, there's more advanced ones if you want .png animations (allow for transparency without a background)

picture of how the program looks (i didn't make the sprite, it's from KoF) and the onion skin is activated


and the final result:


that animation has 50 pictures in it.

I'll have to check this out sometime later!

[Sn1perJohnE]

a program i recommend is jasc animation shop, there's more advanced ones if you want .png animations (allow for transparency without a background)

picture of how the program looks (i didn't make the sprite, it's from KoF) and the onion skin is activated


and the final result:


that animation has 50 pictures in it.

I lost my jasc :( the link I used before is defunct now.

I never have, and as I post this I just tried it! it's soooooooo MUCH better!!

thanks so much john! I don't know how I never saw that before! jeez! It makes the animations Identical to the flash! yay hehe, shows how much I know about flash @_@!

No problem man.



I'll have to check this out sometime later!

[ShinkuDragon]

i downloaded a trial version or something and i dunno what i did but it's fully functional, i really have no idea what i did.

good luck with torrents?