» 1. Getting Started.
To start your Animated GIF click on File > New. The Animation Wizard will begin.

Chose how many times you would like the GIF to repeat its animation. You can also choose for the GIF to repeat infinitely. Choose how much time you would like between each GIF frame. Default is 1 second.

Choose the GIFs you want in the animation, by clicking on Add Image(s). You can highlight multiple files. You can also use many other image formats other than GIF, including JPEG, BMP, ICO, EMF and WMF. You can remove images from your animation by clicking Remove Image.

When adding images of different sizes you must choose how you want the images animated together. You can choose Trim Frame to match the animation size which makes the frame one size and may cause cropping, or Change the animation size to match the frame size which will cause the animation to have different sized frames.

Click Finish to be brought back to GIF Animator with your animation complete.

 
 
» 2. Customizing the Animated GIF.
 
After you have complete the Animation Wizard you can edit further settings for your Animated GIF.

You can see all the current images in the Animation. You can add or remove images by clicking on the Delete Frame button or Insert Frame button.

You can move the images up and down the list by clicking on the Move Frame Up and Move Frame Down buttons.

Frame Properties.

Delay: The amount of time between each frame.

Disposal: This is how the previous frame should be treated. Default is Background which makes the previous frame invisible.

Animation Properties.

Loop Forever: This will be an infinitely looping animated GIF.

Play # Times: You can choose how many times you want the GIF to loop.

Transparent Color:

This is the color that will not show in the animated GIF. Choose Select Color to select which color you want this to be. By default this option is on, and it automatically selects the color in the absolute top left of the image to make transparent.

Note: If you are using regular photographs you probably do not want a transparent color, so simply uncheck it and it will not make any colors transparent in your animated GIF.

» 3. Previewing the Animated GIF.
 
You can see a preview of your Animated GIF in its current state by clicking on the Toggle Preview Window. You can also press the Play Button to preview the animation in the Preview window.

 
 
» 4. Saving the Animated GIF.
 
Once you are done creating your Animated GIF you need to save it. To save click on File > Save. Choose the GIF name you want to save it as. If you are using the Trial version of the software it will let you know there will be a small coffeecup logo in the top left corner..

 
» 5. Additional Options.
 
You can also save your Animated GIF as a Flash SWF file by clicking File > Save> as Macromedia Flash. When you save it as an SWF it will then give you the code for inserting the SWF into an HTML page. Click on Copy to Clipboard to save the code. You can import AVIs into the CoffeeCup GIF Animator by clicking on File > Import AVI. You are limited to importing AVIs smaller than 500k.