Welcome to GIF Animator

Welcome to the Microsoft GIF Animator. With this tool you can use any .GIF file, or any image you can copy to the Clipboard as part of an animation. You can create or modify an animation then save it for use in your web browser or other applications. You can add as many images to an animation as your computer memory allows.

The GIF Animator contains a toolbar, an animation (frames) display column, a scroll bar, and three tabs; the Options tab when you open GIF Animator, and also the Animation, and Image tabs once you open a file.

•	The Options tab controls the way GIF Animator manages your files.

•	The Animation tab controls characteristics of your animation.

•	The Image tab controls characteristics of individual frames in your animation.

You can add images to the animation display column by using drag and drop, by pasting an image from the Clipboard into a frame, or by opening an existing .GIF file from within GIF Animator. Set the Import Color Palette options in the Options tab before you add images to your animation. Use the scrollbar to view all the images in the current animation. Images are inserted before the current selected frame.

Note

The GIF Animator is supported by Microsoft Support Services through support for purchasers of Microsoft Image Composer.

The display and other functionality of GIF Animator files is dependent on the functionality of the browser you use to view the files. Large files increase download times and might also display interrupted sequencing on computers with low memory.


Toolbar

The toolbar that displays when you open the GIF Animator provides the following basic file and image handling features.

Button		Description
	New	Create new file.
	Open	Open an existing file. If you use this while a file is open, GIF Animator warns that current changes will be lost and prompts you to save your changes.
	Save	Save changes to the active file.
	Insert	Insert an additional .GIF file into the current animation. The file is inserted before the current selected frame.
	Save As	Save changes to another file name.
	Cut	Remove selected image to the Clipboard.
	Copy	Duplicate selected image to the Clipboard.
	Paste	Place cut or copied image from the Clipboard at the insertion point.
	Delete	Remove selected image without copying to the Clipboard.
	Select All	Select all images in the current animation.
	Move Up/Down	Position the selected image one frame closer to the beginning or to the end of the current animation.
	Preview	Play the results of your work without saving it.
	Help	Open this help file.
Press ESC to cancel the loading or saving of files.


Options Tab Dialog

The Options tab of GIF Animator enables you to specify which palette GIF Animator uses to represent the images within the animation, and how colors are represented in the saved image.

Thumbnails Reflect Image Position   Click to select this check box to see each image in the animation space that you specify in the Animation tab instead of as a full frame image.

Main Dialog Window Always on Top   Click to select this check box to enable the GIF Animator window to remain the frontmost window on your desktop. This disables drag and drop to GIF Animator.

Import Color Palette   Allows you to choose between the Browser palette, which provides a direct match to the most common browsers, and an “optimal” palette you can specify by clicking the dialog button to locate the Windows .PAL file you want to use.

Browser Palette	GIF Animator uses a single palette that best matches the whole animation. Most efficient.
Optimal Palette	GIF Animator creates a separate palette for each frame. High overhead; very good quality.
[Load]	GIF Animator uses the palette you specify in the Open dialog.

Import Dither Method   Allows you to choose a drawing method from the following list to best represent your color palette.

Solid	Chooses closest indexed color. Fast and good for line art and images with few colors.
Pattern	Calculates colors using a small pattern that is fast though coarse. Fast speeds for images with moderate number of colors.
Random	Calculates colors using a large pattern that produces finer results than Pattern dithering. Moderate speeds for images with moderate to large number of colors.
Error Diffusion	Calculates colors by finely mixing colors over a small area. Offers good results, but slower speed.


Animation Tab Dialog

The Animation tab of GIF Animator provides control of the size, duration, and transparency attributes of an animation.

Animation Width   Allows you to specify the width of the space in which the animation plays. GIF Animator supplies a default value that you can modify. Specify a wider space for frames that move horizontally.

Animation Height   Allows you to specify the height of the space in which the animation plays. GIF Animator supplies a default value that you can modify. Specify a taller space for frames that move vertically.

Image Count   Displays the number of frames in the current animation. More images with smaller movements provide smoother motion, but create larger files and longer download times.

Looping   Click to select this check box if you want your animation to repeat.

Repeat Count   Allows you to specify the number of times you want your animation to repeat.

Trailing Comment   Allows you to attach a comment to the animation.


Image Tab Dialog

The Image tab of GIF Animator provides control over characteristics of individual images within the animation.

Image Width   Displays the width of the selected image.

Image Height   Displays the height of the selected image.

Left   Allows you to specify the position of the left edge of the selected image within its frame.

Top   Allows you to specify the position of the top edge of the selected image within its frame.

Duration (1/100 s)   Allows you to specify the amount of time, in 1/100 of a second increments, that the selected image displays during the animation. Varying duration throughout an animation can enhance the appearance of starts and stops and other effects.

Undraw Method   Allows you to specify how frames display in the animation from the following choices:

Undefined	Directs the browser to do nothing to the background before displaying the next image.
Leave	Directs the browser to leave the previous graphic image as the next is drawn. This choice can create a shadowing effect.
Restore Background	Directs the browser to redraw the original background as the current image is drawn.
Restore Previous	Directs the browser to redraw the previous image as the current image is drawn.
Transparency   Click to select this check box if you want to specify that one color in your animation will not display.

Transparent Color   Click the box to display a palette from which you can choose a color that GIF Animator will treat as the transparent portion of the image. You can choose only one transparent color.

Comment   Allows you to attach a comment to the current selected frame.