To convert a sprite file, simply drag it over the ImageConv icon on the
iconbar, once you've loaded the application. You will be presented with
a series of conversion options, the majority of which are either documented
by the software itself, or are made clear by the assistant images in the
different windows.
That said, there are some features which aren't immediately obvious...
GIF files are limited to 256 colours. For this reason sprites with 32,000
or 16 million colour palettes cannot be converted to gifs. These files
must be converted to JPEGs. The software will tell you if you try and
convert a high colour image into a GIF.
To create a GIF animation, simply drag a sprite file containing more than
one image onto the ImageConv icon on the iconbar. You can add sprites
to a sprite file very simply using !Paint. Load up the main sprite file,
then drag other animation frames into the Paint window. The images will
be added, and you can then save the sprite.
There are various options available when creating animations. Most people
will want the looping option selected, so the the animation continues ad
infinitum whilst the user is on the page. The frame delay is also very
useful, as this provides an easy way for speeding up or slowing down the
animation.
You shouldn't need to touch the colour optimisation button, but it is included
for the sake of completeness. Interlacing and transparency are set as for
normal gifs and gif89s. Note that transparency is not always very effective
for animations, but should be fine for most files.
The file produced will appear as a standard gif, and the first frame will
be seen by those without animated gif compliant browsers, but those with
suitable software will be in for a treat!
To convert a DrawFile, simply drag it over the ImageConv icon on the
iconbar. You will then have the option of creating a sprite or a gif.
Sprites are only really useful if (a) you just need to convert the drawfile
or (b) if you need to create a JPEG. However, drawfiles are far more
effective as GIFs, mainly due to the concept of a 'background' in a draw
file. This will be translated into a transparent GIF very effectively
and intelligently, making GIF the obvious choice.
The usual options are available for Draw-based GIFs, but you should bear
in mind that the NetScape standard palette will be used, for compatibility
purposes. This may mean that graduated fills may look a little odd (if
you've saved as a drawfile out of ArtWorks) although this shouldn't prove
to problematical. You may notice that some colours come out slightly
darker or lighter due to this NetScape palette adjustment. That said,
the overall quality of the output will be much better than the original, as
the drawfile will be anti-aliased during conversion.
Please note that in !ImageConv 2.16 or later you can specify a background
colour when converting your draw file, and the software will anti-alias
to that colour instead of the default white. This is particularly
important when creating transparent GIFs from your draw files, as the
transparency will then be "anti-aliased" into your image, with tints of
the correct background colour for the page it will be dispayed on.
One of ImageConv's very powerful features is the ability to batch process
image conversions. To use this feature, copy all the files to be
converted into a directory, and drag the directory over the ImageConv
icon on the iconbar. You will be able to save out a new directory, and
then choose the various conversion options. Once done, all the sprite files
in the first directory will be converted and saved in the new one.
Note that due to the different options available for DrawFiles, they cannot
be batch processed.