Help making simple animated web banners please

[xgipper]

Hi
I've downloaded the trial version of Photoline and I want to use it for making animated gif banners for the web, as well as reducing pics which seems straightforward.

I'm hoping someone can help me through the steps, as to be honest I haven't found the documentation on animation that I've so far located a great deal of help so far, and there doesn't seem to be much mention of animation on the forum.

Sooo, say I want to make a 468 x 60 animated gif using layers, for the web..

I can create the right size document - although don't know how to create it to those dimensions at 72dpi, even though I seem to be able to set the resolution of individual new layers. So how do I set up the workspace for this project, please?

Secondly, I'd like to create an outline around the banner. What's the easiest way of doing this, please?

Finally, the animation : so I have my test banner, with a nice garish pink background on one layer made with 'floodfill', and two other layers with test text on. So I go to Web > animate layers and press the play button, and it cycles between the background, the background and the first text layer, and the background, first and second text layer. My questions are, can you choose which layers appear in each 'frame' - like with Photoshop? How do you make it cycle so it *replaces* the first text layer with the second without displaying both text layers at the same time? What do the four options under 'Display mode' do, and 'All equal' mean in the r/h side of the diaglogue box?

And then saving: so I 'save as' a gif, and I choose 'interlaced; any recommendations on 'preset'? And under 'save options' some of these options seem to be repeated: so I want the animation to 'loop' - do I keep 'animation replays' at 0 (seems to work, anyway!).

When I view this in Firefox, there is a strange grey area on the left of my banner (possibly a 'demo' message about the software?) and my text has an unusual white outline. I've attached it to this post.

Finally, should I instead be using 'Dynamic animation' or 'Create animation' under the web menu? And, ahem, if I ever progress to producing Flash banners, where do I start with this, please?

Hope this makes sense, and thanks for any help getting me started!

[bkh]

I can create the right size document - although don't know how to create it to those dimensions at 72dpi, even though I seem to be able to set the resolution of individual new layers. So how do I set up the workspace for this project, please?

When you start a new picture, you can set the resolution in the dialog. For a new document, use "Scale Document" and pick "Resolution" mode. Doesn't really matter if you use a picture or a document as a starting point. (And probably resolution doesn't matter anyway because as far s I remember, gifs don't store their resolution.)

Finally, the animation : so I have my test banner, with a nice garish pink background on one layer made with 'floodfill', and two other layers with test text on. So I go to Web > animate layers and press the play button, and it cycles between the background, the background and the first text layer, and the background, first and second text layer. My questions are, can you choose which layers appear in each 'frame' - like with Photoshop?

You can create layer groups. Each top level group will become one layer in the animated gif. Virtual copies of layers might be useful here.

How do you make it cycle so it *replaces* the first text layer with the second without displaying both text layers at the same time?

Set "Display mode" to "clear" in "Animate layers …", or overwrite the first text by the background color in the next frame.

Secondly, I'd like to create an outline around the banner. What's the easiest way of doing this, please?

Layer Style -> Outline inside. If you use virtual copies of the bg image in your frame, or if you use the "overwrite" mode, you'll only have to do this for one frame.

What do the four options under 'Display mode' do, and 'All equal' mean in the r/h side of the diaglogue box?

This is explained in Section 5.7.5 in the manual. "All equal" means "apply to all frames", rather than one individual frame.

And then saving: so I 'save as' a gif, and I choose 'interlaced; any recommendations on 'preset'?

Use 256, Floyd, Median Cut if you want dithering, and 256, Best Cut, Median Cut, if you don't. As long as you have less than 256 colours, there is no difference.

And under 'save options' some of these options seem to be repeated: so I want the animation to 'loop' - do I keep 'animation replays' at 0 (seems to work, anyway!).

The options under "Save Options" are the default options to be used, the options in the save dialog can be changed on a per-image basis.

Finally, should I instead be using 'Dynamic animation' or 'Create animation' under the web menu? And, ahem, if I ever progress to producing Flash banners, where do I start with this, please?

"Dynamic animation" is for creating Flash animations, and "Create animation" can be used to produce animated layers from a single layer.

Cheers

Burkhard.

[xgipper]

Thanks for your responses. I'd just worked out about grouping layers when you replied.

But what is a "top level group"?

Under 'animate layers' I don't have a 'clear' option, just undefined, overwrite, delete and special.

Are there any limitations on the trial version of the software, as after creating my latest attempt it doesn't seem to have saved any of the layer groups I made (which took a lot of time!)

And does it overwrite anything onto the graphics files, like 'demo' or something?

Thanks

[Gerhard Huber]

the unregistered version writes unremoveable "Demo" onto your images if you save in GIF format.
GIF-Format is no working format, you should always save your work in PLD. When you are ready, save it in GIF.

Gerhard

[bkh]

But what is a "top level group"?

Just a group not contained in another group.

Under 'animate layers' I don't have a 'clear' option, just undefined, overwrite, delete and special.

Sorry, I meant "delete".

Are there any limitations on the trial version of the software, as after creating my latest attempt it doesn't seem to have saved any of the layer groups I made (which took a lot of time!)

I suppose that you only saved the as gif? GIF does not support layer groups. It's better to save your work as .pld file, and to export the gif.

Normally, you get a warning when you save in a format that doesn't support all required features, but apparently this isn't perfect.

Cheers

Burkhard.

[xgipper]

the unregistered version writes unremoveable "Demo" onto your images if you save in GIF format.
GIF-Format is no working format, you should always save your work in PLD. When you are ready, save it in GIF.

Gerhard

Thanks. I think I maybe messed up there! Guess the 'Export' route is best to save a copy.

[xgipper]

Sorry another question: when I'm making my animated banner, is it possible to have any layers *excluded* from the gif that I make from PL?

[Gerhard Huber]

you can group this layer and setup the layer to invisible. This way it is not exported.

Gerhard

[xgipper]

Hi - I'm still having a few probs with my latest attempt at making my banner, using grouped layers. Works fine til I export it as a gif.

Wondered if either of you two would be kind enough to look at the PL file and advise, if I can PM or email a link to download it (it's for a real banner I'm testing out in PL)? Only thing is it's about 19mb due to a scan...

[bkh]

Hi - I'm still having a few probs with my latest attempt at making my banner, using grouped layers. Works fine til I export it as a gif.

Wondered if either of you two would be kind enough to look at the PL file and advise, if I can PM or email a link to download it (it's for a real banner I'm testing out in PL)? Only thing is it's about 19mb due to a scan...

Please feel free to PM me a link and a short description of the problem. I don't mind downloading a 19 mb file.

Cheers

Burkhard.

[bkh]

I've had a look at the sample file and found a few problems.

1) The top group has an intensity of 0 %, so it will be transparent. You'll want to set it back to 100 %.

2) Your layer background is transparent in the text part, so web browsers will show white text on their default (usually white) background. (The document background colour in PL is only used to simulate the background colour of the web page and will not be included in the GIF file.) If you want a violet background in all the frames, you'll have to add it to the layer groups.

3) For some reason (a PL bug, I guess), virtual copies seem not to work when exporting (animated only?) gifs. I've had to replace them by real copies.

Otoh., it's not necessary to use the full 19 MB scan in the PL file. I'd scale it down to the appropriate size and possibly do some tweaking first, then use the scaled down copy in the gif. Maybe even add the background colour for the text to that image as well and use it as a background layer in each frame.

Cheers

Burkhard.

[xgipper]

Thanks. I'll try again. Attempt 4 coming up

[xgipper]

Secondly, I'd like to create an outline around the banner. What's the easiest way of doing this, please?

Layer Style -> Outline inside. If you use virtual copies of the bg image in your frame, or if you use the "overwrite" mode, you'll only have to do this for one frame.

I'm struggling with this simple task again: please could someone remind me how I create a simple border to a 120 x 60 px button? I just want a 1pt black line around it. I can't find a 'layer style' option. Many thanks!

[bkh]

Layer Style -> Outline inside. If you use virtual copies of the bg image in your frame, or if you use the "overwrite" mode, you'll only have to do this for one frame.

I'm struggling with this simple task again: please could someone remind me how I create a simple border to a 120 x 60 px button? I just want a 1pt black line around it. I can't find a 'layer style' option. Many thanks!

"Layer style" is in the "Effects" menu. Or use the "S" menu at the bottom of the Layer Panel.

Cheers,

Burkhard.

[xgipper]

Thanks! Easy when you know where to look!