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How how how??

PMG

New Member
I am making my first animated gif. and iam trying to save it as low as i can get it,but cant get it below 370 KB with out it looking worse. I need to keep it at 90x728 and have used every option in the (save for web) but when it saves it smaller it looks worse...........!
 
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weaselboogie

New Member
I designed my last one in corel rave and then brought it into imageready and did a 'save optimized as'. Cut it in 1/3 of the original size. Wasn't too impressed with corel's image quality though, but you couldn't tell a difference after imageready did its work.
 

Fred Weiss

Merchant Member
As stated, Imageready is made for what you want to do with animation frames and optimizing. Save for Web is more for static images.
 

PMG

New Member
So should i send the PSD to image ready or should i save as a gif,then to image ready?
 

PMG

New Member
Saving from the web option and taking it to Image ready gives me the same size,no change!!! it drops it down about 100kb from the original PSD file size!! the file im working with is 600kb and i have it down to 500 kb and need it down to 150kb YIKES!!
 

weaselboogie

New Member
This poses a question. Maybe I just don't get it and maybe there is something easier. To animate you move an object, duplicate frame and repeat? And then save layers as a gif. I have never designed an image in imageready, but I have used it to optimize a gif. Please tell me that there is an easier way.

Rave is much like macromedia flash whereas you want to move an object from one side to the other. You put the object on one side, slide your keyframe out and then move the end piece to where you want the object to stop and select tween.
 

Bobby H

Arial Sucks.
PMG, how many frames are you trying to put into your animated GIF? Most animated GIFs for web display typically have perhaps 5 to 20 frames and use different time settings for each frame to get a greater variety of effects.

What color mode are you using to save the optimized GIF? If you're using a full 24-bit 16.7 million color palette your file size is going to be a lot bigger. I typically save animated GIFs in the "adaptive" 256 color palette. Nearly everyone surfing the Internet these days has a full 24-bit color display, so the web-safe palette thing is pretty antiquated anymore. The "adaptive" palette just uses the 256 colors most often used in the image and often doesn't look much different than a full color image. You don't see as much dithering in the exported image as you do with the standard web safe palette. If your image has fewer than 256 colors it will drop as many unused colors out of the palette to further shrink file size.

When I create animated GIFs I usually build the colors and animation in Photoshop. I may begin the artwork in CorelDRAW or Illustrator and then bring those vectors into Photoshop's paths palette to do all the color work (it's a lot more efficient than fiddling with a bunch of alpha channels).

I wish more forums supported Flash for uploaded images, avatars, etc. Flash just stomps the tar out of animated GIF. There's just so much more capability in the format. Flash 8 added a lot. FlashCS3 is an even more tremendous jump in adopting the full Illustrator vector engine.
 

PMG

New Member
Bobby H. this has 47 frames and I'm saving it from the (save for web) GIF...Perceptual...Diffusion.....Transparency is checked....Lossy @0...
256 color....88% Dither and 0 Web snap......and if i save it using image ready....its saved as a gif....100%dither and 256 color!!! here is the file I'm trying to get down in size!!!
 
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PMG

New Member
I'm using CS2..........The PSD file before doing any animation on it is 403kb,when i do all the animation it takes it up to 8 MB,and when i (save for web save for optimized) same feature as in Image Ready save for Optimized bring it back down to 604kb,but i need it to be around 150kb,,is there anything else to get it down with out changing the pixel ratio and or images?
 

iSign

New Member
pro... I can't help you with your question, but besides complimenting you for a cool animation & admitting that it is far more advanced then any I have done... could I be so presumptious to offer a design suggestion anyway?

The twinkling of the highlights gave me an idea that I think would be fairly easy, & would be subtle enough to not read as busy or overdone... but at the same time might add pop & pizazz beyond what you already have.

Once the lettering moves into plac & rests there... your animation then focuses on the twinkling & the color change of the sub-copy. Personally I don't find the sub-copy color change to do much for me & the twinkling has an unnatural quality right now. What I think is lacking is a further extension of the underlying concept that if the lettering is not moving, a light source must be moving to provide that twinkle in the reflection. Because you have a bevel & a shadow... assuming you created these with layer styles... it would be quite easy to set up 8 or 10 frames of a gradually shifting light source, applied globally, to all layers with bevels or shadows, resulting in a pan from right to left & back, like under a circus tent with roving spotlights overhead. Add evidence of a subtle spotlight beam crossing over the checkered flag to complete the illusion, & you might wish to adjust your sub-copy animation to fit this idea as well, rather then flashing in an unrelated manner.

It's easy for me to say it would not be difficult, but of course I don't know that, and while it sounds like a cool idea to me... it may just sound like a lot of work to you... but when I get a flash of an idea... I am compelled to share it, so there you have it.

What you've got looks really cool & my entire website pales by comparison, so take it for what it's worth.
 

PMG

New Member
Thanks D...It is all done in layers in PScs2,and this is the first animation i have done ,so i will try to do what your suggesting,sound real good and to more of where I'm looking to get to with this design, I'm still on the learning curve of photo shop,so ALL please forgive me for trying to get this where i need it to be!!!!!THANKS!!!!!:U Rock:
 

iSign

New Member
while you're exploring .gif files... why not make a transparent .gif for the image in your signature & lose that ugly white box? Like my avatar, just delete the white from a .psd file & save as a .gif & be sure "preserve transparency is checked... it will look way nicer!

(I'll check back in 10 minutes :wink: )
 

iSign

New Member
do you see the white box in your signature?
pmg3.GIF


I changed it from index color to rgb, & changed the layer from background to layer 0... then selected the white with the magic wand... deleted it & saved as .gif with transparency checked.

I'm tired, catch you later
 

iSign

New Member
hmmm... I saw that your signature image came down for a minute & then you put up a new one... I DL'd it again & still find it opening as index color mode in photoshop. I had to change mine to rgb color to get transparency, so maybe that is the missing step.
 
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