Component descriptions

Start image sample - a thumbnail representation of the starting image

End image sample - a thumbnail representation of the final image

Pixel size listbox - some effects are accomplished using blocks of pixels. The number selected in this listbox is the number of pixels along one side of the block to be used in the effect. A pixel width size of 2 means a total number of 4 pixels are in the block, that is, 2 pixels wide by 2 pixels high. Similarly, a setting of 5 represents a total of 25 pixels ie. 5 by 5. Obviously the smaller this setting, the finer the change in the animation will appear.

Generate frames button - Whenever any settings or effects are altered, a new set of frames must be generated. Click this button after altering any settings to generate the frames.

Display reset button - Clicking this button resets the image in the Animation display panel to the start image.

View animation button - Clicking this button generates a simulation of the selected animation effect in the Animation display panel.

Animation display panel - The generated frames are displayed in this area.

Animation effect name - The selected animation effect name is displayed in this panel of the status bar.

Number of frames - The selected number of frames in the animation effect is displayed.

Width of pixel block - The number of pixels in the width of a pixel block is displayed.

Number of frames - This listbox is used to select the total number of frames to generate for an effect. The more frames that are generated, the smoother the effect. However, the more frames in the effect, the larger will be the final size of the file which contains the image.

Messages - Any warning messages will be displayed in this panel on the status bar.

Exit button - Click this button to exit the option.

Direction of movement - Some effects enable the direction of the change to be selected.

Frames list - The numbers for the frames that are generated for the effect are displayed in this listbox. Clicking on a frame number in the list will cause that individual frame to be displayed in the Animation display panel.

Change aspect - Some effects can be selected to occur either with a horizontal or vertical change with this check box.

Animation speed - By selecting different speeds ( in 1000ths of a second ), the user can emulate the final effect of the animation. The faster the speed, the smoother the animation.

To create the frames for the above animation:-

1. Click File, Open Start image. A file selection dialog box is displayed to enable the start image to be chosen. In this case choose the start.bmp file which accompanies this tutorial.

2. Click File, Open End image. Select the file for the final image, in this case end.bmp.

3. Click Effect, Fade.

4. Set Frame count to 8.

5. Set Frame time to 10.

6. Click Create frames.

7. Click View animation to visualize the generated animation. The Frame time can be altered to see the effect of different speed of change to the frames.

8. Click File, Save frames to save the 8 generated frames to separate files. These files will then be used as input to a program which can consolidate the 8 frames to generate a single animated file, generally a .gif file.

And it's just as simple to change the type of animated effect. Simply click Effect, click on the animation effect wanted, click Create frames and View animation.

Click here to download a zipped copy of this tutorial.

Registration

Ordering and registration information