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NWE Help: Graphics: Intro: Animation
NWE Home :: Help :: Graphics :: Intro
If you have spent any time at all surfing the web you are sure to have come across dozens of animation effects. While some of these effects require special programs to create and view on the web (such as Macromedia Flash or Shockwave), others can be made right here in the NWE. This help page discusses the most popular form of web animation, the animated GIF, and provides a few brief remarks about other animations you may encounter on the web today or in the near future.
Animated GIFs
Animated GIFS are easy to make, and they are saved in the same format as regular GIFs. Effects ranging from bouncing balls to swirling type to dancing cartoon figures can be produced using animated GIFs. Like most other web-based animations, animated GIFs are actually a sequence of individual images stored in a single file.
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The animated GIF above actually is a sequence of the folowing six images, which have been saved in a single file and programmed to play repeatedly in an action known as a loop.
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You can create animated GIFs in the NWE by making a series of still images in ImageMagick or xv and animating them using gifsicle.
Making simple animations is a fairly straight-forward process, but there are a couple of things you should keep in mind:
- Using transparency in animated gifs can cause problems. The animated GIF format "stacks" the frames one on top of another and shuffles them top to bottom as the animation plays. If the "top" image contains transparency, then the images underneath will peek through. While this effect might inspire experimentation in some people, it will prove a hindrance to many others.
- Because an animated GIF is really several GIFs rolled into one, its file size is proportionately larger. The more frames in the animation, the bigger the file and the longer it will take the image to load in a web browser.
Other types of Web animation
The animated GIF is the most common form of web animation, but other forms are becoming increasingly popular. While these formats are not available in the NWE at this time, you may find it useful to know a little about them.
Shockwave and Flash
Shockwave and Flash are popular animation formats produced by Macromedia Director and Macromedia Flash. Shockwave uses a special streaming technique that downloads and plays animations quickly. Flash uses vector graphics to provide sophisticated animation effects without huge image files. In order to view Shockwave or Flash animations on the Web, you must install special players on your computer. Macromedia provides the players free of charge for Windows and Mac systems, as well as many other operating systems. As of Summer 2002, Macromedia's Shockwave or Flash players are unstable in X-Windows environments such as the one at the NWE. This means that if you make Shockwave or Flash animations with Director or Flash, you won't be able to share them with your instructors and classmates in the NWE labs.
Multiple-image Network Graphics
Multiple-image Network Graphics (MNGs) are similar to animated GIFs in many ways, but there are some important differences that give MNG graphics better performance and smaller files in many cases. The format still is being tested by industry experts, so it probably won't show up on your web browser any time soon.