Original GIF Archives

Introduction-

Microsoft GIF Animator is a very basic GIF Animating program. It can't do anything except make images/sprites/GIFs transparent, and animate sprites into GIFs. So, using add-ons with this animator is basically out of the question. This GIF Animator has many flaws. Especially when dealing with individual frame size and transparency. You have to make every sprite transparenct seperately, which is a PAIN IN THE ASS if you have a lot of frames in a GIF. Not to mention they have to be the same size, or they may not work right. So, in other words, this isn't a very good animator over-all. But hey, it's better than nothing, right?

Ok. I am going to assume you have the sprites you want for the GIF ready. It is best if the sprites are the same image size (pixels), though it is not required. Alright, here's a crash-course on getting your sprites to move:

First, open up your Microsoft GIF Animator program, then click the small icon that shows a picture of a yellow folder opening and open up the sprite you want to start off the GIF with. Now, to open up more sprites, BE SURE to click the small icon that shows a flat piece of paper, with a bent corner, and a + over it. (You'll know what I am talking about when you see it on the program.) Anyway, after you click that icon, open up any other sprites you want to use. Repeat this step until you have all of the sprites you want in the GIF open. You may get a pop-up notice reading “The logical screen was too small for the images of the animation. It's size has been altered.” This means you might have errors in the future, when adding transparency to your GIF, anything from location displacement, up to over-lapping frames. In this example, I am using a simple 2-frame Goku GIF (Heh, state the obvious, eh?) Anyway. As you open up more frames, they will appear at the top, making the other frames go further down. Look at the example to see what I mean: See how the one of him with his arm extended is at the top? That's because I opened it second. The first one I opened was him just standing there. See what I mean?

Ok, now click “Animation” and check the box that says “Looping” then check the box that says “Repeat Forever”. Now, you're ready to preview your GIF! Click the small arrow icon, right to the left of the “ ? ” icon. There's a couple things that may happen here.

1: Your GIF may work fine, and have a colored background (non-transparent).
2: It might look horrible. Frames will improperly lap over other frames, causing body parts to be cut off, and other bad things. (This only occurs if your frames are different sizes.)

Both of these are easily solvable. Here's how:

If the GIF works good, simply make the background transparent. Click the “Image” tab, next to the one that says “Animation”. Ok, now check the box that says “Transparency” Now, there should be a small box to the right where it says “Transparent color”. Click that box, and it should give you a small screen with a bunch of boxes, with different colors within them. Now, click the colored box that's the same as the background color of the GIF. (On the Goku GIF, I would click the black colored box.) MAKE SURE you do this with every frame in the GIF, or else the background will flicker between colored, and transparent. Ok, here's how to text if the transparency worked: Click the small arrow again, to preview the GIF. Again, a couple of different things may happen:

1: The GIF will still have a colored background, like it did before.
2: The GIF's background will be gone. (For you, it would probably be grey, but on my computer, it would be about this color.) But the GIF is still messed up.
3: The background will be gone, and the GIF will be working properly.

Ok. If the GIF works fine, but still has a colored background. (On mine, the Goku GIF would still have a black background.) Go back to the “Image” tab, and click the colored box next to “Transparency color” and try a different shade. (Note: It's a good idea to use a color that would be easy to find, such as hot pink, or neon green.) You should have no trouble here, if you used an easy-to-find background color. Remember to change the shade of every frame in the GIF, or the background will flicker between transparent and colored, or similiar effects.

If the GIF has a clear background, but still looks terrible. (Such as frames going over each other. I'll have an example of what I mean at the bottom.) Go to the “Image” tab again and right over the “Transparency” box, it should say “Undraw Method” and have a selection box under it that says “Undefined” in it. Switch “Undefined” to “Restore background” then, preview the GIF again. It should be working properly this time. If not, try using “Restore Previous” or “Leave”. This should fix the problem. REMEMBER: You have to do this with every frame in the GIF as well.

If the GIF has a clear background now, and is working properly, then you've made a GIF! Now, click the icon that shows 3 floppy discs laying on top of each other. (Next to the icon that has the flat piece of paper with a folded corner, with the + over it.) And save it! Be sure NOT to over-write the filename that it has already in the box. (The name of the first sprite you opened.) Simply back-space that sprite's filename, and save it as whatever you want.