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Gif is not working
Janisf11
Newbie Joined: Dec 23, 2009 00:59 Messages: 31 Offline
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I have a couple of animated gifs that I want to included in a book trailer video. Powerdirctor won't accept the gif because it only has three frames. I converted it to mov, mp4 and avi and none of them work. Supposedly Power DDirector accepts gif. I thought it accepted the video formats as well. The images are different graphics of a Fairy with wings on her shoes. The wings are animated. Hope someone can help.



Thanks

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at Oct 07. 2015 20:35

ynotfish
Senior Contributor Location: N.S.W. Australia Joined: May 08, 2009 02:06 Messages: 9977 Online
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Hi Janis -

Perhaps you should attach the original animated gif for members to test.

PDR14 (here) has no issue importing and playing gifs with only 3 frames. There are two little fairies attached (both 3 frames) and they work OK here.

Cheers - Tony
[Thumb - Fairy2.gif]
 Filename
Fairy2.gif
[Disk]
 Description
 Filesize
50 Kbytes
 Downloaded:
167 time(s)
[Thumb - Fairy1.gif]
 Filename
Fairy1.gif
[Disk]
 Description
 Filesize
43 Kbytes
 Downloaded:
4470 time(s)

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Janisf11
Newbie Joined: Dec 23, 2009 00:59 Messages: 31 Offline
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I will attach one of the images.



Thanks for the reply,



Janis
[Thumb - illus001_clip_blurb1.gif]
 Filename
illus001_clip_blurb1.gif
[Disk]
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 Filesize
579 Kbytes
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149 time(s)
ynotfish
Senior Contributor Location: N.S.W. Australia Joined: May 08, 2009 02:06 Messages: 9977 Online
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Hi Janis -

Somewhere in all that conversion you were doing, that not-so-little fairy - 2344x1297 - lost her background transparency, if she ever had it. Still, she plays fine in PDR14 as you can see in the attached screen capture.

I cut her down to size - 700x387 - and given her a transparent background (attached), and the new fairy works fine in PDR14 too laughing She's also shown in the screen capture.

I'm not sure at all why the .gif "isn't working" for you.

Cheers - Tony
 Filename
Fairies in PDR14.wmv
[Disk]
 Description
 Filesize
3998 Kbytes
 Downloaded:
305 time(s)
[Thumb - FairyFeet1.gif]
 Filename
FairyFeet1.gif
[Disk]
 Description
 Filesize
126 Kbytes
 Downloaded:
107 time(s)

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Janisf11
Newbie Joined: Dec 23, 2009 00:59 Messages: 31 Offline
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May pleasse have the steps you took to make it work (especially the transparent background)?
I have a couple more gifs to work with.

Thanks so much for your help!

Janis
[Post New]
Quote: May pleasse have the steps you took to make it work (especially the transparent background)?
I have a couple more gifs to work with.
Janis



In pip Designer, using Chroma Key on the white area of Gif, gave good result for me in this case ..

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at Oct 13. 2015 12:02

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ynotfish
Senior Contributor Location: N.S.W. Australia Joined: May 08, 2009 02:06 Messages: 9977 Online
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Hi Janis -

PlaySound's suggestion of applying chroma key to the background colour will work - as long as there's NO white in the image.

The way I did it took a few more steps...


  1. Each frame of the animation has to be separated. There are many ways to do this - I used GifSplitter. Link to guide - https://www.raymond.cc/blog/split-or-break-gif-animation-into-individual-frames/

  2. Background has to be made transparent in each frame and each image saved as a .png file. I used GIMP (free). Link to Guide - http://docs.gimp.org/en/gimp-using-web-transparency.html

  3. Finally, each image needs to be imported into GIMP as layers - then saved as an animated GIF. Link to guide - http://www.bogotobogo.com/Gif/gif-tutorial.php


If you need to resize the images, that should be done at step 2. Make sure they're all the same size! laughing

Cheers - Tony

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at Oct 13. 2015 13:35


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Janisf11
Newbie Joined: Dec 23, 2009 00:59 Messages: 31 Offline
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Hi Tony,

I can't get it to work. I was able to convert another one, but neither that gif or the one you gave me worked.

I couldn't get it on to the first tract. There was a red circle with a line through it. I did get it on the pip track but it just flashed and didn't show on the track. If I click on the space it was suppose to be in, a gray block came up. I don't get this,



Janis
ynotfish
Senior Contributor Location: N.S.W. Australia Joined: May 08, 2009 02:06 Messages: 9977 Online
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Hmmm -

That's a tricky one Janis. Do you mean you're (a) unable to get any GIF file to work correctly or (b) unable to follow the steps I described above.

If it's (a) would it be possible to attach a screen capture video (or at least screenshots) to show what's happening in your PDR14? Please try the attached GIF - which has a transparent background - and let us know what happens. In the attached screenshot, it's playing normally against a sample background.

If it's (b) please describe which steps are causing you concern.

Cheers - Tony
[Thumb - Penguin GIF.png]
 Filename
Penguin GIF.png
[Disk]
 Description
in PDR14
 Filesize
3345 Kbytes
 Downloaded:
78 time(s)
[Thumb - animated-penguin-gif-5.gif]
 Filename
animated-penguin-gif-5.gif
[Disk]
 Description
 Filesize
414 Kbytes
 Downloaded:
166 time(s)

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Janisf11
Newbie Joined: Dec 23, 2009 00:59 Messages: 31 Offline
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I will try to do a screen capture.
Janisf11
Newbie Joined: Dec 23, 2009 00:59 Messages: 31 Offline
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Hi Why Not Fish,



I just saw the video you sent. How did you get all the "Keyframes?" on the bottom. That must have been the difference.

I can get the gif to a track but it is such a short time that it is like a flicker. so what do I do to get it to work like your sample?
 Filename
Fairies in PDR14.wmv
[Disk]
 Description
 Filesize
3998 Kbytes
 Downloaded:
294 time(s)
Janisf11
Newbie Joined: Dec 23, 2009 00:59 Messages: 31 Offline
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I really appreciate the help.

Janis
CS2014
Senior Contributor Location: USA-Eastern Time Zone Joined: Sep 16, 2014 16:44 Messages: 629 Offline
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In TOny's 10-13-2015 10:34:44 Response Janis ---STEP1 !

You've got to make each frame a separate image - a png. (for GIF apparently)

Once all the images are created - you drag them into the timeline in the proper sequence.

Sort of like the shutter thing I did recently right Tony?

THen his step 2 - the backgrounds in each of those images has to be transparent - NOT white or black... transparent.


Tony's step 3 I haven't done before but I believe him. Good luck.

I need to create a GIF doing something like this for the experience - maybe when I get back home.

CS

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at Oct 22. 2015 18:12

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ynotfish
Senior Contributor Location: N.S.W. Australia Joined: May 08, 2009 02:06 Messages: 9977 Online
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Quote: I can get the gif to a track but it is such a short time that it is like a flicker. so what do I do to get it to work like your sample?


That's because the GIF itself has a limited number of frames. The fairy only has 3, so it will only last for 00:00:00:08 on your timeline. That penguin I posted had 15 frames & lasts about a second. In a browser or animation software, the GIF automatically loops, but not in PDR.

In PDR, you need to copy and paste the GIF to get the duration you want. See in the attached screenshot, the penguin has been copied/pasted 10 times to make it run for ~10 seconds.

CS - it's very much like the shutter thing - separate frames combines to create an animation laughing

Cheers - Tony
[Thumb - GIF repeat.png]
 Filename
GIF repeat.png
[Disk]
 Description
 Filesize
722 Kbytes
 Downloaded:
89 time(s)

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at Oct 22. 2015 19:49


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CS2014
Senior Contributor Location: USA-Eastern Time Zone Joined: Sep 16, 2014 16:44 Messages: 629 Offline
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Janis

Are their basically 2 different images - 1 with the wings closed or somewhat closed and 1 image with them at 'full open'?

If you copy the image into 15 or 20 frames - the image of them open, then follow that sequence with the same number of frames with the wings closed - doing this alternately for 200 or so frames - you get the animation you are looking for I think.

But you will need the 2 different images to do that.

CS
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Eddmac [Avatar]
Newbie Location: Washington State Joined: Mar 26, 2010 18:26 Messages: 1 Offline
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How to sort files by date & time powerdirtector Ed McIntire
Anonymous [Avatar]
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Quote: How to sort files by date & time powerdirtector


Hello, Ed!

You'll need to start your own thread for that question! This thread is already 6 months old.

Neil.
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