This tutorial will instruct you on how to create
a simple animated bouncing ball. On your desktop create a folder called
"bouncing ball" to save your images.
Open a canvas 250x100.
With the Path Drawing Tool, Shape: Circle, create a ball approximately 49x49 in any
color you prefer. Place the ball to the bottom left hand side of your canvas as
shown in the screenshot below.
While the ball is still
active, hold down the Ctrl Key and place your mouse on the ball. While holding down
the left click on the mouse, drag up to the top. A duplicate of the ball has been
made. Position it as shown in the screenshot below.
Repeat duplicating the
ball as in the step above until you have 9 balls. Place them as shown in the
screenshot below.
Click open the Layer
Manager. You'll note all 9 objects (balls). The "eye" icon denotes
that they are all "showing". We'll be hiding all Objects but one, in
sequence, to create a frame for each ball to save and use later in Gif Animator 5.
Creating Frames
Click the "eye"
icon on Objects 2 through 9 to hide them. Object 1 should be the only object showing
on your canvas. See screenshots below.
Right click and Merge All.
An alert box will pop up telling you there are hidden objects that will be removed.
Click Yes.
Go to Web, Image
Optimizer. Click on the Gif tab and save to your "bouncing ball" folder as
"frame1".
To create Frame 2, click
undo once. In the Layer Manager click on the "eye" icon to show Object 2.
Ball 2 will appear on your canvas. Click on the "eye" icon on
Object 1 to hide the first ball. Merge all and save this as "frame2".
To create Frame 3, again,
click undo once. Click on Object 3 to show the third ball in the sequence and hide
Object 2. Merge All and save as "frame3".
Continue the above steps,
until you've created 9 frames of each ball in sequence.
Animating Your
Ball
To the top right in
PhotoImpact there is a "Switch" tab. Click on this and Gif Animator will
open. 
Note:
Some users may not have the Switch tab showing in PI. Open Gif Animator from your
Start Menu.
The first screen to appear
once Gif Animator opens is the Startup Wizard. Click the Animation Wizard.
The Setup Canvas Size
dialogue box will appear. Your frames were made on a 250x100 canvas. Enter
these values in the box and click Next.
The Select Files dialogue
box will appear. Click on the Add Image button.
Browse to the
"bouncing ball" folder where you saved your frames. You need to import the
frames in reverse order. While holding down the Ctrl Key, click on frame9.gif,
frame8.gif, etc. until you have all frames highlighted. (Note in the screenshot
below they are in correct order in the File name box.) Click Open.
You'll be returned to the
Select File dialogue box. Click Next.
The next box to appear is
the Frame Duration dialogue box. Keep the values at default and click Next.
The last box of the
Animation Wizard is the "Done" box. If you've got any second thoughts, you
can click on the back keys. ;) Click Finish.
All 9 frames are now
imported into Gif Animator. Your work area will look like the screenshot shown
below.
Click on the Preview Tab.
You've got a bouncing ball but it's a bit on the sluggish side. So let's
change the timing of the frames.
Click on the Edit tab.
In the Frame Panel (located at the bottom of the work area shown above - 1-Frame,
2-Frame, etc.) click on Frame 1 to highlight it. While holding down the Shift Key,
click on Frame 9. All frames should now be highlighted. Right click and click
on Frame Properties. The Frame Properties dialogue box will open. Set the
"Delay" at 15 and leave it at "Smart" for removal. Click on the
Preview Tab and your bouncing ball should be bouncing around like the one shown here.
Now let's have him
bouncing back and forth.
Highlight all frames
(1-9), right click and click on "Duplicate Frame". A duplicate set of the
9 frames is now added to the frame panel. Keep these frames highlighted. Right
click again and click on Reverse Frame Order. Make sure "Reverse the order of
the selected frames" is checked. Click OK. We're not done yet!
Click on the Preview Tab to view the animation. Can you notice the little pause of
the ball when it reaches the end point and the start point of the animation? To
remove this pause we need to delete a couple of frames.
In the Frame Panel, look
at Frame 9 and 10. They are the same. Let's delete Frame 10. Highlight
Frame 10 and right click. Click on Delete Frame. Frame 17 is also a duplicate
of Frame 1. Delete Frame 17. Now click on the Preview tab. This is a
much smoother animation.
Saving and
Optimizing Your Animation
To save your animation, go
to File, Optimization Wizard. The first screen that appears is the Preset dialogue
box. Click on the Line Art box and a drop down menu will appear. Choose Line
Art 64. Click Finish.
The Optimization result
dialogue box shows you how large your file is after optimizing. Click on the Preview
Tab. If you're not satisfied with the results you can click on Another Try and this
will bring you back to the Optimization Wizard. You can use another setting.
If you're satisfied with the results, click on Save As and save your animation.
I hope you've enjoyed this
tutorial.
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