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I need help getting a .gif file to keep "moving" i


Nader

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i am trying to make an email sig with an animated GIF file in it that i found on the web. this file is the ghost skeleton on the right on this page: http://www.ghost-cafe.com/ . i made my sig like normal but when i put the ghost in the sig it wont move. is there a way to keep this thing animated? i would like to know how. i will attach the sig that i want that ghost incorporated with. much appreciation to those who respond.
 

namvet

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Nader ... can be done ... but first, would you have a copyright problem with that ghost image?? .. just a thought (you might have to find another ghost that is free to use) .... anyway back to your question of how to put an animated image into a stationary image ... first you need to have animation program such as "Image Ready" which is part of Photoshop7 (it may have been in PS6 .. am not sure) .... if you have Image Ready, reply to this post and I will explain more ... you will have some "colour" probs with combining those 2 images (the animated and the stationary) but it's fixable ...
 

Nader

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i do have image ready

i have image ready. please send me more instructions. thank you so much for your help!!
 

kiwi

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I think the problem might be the ani is not set to loop back to the beginning,or it has a huge delay before it goes back to the beginning,and the delay could be set to as high as 10 minutes etc.Your best bet Nader would be to make your own I think,and as Namvet pointed out it could be copyright of Ghost cafe.



Stu.
 

namvet

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Nader ... ok, in my previous post I covered the copyright issue so I don't need to go over that again ... here's how to add an animated image to a static image ..
1. open up Image Ready and put your animated image in there
2. open up Photoshop and put your static image in there
3. In Image Ready go to Image>duplicate and click ok when the "copy" box pops up (so that you don't loose the original gif)
you are now working with the copy, not the original .... you should have 12 frames in the long narrow 'animation' box
4. Near the top right hand corner of the 'animation' box is an arrow .. left click on the arrow and in the new menu that appears find "flatten frames into layers" refer left hand pic below ... click on "flatten frames into layers"
5. Now take layers of your animated image to photoshop by clicking on the bottom right hand icon in the tools pallete .. refer right hand pic below
 

namvet

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Nader .... part 2 ...
You will now be in Photoshop and have both images open in Photoshop
6. Make your static image active and go to Image>image size, click on image size and note it height and width (it should be 500x150 pixels) .... make sure that this image is "RGB" colour ... if in doubt go to Image>mode and check that RGB colour is ticked
7. activate the smaller image that you brought in from Image Ready and go to Image>Canvas Size and click on Canvas Size ... in the new window change the canvas size to coincide with the static image size that you noted in step6 above (ie 500x150) .... note make sure you anchor the image to the left before you click OK (refer pic below).... make sure that this image is also "RGB" colour ... if in doubt go to Image>mode and check that RGB colour is ticked
 

namvet

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Nader .... part 3 ...
8. you will need to get rid of any images, lines etc (in your static image) that are where you are going to put your animation ... this is simple, just select the area with the marque tool (square one) and fill that area with the same background colour as your static image
9. now drag your static image into the animation ... make sure your static image is at the bottom of all of the layers (because it is going to become the "background" of your animation) and rename it Base Layer ... and make sure there aren't any "gaps" at the top, bottom and sides ... if there are gaps move it until they disappear
10. now look at the "F" in Fear you will probably find that the animated image is hiding some of the "F" ... if this is so move each layer down (use the down arrow key on keyboard, three clicks should do the trick) .. it is important that each of these layers be moved the same number of clicks .... also you only need 12 ghost layers, if you have more delete them ie delete layer 13 and all above it
OK ... now in your layers pallete you should have (at the very bottom) the Base Layer and above it 12 layers of the ghost .... if you have, that's good :perfect: .... they are the Photoshop layers that will become animated in Image Ready
question ... have you saved this working file yet? .. you should have, if not, do it now .... now click on the Image Ready icon at the bottom of the tools pallete the image is now being transferred to Image Ready
it is 2am here, am tired, will complete this in the morning .... hope this is helping you :)
 

wbiss

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Ian, what a great helping hand you have given to Nader! :perfect:

Nader, welcome to the forum! :) I do hope that you enjoy your stay here while learning and playing with PS. Namvet has taken a lot of time to explain the process that you're after and that's great... but I would highly recommend that you make your own ghost image. Not only will you save yourself some possible repurcussions, but you will gain great experience and satisfaction in having made your own! ;) Check out http://iit.bloomu.edu/vthc/ImageReady/Basics/intro.htm :)
 

Tron

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Great info Ian - for all of us

Nader I checked the site you posted and as for copywrite problems the following is what they have posted on the site

The images on these pages were obtained from publicly available sources, and to the best of our knowlege, the images are in the public domain. If you own the copyright on any image on these pages, and you would like us to remove it, please identify yourself and the image, and we will. If you own the copyright and you are willing to give us permission to use the image, we would like to know that also.

You may be OK to use that image however I agree with Wendy that you would be better off in the long run if you create your own. And never fear there is help available if you need it

:perfect:
 

dv8_fx

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Welcome Nader.

I agree with the copyright issue everyone has mentioned. It will save you a whole lot of trouble if you create one of your own. Unless of course, you've asked permission to use the image.

Did you create your sig and inserted the gif file into a new layer? That's were your problem might be.

In addition to what namvet has given so far, you can also do this -

1. Open the gif file in Image Ready.

2. Jump to Photoshop. This will create layers of the ani in the layer pallete.

3. Create the sig layers below the ani layers. Enlarge the canvas to the size you plan to create your sig. Fill it with the same black as in the anis.

When done, jump back to IR.

You will need to re-create the animation of the original gif but this time, leave the sig layers visible althroughout the animation ( Unless the sig has an animation too. )

Hope this helps too.

vee
 

kiwi

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Ya I use the jumpto menu as well Vee :D ....thing I like about it the most,is just make a shortcut / alias of any graphics app etc,then drop those aliases or shortcuts in the PS folder "helpers",re start PS and all your favorite graphics apps should show up in the jumpto menu :D


Stu.
 

Nader

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I thank all you guys for all of your help. Honestly I have just started making sigs yestarday. I have never tried to do any graphics before....ever. I think I'm catching on to it pretty quick, because I'm already upping the difficulty level beyond what any of my friends are doing, lol. I will go try to go through those instructions, step by step, here in just a minute. I could not have done it without all of your help. Thank you. I'll be back sooner or later.

Nader.....
 

namvet

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ok .. I'm back ... 'tis chaos here (I have the painters here :) .. been here all week, will be here for another 2 :( .... think I need a smaller house:rofl: ...
Nader .... part 4 ...
ok so now you are in Image Ready and as dv8_fx said you need to put your background into every frame of your ani ... so
11. in the layers pallete make sure that all of the eyes are switched off on every layer and your base layer
12. select your first frame (in the animation window)
13. in the layers pallete select your background image by switching on the eye
14. do the same for layer1
... refer pic below ...
 

namvet

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Nader .... part 5 ...
now do the same with the second frame but select layer2 ... third frame select layer3 and so on :) ... refer pic below
 

Nader

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okay, im starting on this right now
im going to do it step by step, thanks for your help.
 

Nader

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about step 9.......

i dragged the static down into my animation image, but i dont know how to make it my bottom layer and rename it. could you help me with this little step here?
 

Nader

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nevermind....i got it, thanks

i figured out how to make it the base layer and rename it.
 

Nader

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i have done all the steps so far

namvet, i have done all the steps so far, i am ready for the rest of the instructions, and i couldnt thank you more, this is great, im learning new things.

Nader......
 

namvet

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:perfect: .. well done Nader ....
ok now for step 6 ...
you now have 12 frames in the animation window ... if you were to run (test) the animation in your browser (refer left hand pic below) your whole image would be grey and black (all the red is missing) .... the cause of this is in the optimize window (refer right hand pic below) .... in this area I had to experiment to fix it .. what I did was change the custom setting to web which gave me auto in colours ... I changed auto to 256 ('cos I can always reduce the colours later if I wanted) .... anyway it worked and the red came back ... there are probably better ways to sort this problem as there are probably easier/better ways to animate your image in Image Ready, but this is how I did it ... hope it all works well for you ... if you get stuck ask for help there's heaps of helpful people here ..... oh, and btw ... welcome Nader ... oops nearly forgot that[innocent]
 

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