SIZE & QUALITY TEST

For my test I created nine 72x72 pixel images. The files have a common background and some images have elements in common. I used dropped shadows, solid colors, and texture fills.

I assembled the nine images into a single animation file and used a frame delay setting of 75/100ths of a second for all frames. I attempted to find the best settings available in each program -- balancing appearance and file size.

The grades (A=best F=worst) do not take into account added features such as transition effects, import/export of file formats, etc. These are simply ease of use grades for creating the straight- forward animation shown here. No one got an F!

The results:

Microsoft GIF Animator 31.3K Assembly: B Manipulating Frames: A Optimizing: D	GIF Construction Set 23.5K Assembly: A+ (using Wizard) Manipulating Frames: C Optimizing: C	WWW Gif Animator 22.7K Assembly: B Manipulating Frames: A Optimizing: B-
WebPainter 2.0 (limited edition) 17.1K Assembly: B Manipulating Frames: D Optimizing: B- (confusing options)	Corel Photo-Paint 7 14.5K Assembly: B- Manipulating Frames: A Optimizing File: B (Color Palette Reductions only)	GIF Movie Gear 13K Assembly: B Manipulating Frames: A Optimizing File: A- (a little confusing at first)
Notes In working with other animations for this article I found that WebPainter was often able to reduce file size substantially without sacrificing quality. It just took me a long time to figure out how to use the program effectively. Surprisingly Photo-Paint created the second smallest file size. I simply saved the animation using a custom palette for MS Internet Explorer. By far, I found GIF Movie Gear to be the easiest to use but I wish it had an Animation Wizard like GIF Construction Set -- to get started faster. Of course those nifty transition effects from WWW Gif Animator would be cool too. This is just a sampling of GIF animation programs. See our Net Links (below) for Animation software for both Mac and PC.

More resources for optimizing and managing your GIF animations:

• A Smaller GIF
  From the Gif.gIf.giF folks, it shrinks GIFs without affecting the appearance. I downloaded the save disabled version and it shows that it can reduce many of the files in this article by up to 50%. Without the ability to save there is no way to adequately test the program. But it sounds interesting.
• Graphics: All about GIF
  My annotated library of links to tutorials, tips, and software related to GIF files. Some of the links appear throughout this article.
• Software: Graphics Tools
  Variety of programs for working with images of all kinds.

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