trasparent gif animated support

[indy2]

I don't really understand
why AM has not support for animated trasparent gif !

This is the 4? version of Am and I think that animated trasparent gif are useful ...

or not ?


another question :

Is possibile to make an avi movie with trasparent backgound ?

thanks

Indy

[Mystery]

AM supports animated gifs with transparent background You can add them to hotspots using the hotspot properties.

EDIT
Ooops I've just read in the features that animated-GIF's (without transparency on Windows) are only supported.
Now I'm a bit confused because I have used animated gifs with transparent backgrounds in the past and they worked


Sorry, I cannot answer your video question, but probably somebody else knows more about this topic than I do.

[indy2]

ok excuse me ...

but... why don't support animated traparent gif on Win o.s. ?

( is nice features and important too ! )

thanks

[Candle]

Gif Sequence Player is an open-source plugin for Adventure Maker v3.5.0 or newer. It allows animating hotspots by playing sequences of GIF files inside the hotspots. It supports GIF transparency. You can use it as a replacement for animated GIFs. You can easily modify its source code to allow it to play sequences of files of other types, like JPG, WMF and EMF. You can specify the interval between each picture (in milliseconds). For more help, read the description included in the package.
http://www.adventuremaker.com/plugins.htm

[Mystery]

Hehe, now for the clarification:

Are we talking about the GIF Sequence Player, or a hotspot with an animated GIF with transparent background?

[Candle]

Hehe, now for the clarification:

Are we talking about the GIF Sequence Player, or a hotspot with an animated GIF with transparent background?

The plugin does that.
It allows animating hotspots by playing sequences of GIF files inside the hotspots. It supports GIF transparency.

[Mystery]

I know Candle, but now I'm still confused, what we are talking about.

On the List of features of AM it says:

SUPPORTED FILE TYPES FOR WINDOWS GAMES:
"Image files: JPG, BMP, GIF (with transparency) and animated-GIF's (without transparency on Windows)"

I thought this is what Indy2 was referring to in the first post.

However, as I mentioned above, I have used animated GIF's with transparency in the past (without the Gif Sequence Player; just an animated .GIF file), and they have worked in my games.

I think I'll wait for Indy2 to clarify what they exactly meant

[Candle]

i was pointing out that he could use the plugin to do what he wanted.
Thats the only way to get the animated-gif and transparency .

[Mystery]

Oh, I see now what you meant

[indy2]

oh, yes , we are talking about a hotspot with animated gif with trasparent backgrund end not about the gif sequence plug in !

thanks Mistery for your help : i am italian and my english is very bad.


I read in another post that the gif sequence plug in need that the sequence of GIF are in AREAS subfolder of Project folder .

but, for better order in Areas folder , is possible another( or many ) subfolder inside Areas folder ?

ex :

myproject folder \ areas folder \ gifsequence1 folder\ image1.gif,image2.gif,image3.gif AND gif sequence2 folder\ image1.gif,image2.gif.....
-----
the same possibility ( sub-sub folder in the path of plug-in) is for the "external " folder ? look at this problem :

http://www.adventuremaker.com/phpBB2/vi ... f+sequence

[Mystery]

Your English is fine, indy2

I don't think that you can create subfolders within the project folders.

To keep a good overview and order of the image files in your project folders, you may give the images names, that will display them in a comprehensible order (if you display them in an alphabetical order).

If you use the GIF Sequence Player, make sure that you have the hotspot images at both places: in the areas folder and the external folder.

[indy2]

Ok, thanks for your answers.

I hope, in the future , a new version of AM with direct-support of animated gif with trasparence.

best regards !


Indy

[Imad]

I have placed numerous animated gifs onto my hotspot. The animation works perfectly. The problem however is that that the animated gif's backround (area of transparency) is showing right though the actual frame. This even occurs when I preview the whole frame. The gif animation works perfectly -though I'm struggling to have it blend in with the frame's backround. Do I need to set some type of .ZOrder to the actual hotspot... in code.

Would placing the gif in the external folder and Areas folder solve my problem?

I'd appreciate anyone who would be of assistance... to help me solve this problem . I'd really like to use gifs (as I have gif animator and other precious s-ware).

I have installed Gif Sequence Player and used this plugin too. I still find that my animated, transparent gifs show right through the frames -as cited.

[Imad]

The animated Gif plugin ?which is cited as a replacement for animated gifs. It is mentioned that this plugin can play sequences of files. How do I go about doing this?

I seem to be reading from the documentation (gif plugin) that it is possible to assemble a bunch of single images (animation frames) into one animation. I gather from our discussion that this is possible? mentioning using jpg, wmf, emf etc. I still have not worked out how to do this. Would you be kind enough to help direct me here.

I can?t quiet see how I?d get AM (or the Gif animator) to play a sequence of jpg, wmf or emf files? Especially in sequence.

It was mentioned above that the Gif Sequence Player has easily modifiable source code. How do I access the properties and methods of using this component? I don?t see enough documentation to allow developers to master its use creatively. I don?t seem to know where the description is?

Indy
With regard to the Gif Sequence Player: I just don?t get why the images need to be in both the external and areas folders.

My non-transparent animated gifs work perfectly. It?s just the darned trouble of getting transparent gifs working crisply in these hotspots. The animation works alright, though the transparent areas of the gif shows right through the frame.

[Mystery]

Imad, you need the full version of AM to use the GIF Sequence Player plugin.
However, you can evaluate it with the free version of AM.

Download the plugin from the Plugins Page: http://www.adventuremaker.com/plugins.htm
Copy the plugin file into the Plugins Folder of AM.

Start AM, and go to the Plugins Tab of the Project Properties, enable the GIF Sequence Player plugin.
Then you'll be able to do the settings in the Frame Properties, how your image sequence should be played. Make sure that you save the required images with numbers, for example like this: name1.gif, name2.gif etc.

In order to see the code of the plugin, just click Create/Modify Plugins (you can evaluate this feature, too, with the free version of AM).

The images have to be copied into the external folder, because this is the only folder the contents of which don't get encrypted when compiling your project.

Hope that helps

[GM-Support]

With regard to the Gif Sequence Player: I just don?t get why the images need to be in both the external and areas folders.

The problem has been fixed in the v1.1 of the Gif Sequence Player, so with v1.1 the pictures need not be copied in both folders (the Areas folder is sufficient).

[Mystery]

Thanks for the correction GM, I've missed that

[Imad]

I'm using non-free (non-commercial) AM. Therefore have the full capability to play in VBScript et.al.

Mystery: Your advice was wonderfully helpful. Thank you for providing it! I tried following your advice: seperating filenames and it worked perfectly. I cannot describe my happiness at seeing my gif's moving in my frame -in all perfection!

I however wonder if it isn't going to be tedious process ... seperating the my many gif animations into seperate individual files... Graphic1.gif, Graphic2.gif etc. Some of my gif files comprise a large amount of clips comprising numerous frames. Will I have to go through them individually in this way? Is there an easier way of doing this? I'm using gif animator -which seems to be lacking the ability (so it seems) to decompose into seperate (or individual) frames. Just wondering if I've bought the wrong tool there.

THANK YOU Mystery -for your help. It makes me understand the necessity -beauty of such a forum -in which we can share our knowledge and experience.

[Mystery]

You're very welcome, Imad

Animated GIF Banner Maker is able to decompose animated GIFs into separate frames at one click, then you can select all frames (or the ones that you wish to save), and save them with one click.
They will be named frame0.gif, frame1.gif etc., but renaming them shouldn't (hopefully) take that long time.

More info:
http://www.banner-maker.net/

Download link:
http://www.banner-maker.net/gifmaker.exe

Hope this helps

[Imad]

I've downloaded this tool (Animated GIF Banner Maker) as a trial. Great! It seems to suite my purposes very well. thank you, Mystery for passing on that bit of very useful information and your wonderful help! .

[Mystery]

You're welcome
I hope you get relatively fast through the decomposing process.