TO CREATE AN ANIMATED GIF BANNER
Animated banners produce nearly 30%more click-through rate than ordinary static banners. Since animation results in larger file size the banner takes more time to download. But a graphic designer can bring the file size below the required value by decreasing both the number of colors used and vertical color change. As gif images can contain only 256 colors the image compression algorithm work well with the image having large area of single color. But when complex photos are used compression algorithm cannot give full justice resulting in large file size. So a professional designer tries to avoid complex photos in a gif format or when photos are employed he/she will keep animation at the lowest. If flash is used, photos can be embedded as JPGs which is the ideal format for photographs and other complex images. And also, it is possible to control the compression levels of JPG accurately and text, even photos can be animated with flash.
Recent trends show that animated gifs are used on a large scale in web banner ads since people get easily attracted towards motion in an animated gif banner on an otherwise inactive web page. These banners could be used effectively for the online promotion of your site, products, services etc. But remember; when an animated gif banner is designed, see that it does not cause annoyance to the viewers. The selection of color and an excellent copy contribute much in the success of an animated gif banner ad.
Now we will see how a graphic designer creates small banner 300x50 pixels in dimensions with six frames/rotations. This is not a standard banner size. For the promotion of a web site, better use one of the standard sizes to create animated gif banners. In the next step, the designer creates each frame of the animated gif banner using any graphics program he/she is comfortable with. Paint Shop is one of the preferred graphics editors. Then all the frames are brought together in Animation shop, software where animated gif images are generated and it comes free with Paint Shop Pro. The exact role of this software, Animation shop is to allow the designer to compile each image in the correct sequence into an animated gif and let him/her fine-tune the timing for each rotation/frame.
Using the Animation Shop Animation Wizard the designer imports the six frames individual images and generates an animated gif banner. To change the timing of each frame, right-click on the first frame of the animation. When a drop down menu appears, select Properties from it. A window in the Animation Shop allows the designer to make changes in the properties of the frame. ‘Display time’ for the first frame is changed to 250 and so this frame is displayed for 2.5 seconds. Using shift-click or control-click and then right-click, select the second and third frames and change their timings to 25, quarter of a second. Likewise the timings for the 4th, 5th and 6th frames are set at 100, 300 and 400 respectively.
The process of creating animation on the gif banner is now complete.
Recent trends show that animated gifs are used on a large scale in web banner ads since people get easily attracted towards motion in an animated gif banner on an otherwise inactive web page. These banners could be used effectively for the online promotion of your site, products, services etc. But remember; when an animated gif banner is designed, see that it does not cause annoyance to the viewers. The selection of color and an excellent copy contribute much in the success of an animated gif banner ad.
Now we will see how a graphic designer creates small banner 300x50 pixels in dimensions with six frames/rotations. This is not a standard banner size. For the promotion of a web site, better use one of the standard sizes to create animated gif banners. In the next step, the designer creates each frame of the animated gif banner using any graphics program he/she is comfortable with. Paint Shop is one of the preferred graphics editors. Then all the frames are brought together in Animation shop, software where animated gif images are generated and it comes free with Paint Shop Pro. The exact role of this software, Animation shop is to allow the designer to compile each image in the correct sequence into an animated gif and let him/her fine-tune the timing for each rotation/frame.
Using the Animation Shop Animation Wizard the designer imports the six frames individual images and generates an animated gif banner. To change the timing of each frame, right-click on the first frame of the animation. When a drop down menu appears, select Properties from it. A window in the Animation Shop allows the designer to make changes in the properties of the frame. ‘Display time’ for the first frame is changed to 250 and so this frame is displayed for 2.5 seconds. Using shift-click or control-click and then right-click, select the second and third frames and change their timings to 25, quarter of a second. Likewise the timings for the 4th, 5th and 6th frames are set at 100, 300 and 400 respectively.
The process of creating animation on the gif banner is now complete.