# Animating GIF files

This section describes using the Animation panel you use to add animation to GIF files. A GIF animation is a single file made of up a series of individual still images and the timing information needed to animate them. Like an old-fashioned flip book, viewing these still images in sequence gives the impression of motion.

# Designing GIF animations

There are two things to keep in mind when creating animations. First, be sure you select colors that will work well on a variety of monitors, platforms, and browsers. Second, create animations that compress well, so that you can make the file as small as possible. Your viewers will never see your animations if they take too long to download.

# Creating an animation

An animation can consist of layers and objects you've drawn in e-Picture or images you've imported from other applications. For more information on importing files, see Importing documents.

In e-Picture, you use individual frames to indicate the state of the layer or objects at a specific time. For example, a layer may be visible or invisible in one or more frames, or its opacity may change. Objects can also be visible or invisible. In addition, objects can change position, size, or orientation. Once you have created the objects and layers you want to include in the animation, you use the Animation panel to define the animation frames.

The change in the opacity, size, position, or orientation takes places in a smooth transition as the animation moves from frame to frame. For example, if you position an object in the upper left corner (or even off the canvas) for the first frame, and place it in the lower-right corner in frame 15, the object moves gradually from the upper left to the lower right when you play the fifteen frames.

# Using the Animation panel

In e-Picture you animate an image using the document window, the Layers panel, the Objects panel, and the Animation panel.

To display the Animation panel:

Choose Window> Animation.

# Displaying and hiding frame properties

Each layer or object in a frame has specific properties such as opacity, visibility, size, or location. These properties are listed in the Animation panel.

To display or hide the properties of layers or objects:

Do one of the following:

- To display or hide the properties of an individual layer or object, click the box to the left of the layer or object name.
- To display the properties for all objects, choose Animation> Expand All Objects.
- To hide the properties for all objects, choose Animation> Minimize All Objects.
- To display the properties for all selected objects, choose Animation >Expand Selected Objects.
- To hide the properties for all unselected objects, choose Animation> Minimize Unselected Objects.
- To display the properties for all layers, choose Animation> Expand All Layers.
- To hide the properties for all layers, choose Animation> Minimize All Layers.

# Moving from frame to frame

When you're creating an animation you may want to move quickly from one frame to another in the Animation panel. You can move from frame to frame by clicking individual frames or by using the commands in the Animation menu.

To move to a specific frame, do one of the following:

- Click the frame number in the Animation panel.
- Enter the frame number in the Current Frame box.

To move to the next or previous frame, do one of the following:

- Click the frame number in the Animation panel.
- Choose Animation Next Frame or Animation> Previous Frame.

To move to the beginning or end of the animation, do one of the following:

- Click the frame number in the Animation panel.
- Choose Animation> First Frame or Animation> Last Frame.

# Selecting frames

To select a single frame:

Click the frame number in the Animation panel.

To select multiple frames:

<<TBD>>

# Adding and deleting frames

By default, the Animation panel contains 1 frame. Each animation file can contain up to 6000 frames.

To add frames:

Do one of the following:

- Type a value in the Maximum box in the Animation panel.
- Choose Animation> Insert Frames. New frames are <<position TBD>>

To delete frames:

1 Select the frames you want to delete.

2 Choose Animation> Delete Frames.

# Duplicating, copying and replacing frames

When creating an animation you may find that you want to repeat certain sections, move a series of frames, or replace one sequence of frames with another. To do this, you use the commands in the Edit menu.

<<Duplicating TBD>>

To copy one or more frames:

1 Select the frames you want to copy.

2 Choose Edit> Copy Frames.

To paste frames:

1 Select the frame after which you want to paste the frames.

2 Choose Edit> Paste Frames.

To replace frames:

<<TBD>>

# Using keyframes

A keyframe is a frame is which an change takes place (represented by a small key icon in the frame). Keys are automatically added to a frame for an individual layer or object when you change a property in that frame.

When you add keyframes to an animation, the state of every layer or object in the animation is interpolated at that point (based on the existing key frames). A key is added in the frame for every object or layer in the animation.

For example, if a layer has an opacity of 100% in frame 1 and 0% at frame 10, and an object is positioned in the far left in frame 1 and the far right in frame 10, adding a keyframe in frame 5 would display the layer at 50% opacity and the object in the middle of the image in frame.

To add keyframes to an existing frame:

1 Select the frame in the Animation panel.

2 Choose Animation> Add Keys to Frame.

To delete a keyframe from a frame:

1 Select the frame in the Animation panel that contains the keys.

2 Click Delete in the Animation panel or choose Animation> Delete Keys From Frame.

To insert a keyframe:

1 Select the frame in the Animation panel <<position TBD>>.

2 Choose Animation> Insert Key Frames. A new frame is added with keys for every object.

#

# Editing layer properties

A layer can be visible or invisible or can have varying degrees of opacity. You set the properties for the layer in the Layers panel.

To make a layer visible or invisible:

1 Select the frame where the layer is to be visible or hidden.

2 Select the layer in the Layers panel.

3 Click to turn the eye icon in the first column on or off. The layer stays hidden or visible until you select another frame and turn the eye icon on or off.

To change a layer's opacity:

1 Select the frame in which you want the opacity to change.

2 Select the layer in the Layers panel.

3 Type a value in the Opacity box or click the triangle and drag the slider.

# Editing object properties

Like layers, individual objects can be visible or invisible in one or more frames. To create the animation, you change the position, the size, or the orientation in a specific frame. When the animation is played, these different positions and sizes make the object appear to move.

To change the position of an object:

1 Select the frame for the new position.

2 Click the arrow tool and select the object.

3 Drag to the new position.

To change the size of an object:

1 Select the frame for the new size.

2 Click the arrow tool and select the object.

3 Click on a box in the selection border. The arrows turns into a double-headed arrow.

4 Drag to increase or decrease the size.

Note: To resize keeping the same proportions, Shift-click on a box.

To change the orientation of the object:

1 Select the frame for the new orientation.

2 Click the arrow tool and select the object.

3 Click anywhere on the selection border except on a box. The arrows turns into the rotate cursor.

4 Drag to rotate.

To make an object visible or invisible:

1 Select the frame where the object to be visible or hidden.

2 Select the object in the Object Panel.

3 Click to turn the eye icon in the first column on or off. The object stays hidden or visible until you select another frame and turn the eye icon on or off.

# Setting timing

<<TBD>>

# Previewing and playing animations

When you preview an animation, all the other windows are hidden. When you play the animation, all other windows remain open.

To preview an animation:

Choose Animation> Preview.

To play an animation:

Do one of the following:

- Select the first frame and click Play in the control panel.
- Select the first frame and choose Animation> Play.

To play part of an animation:

1 Select the frame where you want to begin playing.

2 Click Play in the control panel or choose Animation> Play.

To stop playing an animation:

Click Stop in the control panel or choose Animation> Stop.