Animated gif

[limey]

I would appreciate any suggestions that would help me figure out what is wrong with an animated gif I modified.

I downloaded a gif and opened it in Image Ready and proceeded to modify the nine frames it had to show a different face than the one it had.

After every frame mod I ran it in ImageReady to make sure it was working ok.
Once I had completed the mod I ran it again and it worked perfectly I then "Save Optimized As" and gave it a title and downloaded it to my desktop.

From there I opened it up in Safari to see if it worked ok and it worked but the face which had been so clear in ImageReady was now all spreckled with dots.
I tried to open it in ImageReady again and got the same results it was now spreckled with dots.

The original image was a black and white and the face I added was in colour but not sure if that would cause a problem seeing as it worked ok in ImageReady. I have added 2 pics so you can see the difference.
I am using a G4 Mac with PS-CS2
Thanks

 

[MindBender]

You were probably viewing the image in "original" mode while working and didn't check in "optimized" before you saved out. If you look at the "optimize" settings you'll have a bunch of settings to change the number of colors and the dither mode for the graphic. If you watch the "color table" pane while you do this, it should add and remove colors if you update it. Since you only have a possible 256 colors in a .gif you are almost always going to have dithering, and most certainly in a photograph that has subtle changes in tone (like a portrait). You have to adjust the settings to mitigate this as much as possible. Once you've edited your animation and are happy with it, switch to optimize and work with the color settings to make them as good as possible within the file size limitations you're working under. Good luck.

 

[limey]

Thanks a lot MindBender that fixed my problem although I'm not sure that I knew just what I was doing. I've looked a lot of tutorials on this and never found one that even mentioned the adjustments that you've told me about. You don't happen to know of one do you that goes into this stuff more.

Anyhow you've been a big help and much appreciated thanks

 

[MindBender]

You don't happen to know of one do you that goes into this stuff more.

Yeah, you could try the software manual.

 

[limey]

That's the first place I tried but could only find one reference to animated gifs and it was pretty sparse.

 

[MindBender]

You're not dealing with "animated gifs". You're dealing with Image Optimization settings. If you check for optimization and web settings you'll probably have more luck. It's daunting when you start out but you'll get the hang of it.

 

[limey]

Thanks MindBender for straightening me out.

 

[MindBender]

for straightening me out

Kind of ironic considering my name huh. hehe

 

[limey]

yeah lost a good pun there didn't I,? ?