An animated GIF is a combination of multiple images. Viewed
on your Web browser, it appears to move.
You can insert an animated GIF image into
your Web page, just as you do with other
GIF images.
This section contains the following topics:
To start Web Animator, an accessory for creating
animated GIFs, type the following command
and press Enter:
$ hpbuilder -a
The following is the Web Animator main window,
with the Startup dialog box:

If you already have several images to combine
into an animation, using the animation wizard is the easiest way to create an animated
GIF.
- Start Web Animator, and click the
button in the Startup dialog box to start the animation wizard.

Tip |
To start the animation wizard, you can also
click the icon on the toolbar of the main window. |
Tip |
The Startup dialog box also contains the following buttons.
, a button for creating animation from scratch.
Clicking this button is the same as selecting
New from the File menu.
, a button for opening an image file you
have.
, a button for opening an image file from
among the sample materials.
|
- To add an image to the list, click the Add Image File button on the File dialog box, select an image file in the
displayed dialog box, and click the Open button. Repeat this operation to add several
images to the list. (Note that in the animation
to be created, images are displayed in order
from the top.)

- Click the Next button to display the dialog box for positioning
frames. (Here, a frame means a single image in the collection that
makes up the animation.)

- Change the position, if necessary, and click
the Next button to display the next dialog box:

- You can specify the number of repetitions
and the delay time for each frame. If necessary,
change them and click the Next button.
- To see a preview of the animation, click
the
icon.

- Click the Finish button to finish the wizard.
All the frames that make up the animation
are displayed on the main window.

- Select Save As from the File menu.
- On the displayed dialog box, select a folder,
specify a file name for the animated GIF
(*.gif), and click the Save button to save the animated GIF image in
a file.
Tip |
You can open image files in such formats
as GIF, JPEG, BMP, TIFF, FlashPix, and Photo
CD. [Ref.] "Image file formats"
|
You can create animation from a single image,
by applying an animation effect to the image.
Tip |
The following types of animation effects
are available.
- Wipe
- Mosaic wipe
- Scroll
- Blend
- Blur
- Vortex
- Tile
- Mosaic
- Noise
- Scatter
- Pinch
- Center focus
- Zoom
- Gray scale
- Bilevel
- Sepia
- Half tone
- Motion Blur
- Wind
- Rotate
|
- Start Web Animator and click the
icon on the Startup dialog box to display the Open dialog box.

- Select an image file, and click the Open button.
The following example shows how the image
is opened:

- Click 1: Image using the right mouse button, and select
Add Animation Effect from the pop-up menu. The following dialog
box is displayed:

- Select one of the effects from a box under
Effect Settings and, if necessary, change the values for
Time or Number of Frames. Click the
icon to preview the effect.
- Click the OK button to add frames, the number of which
is the same as you specified in Number of Frames. (Until you click the OK button, you can reselect an effect any number
of times.) If the added frames are too many
to check all, drag the scroll bar at the
bottom of the window.

- Select Save As from the File menu.
- Select a folder, specify a file name for
the animated GIF file, and click the Save button to save the animation you created
in a GIF file (*.gif). You can insert the
file into the editor of Homepage Builder, just as
you do with other GIF image files.