Use of GIF images

[Nationalsolo]

Hi

Do many people use .gif images in their projects? 

VP does not handle this type of file correctly as it interprets it as a video clip of a single frame. Consequently you cannot extend the duration and this makes it virtually useless. Unfortunately .gif images can be created with a transparent background making them very useful for logos and "object" animation where movement over a background is needed. In VP, although the background comes up transparent, you can't do anything with them since as I said, they come up as a single, unalterable frame clip and not an image which is a great pity.

Why not, you may say, convert them to ,jpg format. Well in short, the transparency would be lost which is one of the main points of usefulness with gifs. It also means you have to use a green screen to take out the now, white or black background and the borders are then never very good.

Transparent background png images don't (at least here) show up correctly on my PC but DO load to VP. Anyway, the Draw program I use to generate .gifs won't give a transparency to pngs although it will export them.

Animated gif files (which I use a lot in illustrated talks) DO play in VP but as they are constructed with single images, timed individually and several similar images placed one after another often being used  to create suitable pauses in the animation, they again, don't play properly in VP as each image is still a single frame of around 0.1 second. You can convert then to .avi but, again the conversion does not create pauses in the action properly where a single gif has had its duration set in the creator program. i.e. it has been given a duration of, say 2 seconds but VP makes THAT image 0.1 second.

If you have worked with .gif files you will know what I mean.

Any opinions out there?

Nat

[borate]

               No telling if all GIFs will behave as follows, but this one displayed well and could be lengthened by changing its speed (50% in this case).  v7.39.

               Wasn't this an issue that was corrected awhile back, or is my memory faulty?

[Nationalsolo]

Hi B

Can't get your mp4 to play but here's my observation..(Recent observations have been a bit awry!!! However)....

I find this a bit odd. I have just made 2 gif images, one with a transparent BG. (Just to see if there was any difference)  I loaded both to VP.  Each of these "images" went into the Video Clip bin. So apparently not seen as images.  Both had a duration of 0.1 seconds.  Same on the timeline......i.e. VP sees them as single frame clips...

Note that these are exactly the same type of .gif image I use to make my animated examples for talks with Microsoft .gif Animator. (I should point out that those are a little more complex than just a red/black circle!)

Now....an oddity.  You mention I could possibly make them longer by changing their speed) .......as they are seen as .1 sec Video clips.

       So basic "clip" has a duration is 0.1 seconds as stated..

OK, Now  If I change clip speed to 50%......  It correctly(?) shows  .2 seconds

Click Set ....and timeline greys out!!! ......

...and the 0.1 sec "image/clip" now becomes -596hr 31 min  23.648 secs     So a few things wrong there!

Next oddity is that I have a test .gif that behaves as a normal image like yours...Seems not all .gifs are created equal!

I'll download some others and try them out.

Nat

[borate]

You may be correct about not all being created equal.

Another effort here, using a very short GIF, acted similarly to yours when slowed;  it vanished from the sequence.