GIF Animator - transparent background issue

White_Wolf · Post by **White_Wolf** » Mon Jan 23, 2006 8:57 am

Transparent background

Program: Ulead Gif Animator 5.
Operation System: WinXP w\NTFS file system.
Goal: To make a transparent background for an animated GIF.

I have a ton of emoticons I want to install on my web forum, but the backgrounds aren’t 100% transparent. They have a white shadow around them. So I’ve decided to go in frame by frame and alter the image.

I made the background red (#FF0000) and colored in the shadow area. The problem is I don’t want to have to go through frame by frame deleting the red background to transparent, pixel by pixel. Is there a way to turn a solid colored background transparent?

The closest I’ve come to accomplishing this is saving it and having it open the Index Editor. Then choosing red as my background color, then Choosing red for my transparent index, then having it apply transparent index to all frames. This does make the background transparent, but I get strange things occurring in the animation. It flashes all black every few frames, and there are black squiggly lines and stuff.

An interesting note: my pallet is 21 colors, but it says I am running 32 colors. This could be because for no apparent reason I have black taking up 11 spaces on the color index. I delete all of the extra blacks, but the animation still comes out all weird with flashes of black.

This is my touched up image that I want to make a transparent background for.

And this is it after I did the above mentioned with the index editor

Post by **VikingAnimations** » Tue Jan 24, 2006 3:42 am

The white shadow is from the matte.

In the Workspace, click on the matte, change it to "None."

See also http://vikingswebanimation.ca/tuts/uga5basicsf.htm and look for Workspace, and Tools. Plenty of information there if you take the time to read.

As for removing the white fuzz from animations that you already have, add a new object, place it behind the others. Color it black. Erase the white fuzz on the objects in question. Delete the black object. Optimize with the matte set to "None."

That should work.

White_Wolf · Post by **White_Wolf** » Fri Jan 27, 2006 6:05 am

Thank you for the suggestions Vikinganimations.

However, I have found a method that took care of my problem, and will continue to be my method throughout this project. And I want to share it with everybody, in the hopes that I may help someone.

The white shadow in question was not on the object, but only around the edges, so here is what I’ve done:

I start with frame one and work my way to the last. I use the paint bucket (fill space) tool to fill in the background. I chose a color that would not exist in any of the frames, to do this with. After the solid fill, I then touched up the white outer area pixel by pixel. I found that turning off the “fill connected pixels only” feature, and then click on one of the white pixels, and it makes all the pixels of that color disappear (become background color).

Then after I have touched up all the frames, I go to the optimize section, choose Matte=None. And then turn off the button beside it that says “transparency”. It was leaving that button on that was causing the animation to have black frames and spots here and there for no reason.

Then I go to “save as” choose GIF, then in that window I check the “open index editor”. Once the index editor opens I choose transparent index, then I choose to make my transparent color the background color. Then I save it, and there ya go; 100% transparent.
See

Post by **VikingAnimations** » Fri Jan 27, 2006 11:50 am

Whatever works for you!

Thanks for sharing...

sap · Post by **sap** » Wed Mar 15, 2006 7:19 pm

I believe I may be having a similar problem.....

I am simply trying to create only ONE frame with transparent text.

Basically am just creating it as a logo to go over another page, and want it to be transparent enough to be able to see the base color of the page it is being put on.

However, when I preview it in GIF Animator, it looks fine.

But when I attempt to put it in the desired page, it either has a white border around it, AND/OR is a solid color.

Any help would be appreciated....

Thanks

Post by **VikingAnimations** » Wed Mar 15, 2006 10:49 pm

Your question is 99% answered just above...

"The white shadow is from the matte.

In the Workspace, on the Optimization Tab, click on the matte, change it to "None."

"

As for the solid background part, when you click "New" make sure you select the option for a transparent background.

sap · Post by **sap** » Fri Mar 17, 2006 10:15 pm

Thank you Viking, I appreciate your help......

sap · Post by **sap** » Fri Mar 17, 2006 10:45 pm

Unfortunately, I'm back again.....lol

Well, when I set change the Matte to transparent, for some reason now it won't make the text transparent as it would before.

It shows that the text is transparent, but when you preview it or save it, it actuallly isnt........

What's even more odd is when I set the transparency to 49 or lower, it will show up in the preview non transparent...

But if I set the transparency to 50 or higher, nothing AT ALL shows up in the preview area............

Thanks Again

Post by **VikingAnimations** » Sat Mar 18, 2006 5:14 am

Aha, you're referring to the OTHER 'transparency' term, the transparency setting in the Object Manager... It should be labeled 'opacity' by GA 5 to avoid the confusion.

Due to the nature of the GIF format, you can't have an object that is, shall we say, semi-transparent without having a background behind it. What it seems you are trying to do can't be done in the GIF format. You will need a background behind the text, or pick a matte color (or custom image) that will match the web page it will be displayed on.

In a GIF, a pixel is 100% visible, or not... A limitation of the file format, not the software you are using.

PNG format may work for what you're trying to do - I'm guessing, never tried it myself...

I think we finally nailed this one down!

sap · Post by **sap** » Sat Mar 18, 2006 3:48 pm

Thanks once again Viking......

ugata · Post by **ugata** » Sun Jul 09, 2006 10:59 pm

Hi, hope someone can help.
I'm sure I've done this before, but can't seem to get it to
work right now. I'm trying to make the background
transparent, and it looks fine when I play it in the
frame panels, but when I play it in the top preview
area, it appears to be stacked. Is there some setting
I'm forgetting!?? I'm sure I've done this successfully
before. Thanks - anyone that can help!

examples

Trying to make white background transparent
and get this>>>

Post by **VikingAnimations** » Mon Jul 10, 2006 2:03 am

Easy fix. If you look at the Frame Properties for all your frames, I'll bet dollars to donuts they say "Do Not Remove."

Change all frames to "Smart" and that should cure it. Or "To Background" will also do it.

Just click on Frame 1 in the Frame Panel. Hold the Shift key, and click the last frame - that will select all frames. Now on the top menu, click "Frame" and select "Frame Properties..." down at the bottom. Change just the removal method to "Smart." Optimize and preview.

Done.

Edited to add... Frame Removal Method

ugata · Post by **ugata** » Mon Jul 10, 2006 2:21 am

Ahhh, thank you so much for the help - I got it now!!!