Animated Image 2.4 - AGIF & APNG

[Earl Brooks]

.agif (or at least .gif), I believe has a much limited color palette than .png, but I could be wrong. I know the .png format tends to preserve the color and quality of the image better than gif. That's pretty much why most .gifs (or the older ones maybe) that are converted from a film clip tend to be slightly pixely. But that does make for a cool effect there. Reminds me of the spray paint feature in paint.exe, which is strangely not included in Paint.NET, but you could probably find the proper plugins for it.

[Ego Eram Reputo]

GIFs are limited to a palette of 256 colors. Using a gradient in your image sucks up a lot of the palette space because there are a lot of fine shades of the primary colors used.

I suspect that you're reaching the limit of the palette and the dithering you're seeing is the GIF way of saying "there was more color info here, but I ran out of space to store it."

The palette limitation is one of the reasons GIF's are usually very simple images.

Try using PNG - they should not have this problem.

[USB Connector]

It works as a png. Thanks guys!

[maxst]

After saving to APNG, you can always generate GIF from it using apng2gif converter.

[mysticgrnbutterfly]

All other apps won't recognize the *.apng format. That is the extension Simon gave it so that it wouldn't conflict with the *.png file extension already in Paint.net.

Try renaming a copy of the file to *.png and opening it with your browser (assuming you're using something fairly modern).

I did those thing its keeps saying the file is corrupted when i do..

my system is a vista and i only use firefox for my browser sooz any other ideas

[Ego Eram Reputo]

Then the file is probably corrupted. You could try uploading it and posting the link here. Someone might be able to figure out a solution.

[Techineer]

This thread sorely needs a step-by-step guide to using Animated Image. Here it is:

I'm using PDN 3.5.8 under WinXP.

Installed the AnimGif.dll in the (root)\Program Files\Paint.NET\FileTypes folder.

Starting with the original animated .gif file, create a copy of it and rename it to filename.agif.

You should be able to drag and drop either one onto an IE or Firefox window and verify that they both play properly.

With a freshly opened window of PDN, select File/Open.

In the Open dialog, Files of Type field, select "Animated GIF (*.agif)" and select the 'file.agif' file, and click 'Open'.

PDN displays only one cel in the main window. To access the other cels, press F7 or select 'Window/Layers' from the menu. The Layers tool window will then list all cels in the animation. Select any one to work with.

When done editing, to save your work, select 'File/Save As'.

In the dialog box, the 'Save as type' field should show "Animated GIF (*.agif)". If it doesn't drop it down and select it.

Click 'Save'

Copy and/or rename the new file's filename extension to .gif.

Test view the file in a browser.

Using APDN files should be similar, except that IE doesn't play them.

Trying to open these files drove me nuts until I remembered the Layers command.....

[fred in bed]

Wow, great plugin! Here's my result.

[Simon Brown]

Using APDN files should be similar, except that IE doesn't play them.

Only Firefox and Opera currently support APNG, unless you use APNG canvas.

[jvempire]

Thanks for this, I should have fun with this .

[LiveLongDieHard]

No, Rick van den Bosch is awesome.

When i try to open the gif it's just a picture no layers with just the background. can you help me?

[Earl Brooks]

When i try to open the gif it's just a picture no layers with just the background. can you help me?

You should make sure you renamed the .gif to .agif, then open the .agif. otherwise you will only get 1 picture out of it, and no layers.

[Gorank]

I have a question, how does one save a .gif as an .agif in the first place? I've tried renaming the files to "filename.agif", but that just results in them becoming a .gif file named "filename.agif".

[Earl Brooks]

I have a question, how does one save a .gif as an .agif in the first place? I've tried renaming the files to "filename.agif", but that just results in them becoming a .gif file named "filename.agif".

that's how you do it. it might say it's a .gif type file, but the file name should be what's more important (in most cases, just ignore what your computer is whining about). the only thing you need to do to be able to manipulate it, is open it in PDN (which should be the only thing you shouldn't have a problem with once you have the add-on), and it should automatically split frames into layers. after that, saving it to a .gif (not.agif) extension, should produce a normal animated gif you just made.

[Gorank]

that's how you do it. it might say it's a .gif type file, but the file name should be what's more important (in most cases, just ignore what your computer is whining about). the only thing you need to do to be able to manipulate it, is open it in PDN (which should be the only thing you shouldn't have a problem with once you have the add-on), and it should automatically split frames into layers. after that, saving it to a .gif (not.agif) extension, should produce a normal animated gif you just made.

Well, it doesn't. I open up the renamed file, but the only layer is the background layer.

[Guest]

Some versions of Winzip will not display the subfolders in the zip file. For example when opening your SBPLUGIN zip file, all files are shown in a single list without being organized into subfolders (like your Effects and FileTypes subfolders). Here is a screenshot of what I mean. I am using WinZip version 8.1

This makes it ambiguous to users where to place the appropriate files. Unzipping with winzip creates the appropriate subfolders, so for people who install the entire pack there won't be a problem. Maybe it would be a good idea to advise people who only want certain files to not open the zip file with Winzip, OR to advise all users to open the zip file using windows explorer instead of WinZip.

Also, thanks for making this! This is a realtively quick way to make gifs.

[Earl Brooks]

Well, it doesn't. I open up the renamed file, but the only layer is the background layer.

ah, now I see it's happening too. I don't exactly remember now how I did it before (I haven't been using the feature in a while). one method that worked for me so far, is using the sample gif (or alternatively PNG if it's a problem) from the OP in this thread to test it. Just right click to open the menu and click "Save Image as" (or "Save as" whichever you want - Firefox only says "Save Image as"). When the save window dialog opens, make sure the image name is changed from "pluginfade" to "pluginfade.agif" (or "pluginfade.apng if you chose the PNG). make sure the file type is "All files", not "GIF", then save. Once you have saved it, it shal appear as an unknown file type (if this type is not already associated with another program). open it with PDN, and it should work.

I am not sure why the straight "Rename" feature does not convert the file like this. maybe it has to do with a recent windows update? (I have confirmed Windows Fax and Picture Viewer, aka the Preview viewer, can display animated GIFs properly, but not animated PNGs, for obvious reasons). anyway, you have this alternative for now. Once you edit your gif/png, just follow the normal procedures for saving the file, and the edit should be saved.

Some versions of Winzip will not display the subfolders in the zip file. For example when opening your SBPLUGIN zip file, all files are shown in a single list without being organized into subfolders (like your Effects and FileTypes subfolders). Here is a screenshot of what I mean. I am using WinZip version 8.1

This makes it ambiguous to users where to place the appropriate files. Unzipping with winzip creates the appropriate subfolders, so for people who install the entire pack there won't be a problem. Maybe it would be a good idea to advise people who only want certain files to not open the zip file with Winzip, OR to advise all users to open the zip file using windows explorer instead of WinZip.

Also, thanks for making this! This is a realtively quick way to make gifs.

I use 7 zip, which shows folders. Have You tried clicking the "Views" button in Winzip shown in your picture there? is that what I think it does? in some cases I've been able to copy files from within the zipped folder to a regular folder outside of it, without extracting or using any program.

[Frieza2000]

I'm having a weird issue that I'm surprised hasn't come up yet. The following are the 4 layers of my image:

I save it as an apng, 50ms delay, repeat set to 0. This is the result:

As you can see, the bottom and right edges of the area that is changing colors are always displaying the color of the first frame. If I close paint.net and open the apng above, the 4 layers now look like this:

However, if I make an apng with the following layers:

It comes out as I would've expected the original to:

And if you close paint.net and reopen the apng, the frames now match the 4 in the first example. I get the same result if, instead of bordering the right and bottom sides of the rectangle with a different color, I use the same color as the rectangle. If I repeat a frame I don't need to border the duplicated frame. For example if I did red/red/blue/yellow I would only have to put a border around the rectangle in the third frame to get the result you'd expect. So apparently it cuts off the edges of the area that's changing color from one frame to the next. Sometimes it's only one of the two boundaries, and it doesn't always happen. I've got examples where there are several instances of that flashing cylinder in the image and only some of them were affected.

This is...manageable with simple animations like this, but with more complicated shapes it would be tedious to keep correcting like this. Any chance you can look into this (assuming you can reproduce the issue)? This is the best apng compiler I've found. I just upgraded to build 3.510.4297.28964, but it was doing this with an earlier version too. Other plugins that I have installed are:

PhotoShop.dll

ImageShackUpload.dll

CustomBrushesMini.dll

DragFrom.dll

EditableText.dll

ExtendBorder.dll

FindEdges.dll

Olden.dll

PrinterPlus.dll

SBCommon.dll

ThatOtherApp.dll

Thanks!

[bozhko91]

A smoother, as if applying for a flag to quietly smoothly poured?

[Blacqwolf]

It appears that using this plugin to make a .gif that plays only once and never repeats is impossible. Could you please release an update sometime that makes it possible to make it play only once?

[maxst]

It appears that using this plugin to make a .gif that plays only once and never repeats is impossible. Could you please release an update sometime that makes it possible to make it play only once?

The problem with loop count is that browsers still can't agree on how to interpret it.

Some browsers think that "1" in NETSCAPE2.0 block means "repeat once", which in practice means "play twice". Mozilla used to be that way, but I convinced them that "1" should be interpreted as "play once" and it was implemented in Firefox 4.0 but in some other browsers it's still "play twice"...

[KeyStroke]

Does not work. it gives a 'file size' error when trying to save an agif and when saving an apdn it only stores the background and none of the other levels.

[Earl Brooks]

The problem with loop count is that browsers still can't agree on how to interpret it.

Some browsers think that "1" in NETSCAPE2.0 block means "repeat once", which in practice means "play twice". Mozilla used to be that way, but I convinced them that "1" should be interpreted as "play once" and it was implemented in Firefox 4.0 but in some other browsers it's still "play twice"...

In PDN's case, the save configuration window states that a value of 0 = loop. try changing that value to 1? maybe browsers reinterpret that data, but should that override the hard-coded data embedded in the image itself?

Does not work. it gives a 'file size' error when trying to save an agif and when saving an apdn it only stores the background and none of the other levels.

I don't recall such a thing as an apdn. there's either an apng, or a pdn, which are 2 different things here. I can't recall what triggers the file size error, but ya might wanna check for an update or reinstall.

[KeyStroke]

I don't recall such a thing as an apdn. there's either an apng, or a pdn, which are 2 different things here. I can't recall what triggers the file size error, but ya might wanna check for an update or reinstall.

I just installed it today. And, yes, I didn't recall the extension correctly.

]

Edited December 18, 2011 by KeyStroke

[Earl Brooks]

my memory is murky at best, since I haven't been making gifs/pngs in a while, but if I had to guess, I'd say the file could be too large. I think that's what happened to me last time that happened. the config screen only gives out an estimated file size (I think that's native to PDN), and there could already be an error in the image internally. I know I can't really trust the file size results, because I've had to do some trial and error editing when using images for a certain forum that has stringent file size and image dimension criteria. it could still work (I think I've made some successful attempts in the past with this problem).

but then again, it could be something else entirely.