Animated Gold Tutorial

This is a Lady Timeless Tutorial

... learning this technique is easier than you think but you must have some general knowledge of Image Magick and the way it works.. as a general rule I will only show you what fields to change so remember to leave the rest alone.. all you will be basically doing here is... creating two images almost the same then combining them together... the end result will create the illusion of movement :-) ..

..you can use ANY webhost that has an open directory free of banners but as of right now the ONLY place I know of for free is at Geocities uk/ireland.. (please do not email me questions about Geocities uk/irelands file manager.. I am new there too :-) questions pertaining to this tutorial are always welcome in my email box though)

... after you have an account create a separate single directory that will be used for the sole purpose to store these two images ONLY... NO other image can occupy this directory EXCEPT for the two images you are going to combine together...

... name the directory "gold" or "animate" (or something easy to remember)... now while making your first image write down all the attributes as you fill them in the fields because the next image MUST match them exactly or it will not look right..

.. decide what size you want your animated gold to be.. it's best to pick a small size since animation takes longer to download... I will start with a small black base 300x40 pixels to annotate on.. you can use mine since it's black and dark colors work best for these particular colors... you can resize it to fit your own needs though...

the following is the url you will get:

http://d21c.com/temp/pages4/gifs/blankblack.gif

.. enter the above url in the URL field at Image Magick and click "view" ... click "annotate" at the top of the page.. fill in your preferences to each of following fields ONLY.. in this case for my example change the following ...

Text: is Show Me The Wiggle!

Fill Color is #eee687 (this is the color inside the text)

Stroke Color is #8b6914 (this is the color that will outline the text)

PointSize is 30 (this is the size of your text)

Density is 80 (this is the depth but also enlarges the text)

Stroke Width is 1 (this is the thickness of the outline around your text)

Font is Harrington Medium (ONLY thin written fonts work best)

click "annotate" ...this is your end result..

Important!: when naming this image make sure of TWO things, one being, make sure you place it in the directory you've chosen just for your animation (ex:"/gold or /animate") and name this image 1.gif (ex:http://yourwebhost/yourname/gold/1.gif) :::remember this will animate in the order in which you place them!::: ..

... now here comes the easy part.. repeat the previous process... fill in ALL the fields EXACTLY as you done them before but DO NOT click "annotate" YET... ...your second image needs to have the inside color and outline colors switched... Fill Color & Stroke Color are the ONLY two fields that will be different from the first image... whatever color your Fill Color is make it your Stroke Color this time ... whatever your Stroke Color is make it your Fill Color this time... click "annotate"... in my example the following changes will be...

Fill Color is now #8b6914

Stroke Color is now #eee687

this is what the SECOND image will look like

Important!: when transloading name this image 2.gif

...now see the changes? the edges look a little jagged and distorted.. it's due to the fact that now the lighter color is on the OUTside and even though the color change is barely noticible it is still clearly visible... this was the best lesson I learned about color even though it was obvious.. for me I never realized the importance until I played around with it... now the final step is truly the easiest of all.. take one of the urls to Image Magick and enter the url with the name and extension missing at the end... an example would be when combining these two urls: http://d21c.com/temp/pages4/gold/1.gif and this url: http://d21c.com/temp/pages4/gold/2.gif you ONLY place THIS PART OF THE URL: http://d21c.com/temp/pages4/gold/ in the field.. make sure you leave the "/" at the end (leaving 1.gif or 2.gif off at the end of the url will cause the entire directory to combine together - that's why you only place them TWO images ONLY in this directory) .. now click "view" ..this will cause the two images to combine into one but you need to set the speed of the animation... at the top of the page click "output"... change the following ONLY...

Format check gif

Storage Type red radio button on multi-frame file

Loop 0 (zero makes it non-stop)

Delay 20

now click "output"

here is the result..

... now see how easy that was?

Attention: using Image Magick's transloader may cause your animation to stop :-( I use Transloader.com for the most reliable transloading :-)

.. and just a friendly reminder: when transloading the final image make sure you do not transload it in the directory you were just using ..