A Brief History of GIF Animation
by Kelly Richardson
kelly.richardson@animationschoolreview.com
Animation School Review Columnist
The Graphics Interchange Format, better known as GIF, exploded onto the technology scene in 1987. Today, GIF animations are still responsible for adding motion and excitement to web pages and interactive applications. With apologies to Stephen Hawking, here’s a Brief History of GIF.
Created by Unisys in 1987, GIF animation was the answer to the traditional black-and-white format. Its low data compression ran much more efficiently than previous models and GIF soon drew a devoted following among web designers and graphic design pros. GIF and XBM dominated the web scene for several years until the arrival of JPEG applications, which offered a greater selection of colors.
GIF Animation on the Web
Here are some characteristics of GIF formatting that will give your projects a new life.
- Sharp Images. Using lossless data compression, the file size of an image may be reduced without degrading the visual quality, making it perfect for simple images such as graphics or logos with solid areas of color.
- Applications. GIF animation is primarily used for short, small animations and low resolution film clips for web pages. This also includes a large portion of web page line art such as logos and design elements.
- Palettes. Although the maximum number of colors that can be included in a GIF file is 256, you can select any combination of 256 colors from an entire palette of over one million possible shades and tints.
GIF Supported Applications
Because GIF animation is such a versatile application, there is an entire generation of software products made expressly for GIF components. Learn any one of these applications and you’ll soon see the power of GIF animation on the web.
- AniTuner. This GIF supported application allows you to be creative with the various Windows cursor images that appear on your computer screen.
- Movie + Image MI Thumbnail ActiveX Control. For web pages with thumbnails, this ActiveX control gives you complete control over how these condensed pics are presented.
- Animated Banner. For advertising with impact, Animated Banner uses the GIF application to create banners with movement and character.
GIF animation is still a thriving platform for web developers and graphic design pros. With some basic training, you can make GIF animation a part of your next project and wow your client.
Sources
Animation—Just Enough, Never Too Much
TechRepublic
About the Author
Kelly Richardson covers the local education and technology scenes in major cities across the country. His articles appear in educational journals, periodicals, and e-zines.
Posted on March 11, 2007 at 12:20 PM
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