On 02/19/2010 11:05 PM, Scott wrote: >> I don't see animation. Seems like the animation you've attempted >> should appear in the header1 image; but that's a jpg but not a gif. > Well it is my first atempt and I just did what the forum post that I was > going off of in a search said to do. Looked for a good tutorial for it but > couldn't find one. > Yes the train now that I think about it was a jpg. I just took one layer out > of an exsisting animation and made my own and saved as a gif. Any links to a > good tutorials for this? > I looked at a couple of tutorials for it, and they don't exactly seem to address your questions very well. They tend to be overly simplified, or assume too much background knowledge.
WARNING: very wordy post (but I don't know how to help otherwise). Basically, you need to create a layer for each animation frame. Then you need to organize the layers in the animation sequence. Then you need to schedule them. If the animation from which you took that picture has the train moving the way you want, maybe you can get the whole thing as an animated gif. But please pay attention to the source copyright if there is one..... In the case of the train in your jpg image, there are some complications. As the train runs along the track, it will change size and perspective; it goes behind two buildings and two trees, and all of that has to be accommodated. So I would suggest the following process (and I am quite sure there are others with more skill and experience than I). 1) Decide how fast you want the train to move, and how many frames you need. Five frames per second for four seconds is a total of twenty frames. It's pretty jerky but may be OK. You can expand if you want, but each frame takes a few minutes of work once the basics are completed. 2) Extract the parts of the two buildings and the two trees behind which the train will run, and put them together in a separate layer - let's call it the foreground. I would use the lasso tool for that. 3) Make another layer with the train. Use a careful outline of the train, again with the lasso tool. Now come the hard parts. You need to prepare the background layer (remember, Walt Disney hired hundreds of animators to paint cells for his animated movies). Then you need to create multiple copies of the train with the right size, orientation and perspective. Then you need to place them and combine them with the foreground and background layers. These are the steps I would take. 4) Remove the train image. This involves generating an image of the tracks and the lawn and stuff where the train occludes them. 5) When you have a satisfactory background image, then make 20 copies of your carefully excised train. Each copy is a separate layer. 6) Place the twenty trains where you want them on the tracks. 7) Using the perspective and rotate tools, adjust the perspective, size, and orientation of the train so it looks right on the segment of the track it occupies. Since the image is two-dimensional and the train is really a three-dimensional object, you may have to play around a bit to get it to look tolerable. 8) At this point, you might like to hide the foreground and background layers, and save the result as an animated gif to get the animation to flow the way you want. This will produce a twenty-frame image of a train running in empty space. 9) Once the train running across the empty space looks good, you are now ready to create the full image for each of the frames. You'll probably want to save this gif animation as a separate file for later tweaking. And save the foreground and background images as well. 10) Now create the frames. Make twenty copies of the foreground and twenty copies of the background in the xcf image that contains the twenty scaled and rotated trains. Place a foreground layer above each train image layer, and a background layer below it. It's probably a good idea to save this image as a temporary checkpoint. Merge the foreground layer down onto the train image layer, and then merge this layer down into the associated background layer. 11) Under the Filters menu, select Animation->Playback. If the frame sequence is correct, the train should run along the track behind the two buildings and the two trees, and then (if you kept the "Looping" box checked) do it all over again. I guarantee you, if you are anything like me, you won't like your first attempt very much. But the second will be better, believe me. _______________________________________________ Gimp-user mailing list Gimp-user@lists.XCF.Berkeley.EDU https://lists.XCF.Berkeley.EDU/mailman/listinfo/gimp-user
