~Spriting Faq~

[JoshR691]

Actually, with Microsoft GIF Animator, you don't have to save each sprite as a separate file...I mean, you have to have the Length & Width for each frame already set up, I usually do so by placing each sprite over each other, and creating a Black box around it, then place each frame inside the boxes, and finally copy & paste each into the program...

That's how I turn this: into this(adding in a few extra frames):

Here's the wiki, it's not much help, but it has a decent screenshot of what you'll see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_GIF_Animator
and here's an explanation of the tools that go across the top:
(First set) New, Open, Save, Insert, Save as (Second Set) Cut, Copy, Paste, Delete (the rest) Select All, Move up, move down, Preview, Help. (The Tabs) Options, Animation, Image(Animation & Image aren't shown on the wiki, as you have to have at least one frame in the program to use them)
Most of it's what you would see in Microsoft word. Insert's kind of useless, I always just use the paste...The Tabs need the most explanation, as they're what you'll be focusing on...Even so, It's kind of basic, but it takes a little while to get used to some stuff...

Options Tab:
I have my 'Import Color Palette' set up with 'Optimal Palette' but it sometimes it gets rid of a color(if it's too close to another shade)....To be honest, I don't have a clue what the two check boxes do, so I just ignore them...

Animation Tab:
If you're making a looping animation, place your frames in the program, hit the 'Animation' tab, check 'Looping' and 'Repeat forever.'...If you don't have it looping, it will just go through the frames once, and stop, so 'Repeat Forever' is probably the best option

Image Tab:
To add specifics to your animation, click the 'Image' Tab. 'Duration' & 'Transparency' is what I usually have to use, but the 'Left' & 'Top' options are there if you screwed up and selected less/more pixels than you wanted to...you can adjust them, but the extra space won't become transparent when saved (at least in my experiences).
'Duration' is set in 100'ths of a second(100=1 Second, kind of obvious, but I'm elaborating...) you can't use decimals in there(so no 5.5, set it to either 6 or 5).
'Transparency' confused me when I first downloaded the program, but I got the hang of it...I usually wait until I have every frame in the animation (so I can just hit 'Select all' and do it easily). Anyway, set the 'Undraw Method' to 'Restore Background' then check 'Transparency'...If you have all of the frames selected, you won't be able to see the 'Transparent Color' which automatically selects the color that is used most in every frame (In the case of my example, the light pale green)..If it doesn't select the color you wanted as your transparent one, then click on that color, and it brings the palette up...Select the color you want to be transparent, and it will be set....

Click Preview, and see if the animation needs some tweaking, if it does, spend a few more minutes trying to fix what's wrong, but if it's perfect, just save, and you're done.

...I'm not too good at explaining these kinds of things, but I hope this helped