Gif animation frame number limit?

Hello,
I have created a 35 second (25fps) line animation within AE.
Since AE does not export gifs anymore, I exported as QT movie & opened the QT in PS and saved for web as Gif animation.
In the save for web dialogue it said "frames 500 of 500" and when it exported the animated Gif it had truncated the length of the animation (as the total length is 875 frames).
Within PS the animation appears till the end.
I played around with frame rates etc, brought it down to 15fps but it would just extend the duration and not be able to get all of the movie exported.
Btw the 500 frames animation created an 85kb gif
I tried using AME to encode to Gif animation, but the filesize was huge at 20MB, which negated the point foe Gif.
So is there a 500 frame limitation to exporting gif animations from within Photoshop?
Thanks

Seems valid enough to me, insofar as Adobe has a prominent ad across the top. That would *technically* make your post sort of spam-like, Chris.
Seriously, thanks for that link - it made me smile.
But they were all pretty short.
-Noel

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Reading gif animation frame rates and such?

Okay so I've been coding java for some time now and I mostly just make applications for fun.
I usually don't have to get help for coding so this is my first post here...
The current goal I have is a application that displays animations (may turn into a animation editor)
I've tried searching on google alot for the answer but no justice :(
Okay so I have the image loading, a semi-nice gui, the image displays and cycles through the animation.
But the thing that I want is for the image cycle to actually know the real frame rate of the gif instead of having to define it myself.
Is there anyway to do this? I was reading up and the only solution I found was to read the bytes of the file itself but that would take alot of work and I haven't got a clue on how to do that.
This is my code for loading the animation:
public void loadAnimation(String name) {
        final File imageName = new File(name);
        new Thread() {
            @Override
            public void run() {
                for(int i = 0; i < animationImage.length; i++) {
                    if(animationImage[i] != null) {
                        animationImage.flush();
animationImage[i] = null;
if(lastImageDrawn != null) {
lastImageDrawn.flush();
lastImageDrawn = null;
lastImageIndex = 0;
ImageReader reader = ImageIO.getImageReadersByFormatName("gif").next();
readingImage = false;
try {
reader.setInput(new FileImageInputStream(imageName));
totalImages = reader.getNumImages(true);
imageProgressBar.setMax(totalImages);
readingImage = true;
int currentImage = 0;
while(readingImage) {
BufferedImage image = reader.read(currentImage);
animationImage[currentImage] = image;
currentImage++;
imageProgressBar.setValue(currentImage);
imageProgressBar.setText("Loaded frame: " + currentImage + " / " + totalImages + " - " + imageProgressBar.getPercent() + "%");
repaint();
image.flush();
if(currentImage == reader.getNumImages(true)) {
readingImage = false;
reader.reset();
reader.dispose();
} catch (IOException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}.start();
}If you guys could help it'd be very appreciated.
EDIT: Oh yeah, I don't want to use any library's I usually like coding things myself...
Edited by: steve4448 on May 7, 2010 11:45 AM

Given the following declarations which completely define a GIF animation,
//information obtained from source file/url.
private Image[] images;
private short[] durations; //hundredths of a second
private short[] xOffsets;
private short[] yOffsets;
private Disposal[] disposalMethods;
//The background color of the global pallete in the GIF file is not
//used. It is here merely in case you want to change the implementation
//of RESTORE_TO_BACKGROUND disposal method.
private Color backgroundColor;the following method will load all this information from a GIF file. Keep [this page|http://java.sun.com/javase/6/docs/api/javax/imageio/metadata/doc-files/gif_metadata.html] open in a web browser as you look at the code. The class referred to as "Disposal" in the code is an enum class. It's provided in my post below this one.
/**Loads all the frames in an src from the given ImageInputStream.
* Furthermore, if the src references a GIF file then information
* on frame durations, offsets, and disposal methods will be extracted
* (and stored). The src stream is not closed at the end of the method.
* It is the duty of the caller to close it if they so wish.*/
private void loadFromStream(ImageInputStream imageStream)
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            ImageIO.getImageReaders(imageStream);
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                .getNativeImageMetadataFormatName();
        if("gif".equalsIgnoreCase(reader.getFormatName()) &&
           !"javax_imageio_gif_image_1.0".equals(metaFormat)) {
            continue;
        }else {
            break;
    if(reader == null) {
        throw new java.io.IOException("Can not read image format!");
    boolean isGif = reader.getFormatName().equalsIgnoreCase("gif");
    reader.setInput(imageStream,false,!isGif);
    //before we get to the frames, determine if there is a background color
    IIOMetadata globalMeta = reader.getStreamMetadata();
    if(globalMeta != null && "javax_imageio_gif_stream_1.0".equals(
            globalMeta.getNativeMetadataFormatName())) {
        IIOMetadataNode root = (IIOMetadataNode)
                globalMeta.getAsTree("javax_imageio_gif_stream_1.0");
        IIOMetadataNode colorTable = (IIOMetadataNode)
                root.getElementsByTagName("GlobalColorTable").item(0);
        if (colorTable != null) {
            String bgIndex = colorTable.getAttribute("backgroundColorIndex");
            IIOMetadataNode colorEntry = (IIOMetadataNode) colorTable.getFirstChild();
            while (colorEntry != null) {
                if (colorEntry.getAttribute("index").equals(bgIndex)) {
                    int red = Integer.parseInt(colorEntry.getAttribute("red"));
                    int green = Integer.parseInt(colorEntry.getAttribute("green"));
                    int blue = Integer.parseInt(colorEntry.getAttribute("blue"));
                    backgroundColor = new java.awt.Color(red, green, blue);
                    break;
                colorEntry = (IIOMetadataNode) colorEntry.getNextSibling();
    //now we read the images, delay times, offsets and disposal methods
    List<BufferedImage> frames    = new ArrayList<BufferedImage>();
    List<Integer>       delays    = new ArrayList<Integer>();
    List<Integer>       lOffsets = new ArrayList<Integer>();
    List<Integer>       tOffsets = new ArrayList<Integer>();
    List<Disposal>      disposals = new ArrayList<Disposal>();
    boolean unkownMetaFormat = false;
    for(int index = 0;;index++) {
        try {
            //read a frame and its metadata
            javax.imageio.IIOImage frame = reader.readAll(index,null);
            //add the frame to the list
            frames.add(forceNonCustom((BufferedImage) frame.getRenderedImage()));
            if(unkownMetaFormat)
                continue;
            //obtain src metadata
            javax.imageio.metadata.IIOMetadata meta = frame.getMetadata();
            IIOMetadataNode imgRootNode = null;
            try{
                imgRootNode = (IIOMetadataNode)
                        meta.getAsTree("javax_imageio_gif_image_1.0");
            }catch(IllegalArgumentException e) {
                //unkown metadata format, can't do anyting about this
                unkownMetaFormat = true;
                continue;
            IIOMetadataNode gce = (IIOMetadataNode)
                imgRootNode.getElementsByTagName("GraphicControlExtension").item(0);
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            disposals.add(Disposal.disposalForString(gce.getAttribute("disposalMethod")));
            IIOMetadataNode imgDescr = (IIOMetadataNode)
                imgRootNode.getElementsByTagName("ImageDescriptor").item(0);
            lOffsets.add(Integer.parseInt(imgDescr.getAttribute("imageLeftPosition")));
            tOffsets.add(Integer.parseInt(imgDescr.getAttribute("imageTopPosition")));
        } catch (IndexOutOfBoundsException e) {
            break;
    //clean up
    reader.dispose();
    //copy the source information into their respective arrays
    if(!frames.isEmpty()) {
        images = frames.toArray(new BufferedImage[]{});
    if(!delays.isEmpty()) {
        durations = new short[delays.size()];
        int i = 0;
        for (int duration : delays)
            durations[i++] = (short) (duration == 0?DEFAULT_DURATION:
                                                    duration);
    if(!lOffsets.isEmpty()) {
        xOffsets = new short[lOffsets.size()];
        int i = 0;
        for(int offset : lOffsets)
            xOffsets[i++] = (short) offset;
    if(!tOffsets.isEmpty()) {
        yOffsets = new short[tOffsets.size()];
        int i = 0;
        for(int offset : tOffsets)
            yOffsets[i++] = (short) offset;
    if(!disposals.isEmpty()) {
        disposalMethods = disposals.toArray(new Disposal[]{});
}

How to export "gif" animation frames as individual .psd files with layers intact?

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Frame number limit

Hello,
I am about to produce a tutorial that will possible have up to 300 slides. Is there a limit to the number of slides?
Thanks
ali

Hi there
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I am trying to create a sort of lightning effect and would like to flip through three or four frames super quickly (for the flash effect).
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Add static background image to all frames of gif animation

First, I'm not a fireworks regular. I use it when I have to to get something done (mostly web optimazations). I would use it more but, frankly in many cases the UI is counter intuitive to everything else adobe makes.
Here is my problem...
I need to add (not replace) a static background to ALL existing frames(states) in a fireworks gif animation (with alpha) , the end product gif will be an element in the Edge web animation...details
I have an animated seq of a rotating object that was created in 3ds max and rendered as a png seq with alpha.
I opened the SEQ "as animation" in fireworks. I set the frame rate. It plays fine. So far so good....
I imported an image that I want to be BEHIND the animated seq on ALL frames. I tried puting it on a sub layer behind, i tried puting it on it's own layer behind, but it ONLY shows on the first frame (state).
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Second, why is this process so counter intuitive in fireworks? I mean if a layer is behind something then it should be a simple button click or check box etc to say "show on all frames (states)", you know like any other product adobe makes. Even "image ready" made more sense than this. My thought process was that since I needed to end up in fireworks to create and optimize the gif that i should be able to put it together there also but it's turning out to be a lot harder than it should. I guess I can just composite my elements in AE (which is a piece of cake compared to fireworks) and then render another SEQ that I import to fireworks to create the optimized gif. While I'm a fan of the "creative suite" concept, one of my biggest complaints about the "suite" is the lack of master oversite so the common functions, keyboard shortcuts, and fundimental UI concepts are consitant accross all the apps so it functions as a "suite" and not just a collection of seperate applications. I know that demanding that all applications follow certian rules would slow development, in the long run it would make it a lot easier for the end user to spend more time being "creative" and less time trying to figure out why something doesn't work like it does in all the other apps. Just my $.02
Thanks for any help and or explaination
Joel H

Thanks for the response.
You know I tried that exact thing the only difference being I didn't change the layer names. So not naming the layers would keep that from working ?? Also as you eluded to draging layers to position them in fireworks is a delicate operation. It always seems to take 2 or 3 times to get it to drop where you want it. I named the layers and it works as you said. Unfortunately I was really pressed for time so I had already given up on fireworks and just composited the SEQ with the BG layer in AE and kicked out another PNG SEQ and then open that "as animation" in Fireworks and then optimized and exported as a gif. So there are allways several ways to do things.
Thanks again,
Joel H

How to stop animation sequence at a frame number?

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I've just recently started learning Flash (I have CS4) and I
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Thanks.. I manage to miss off the semi-colon and put the
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Thanks,
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quote:
Originally posted by:
Gumbo Al
I was given a number of .gif animations to edit and re-deploy
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spots on the image in each frame. I was hoping that I could do a
mass delete that would "take" on all the frames. I couldn't find a
way to do it. I then tried to go to each frame and do it one delete
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couldn't advance to the next frame to edit it. What am I doing
wrong?
Thanks,
Al
Hi Al,
Without seeing the actual image and knowing what version of
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SiamJai
Fireworks Resource
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Hello,
When Saving an animated GIF in Photoshop CS3 the animated frames slow when viewed after the save. Therefore any gradient fades etc seem to stutter, about 25% slower than the frame rate set initially.
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s

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For years I used Photoshop Elements 2 for Windows to make .gif animations with great success.
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My question: Is there an easy way to load .gif animations into PS Elements 8 so a
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Dear Ms. Brundage -
I followed the directions detailed in your blog entitled "Moving a Catalog from Windows to Mac" as well as your description of the process on page 58 of your book "Photoshop Elements 9 - the missing manual."
I installed PE9 for Windows and converted my catalog. I then backed up that catalog to an external hard drive. I then connected the hard drive to my MAC on which I also installed Photoshop Elements 9 for MAC. I opened the Organizer and tried to restore that converted catalog. However, for each file in the converted catalog, a dialog box opened that said "Could not restore file: /Volumes/Name of External Hard Drive/Filename.JPG."
I then made a second backup of the converted catalog using Photoshop Elements 9 for Windows and then tried to restore that catalog again on the MAC using Photoshop Elements 9 for MAC, again to no avail.
Do you have any idea what the problem may be?
Thanks again.
Steve Haas
[email protected]
[email protected]
(770) 313-0038

Gif animation frame number limit?

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