ImageReady and graphics compression

[Lori9]

Hi all, I'm new to this forum and have learned a lot already. I'm designing a simple tweened animated image (6 frames, each a photo) for a home page using Adobe ImageReady, and the original images were forwarded to me in .jpg format.

Got the animation gif to work beautifully when previewing in the application, but in IE all the photos looked washed out (severe pixel loss). I tried optimizing each in PhotoShop as .jpg and then as .gif, and re-created the animation. There was still no difference in how it previewed in ImageReady. :confused:

Does this have something to do with the fact these were .jpgs but ImageReady may support only .gif images? Since photos are best compressed as .jpg, is there a way to get around this? I also have Fireworks but haven't yet learned how to use it for animation.

Taking this one to the experts... thanks for any pointers! :D

[Stefan]

With GIF you are limited to only 256 colors max, whatever you try to do.

Theoretically you could use MNGs (PNGs animated sibling) to animate your 24bit color jpgs instead, which would allow for full 24-bit animations. Unfortunately the vast majority of browsers today doesn't have native MNG support (Mozilla is the only 1 that has it AFAIK).

Thus in your case it might be better to simply use a javascript to loop through the 6 individual jpg files.

[Lori9]

Hi Stefan,
Since I am not yet knowledgeable in JavaScript I'm not sure how to accomplish that... my original intention was to achieve this effect with an animation program, and make its execution as browser-friendly as possible. Do you have any experience with ImageReady— or is there another program out there more suited for what I'm trying to accomplish?

I appreciate your reply!

[ashers]

Try this,

In your optimize window it should have a drop down menu for 'settings', select 'GIF 128 Dithered' then save the file. This should solve your problem I think.

Ashers

[Lori9]

Ashers,
I assume you're referring to each of the original .jpg photos before being imported into the animation application... I'll try that, and when optimizing the finished product as well and see how it goes.

Thank you! This forum is a cut above all else. There's a real comeraderie here.

[ashers]

No, I mean do this in ImageReady itself, if the images are fine when you put them into ImageReady - this is what you need to do before you save it optimized.

Ashers

[Lori9]

OK, thanks for the clarification. I'll give it a shot...

Best,
Lori

[Lori9]

Hi again Ashers,
Tried your suggestion and received the following JS pop-up box:

"Because JPEG and PNG do not support animation, ImageReady will save only the currently selected frame."

Never even got the chance to play with optimization settings.

Where to now? :eek: