Nader

i am trying to make an email sig with an animated GIF file in it that i found on the web. this file is the ghost skeleton on the right on this page: http://www.ghost-cafe.com/ . i made my sig like normal but when i put the ghost in the sig it wont move. is there a way to keep this thing animated? i would like to know how. i will attach the sig that i want that ghost incorporated with. much appreciation to those who respond.

namvet

Nader ... can be done ... but first, would you have a copyright problem with that ghost image?? .. just a thought (you might have to find another ghost that is free to use) .... anyway back to your question of how to put an animated image into a stationary image ... first you need to have animation program such as "Image Ready" which is part of Photoshop7 (it may have been in PS6 .. am not sure) .... if you have Image Ready, reply to this post and I will explain more ... you will have some "colour" probs with combining those 2 images (the animated and the stationary) but it's fixable ...

Nader

i have image ready. please send me more instructions. thank you so much for your help!!

kiwi

I think the problem might be the ani is not set to loop back to the beginning,or it has a huge delay before it goes back to the beginning,and the delay could be set to as high as 10 minutes etc.Your best bet Nader would be to make your own I think,and as Namvet pointed out it could be copyright of Ghost cafe.



Stu.

namvet

Nader ... ok, in my previous post I covered the copyright issue so I don't need to go over that again ... here's how to add an animated image to a static image ..
1. open up Image Ready and put your animated image in there
2. open up Photoshop and put your static image in there
3. In Image Ready go to Image>duplicate and click ok when the "copy" box pops up (so that you don't loose the original gif)
you are now working with the copy, not the original .... you should have 12 frames in the long narrow 'animation' box
4. Near the top right hand corner of the 'animation' box is an arrow .. left click on the arrow and in the new menu that appears find "flatten frames into layers" refer left hand pic below ... click on "flatten frames into layers"
5. Now take layers of your animated image to photoshop by clicking on the bottom right hand icon in the tools pallete .. refer right hand pic below

namvet

Nader .... part 2 ...
You will now be in Photoshop and have both images open in Photoshop
6. Make your static image active and go to Image>image size, click on image size and note it height and width (it should be 500x150 pixels) .... make sure that this image is "RGB" colour ... if in doubt go to Image>mode and check that RGB colour is ticked
7. activate the smaller image that you brought in from Image Ready and go to Image>Canvas Size and click on Canvas Size ... in the new window change the canvas size to coincide with the static image size that you noted in step6 above (ie 500x150) .... note make sure you anchor the image to the left before you click OK (refer pic below).... make sure that this image is also "RGB" colour ... if in doubt go to Image>mode and check that RGB colour is ticked

namvet

Nader .... part 3 ...
8. you will need to get rid of any images, lines etc (in your static image) that are where you are going to put your animation ... this is simple, just select the area with the marque tool (square one) and fill that area with the same background colour as your static image
9. now drag your static image into the animation ... make sure your static image is at the bottom of all of the layers (because it is going to become the "background" of your animation) and rename it Base Layer ... and make sure there aren't any "gaps" at the top, bottom and sides ... if there are gaps move it until they disappear
10. now look at the "F" in Fear you will probably find that the animated image is hiding some of the "F" ... if this is so move each layer down (use the down arrow key on keyboard, three clicks should do the trick) .. it is important that each of these layers be moved the same number of clicks .... also you only need 12 ghost layers, if you have more delete them ie delete layer 13 and all above it
OK ... now in your layers pallete you should have (at the very bottom) the Base Layer and above it 12 layers of the ghost .... if you have, that's good [righton] .... they are the Photoshop layers that will become animated in Image Ready
question ... have you saved this working file yet? .. you should have, if not, do it now .... now click on the Image Ready icon at the bottom of the tools pallete the image is now being transferred to Image Ready
it is 2am here, am tired, will complete this in the morning .... hope this is helping you

wbiss

Ian, what a great helping hand you have given to Nader! [righton]

Nader, welcome to the forum! I do hope that you enjoy your stay here while learning and playing with PS. Namvet has taken a lot of time to explain the process that you're after and that's great... but I would highly recommend that you make your own ghost image. Not only will you save yourself some possible repurcussions, but you will gain great experience and satisfaction in having made your own! Check out http://iit.bloomu.edu/vthc/ImageReady/Basics/intro.htm

Rick

Great info Ian - for all of us

Nader I checked the site you posted and as for copywrite problems the following is what they have posted on the site

The images on these pages were obtained from publicly available sources, and to the best of our knowlege, the images are in the public domain. If you own the copyright on any image on these pages, and you would like us to remove it, please identify yourself and the image, and we will. If you own the copyright and you are willing to give us permission to use the image, we would like to know that also.

You may be OK to use that image however I agree with Wendy that you would be better off in the long run if you create your own. And never fear there is help available if you need it

[righton]

dv8_fx

Welcome Nader.

I agree with the copyright issue everyone has mentioned. It will save you a whole lot of trouble if you create one of your own. Unless of course, you've asked permission to use the image.

Did you create your sig and inserted the gif file into a new layer? That's were your problem might be.

In addition to what namvet has given so far, you can also do this -

1. Open the gif file in Image Ready.

2. Jump to Photoshop. This will create layers of the ani in the layer pallete.

3. Create the sig layers below the ani layers. Enlarge the canvas to the size you plan to create your sig. Fill it with the same black as in the anis.

When done, jump back to IR.

You will need to re-create the animation of the original gif but this time, leave the sig layers visible althroughout the animation ( Unless the sig has an animation too. )

Hope this helps too.

vee