Suggstions?

[ciroccoj]

Anybody have suggestions for good animated-GIF icon makers? I've got a set of seven icons that I'd like to string together, but all the freeware I've tried so far has sucked in one way or another. One makes the icons transparent, another makes them grainy, another tacks on "[FREEWARE NAME] GIF" to the top of the icon, and all end up with the icon being more than lj's limit of 40K.

::sigh:: What's stupid is, I used to have a good GIF maker. Can't find it now. Damn.

Comments

[shiningmoon.livejournal.com]

The best I've ever used is Adobe Image Ready, but it's not the easiest thing I've ever learned to use, and it's probably not free. Which platform are you on again?

[ciroccoj.livejournal.com]

The best I've ever used is Adobe Image Ready, but it's not the easiest thing I've ever learned to use, and it's probably not free. Which platform are you on again?
Hm... I passed by Adobe last night as I searched in vain for a good app. Haven't had a lot of luck using Adobe before, though. The Acrobat Reader often freezes my computer.

I'm on Windows, not sure which version off the top of my head. I went through a whoooole lot of freeware thingies last night and eventually ended up using EasyGif Animator 4, which says it expires in 30 days but actually expires in 30 uses.

::meh:: I wasn't that thrilled with it anyway. The problem was that the others I tried were either too complicated, or made GIFs too large for lj, or, most annoyingly, gave you a 30-day free trial but then any icon you make has their logo covering a significant portion of the real estate. And they don't tell you that when you start, so it's not until you've downloaded, read the instructions, made a GIF, and are all excited that it's going to work that you get hit with this "You don't mind if we ugly it for you, do you? 'Cause if you do, how about giving us $ and then we'll let you keep it pretty. C'mon, wouldn't you rather give your $ to a company you already know is into bait-and-switch advertising? Less of a sense of mystery, y'know?"

Hm. I don't have one of the animated icons I made in use here.

[shiningmoon.livejournal.com]

Ahhh. Yuck about the Adobe Reader. Once I got the hang of how to use Image Ready to make the animated icon, it was a delight. It made the animated sequences easier to manage, and lets you save the final result according to file size constraints.

I used to use GIFBuilder on my Mac (Classic OS) and it was GREAT. The one they made for the OS X though I never could get to work properly.

Hm, I just had a thought: you might want to browse icon-dedicated communities for tutorials and see if there are any specific animation programs mentioned. You know, in all your copious spare time. ;)