Creating GIF Animations

using The GIF Cosntruction Set for Windows

This document contains a set of instructions explaining how to make a GIF file containing instructions to allow animation (with looping) in Netscape 2.0. These instructions assume that you have already created a group of individual GIF files to be used as 'frames' for the animation sequence. For additional assisstance, please see the GIF Construction Set Demonstration Page or the GIF Construction Set Frequently Asked Questions.
Step One
Begin by opening the GIF Construction Set for Windows. Open the GIF file that you would like to appear as the first frame in the sequence. It should look something like the window shown here. All GIF files contain at least two blocks, the HEADER block and at least one IMAGE block.

Step Two
Next, you need to load each additional frame into this file. Before inserting a new image, it is important that you select the block that will come before the new image. To insert a new image, click the 'Insert' button, and then choose 'image' from the list of buttons (shown to the right) that appear next. The order in which you insert the images is also important, since the image that will appear first in the animation will be the first IMAGE block in the file. Do this for each image you want to include in the animation sequence.

Step Three
Now the main window should contain a HEADER block followed by the several IMAGE blocks that you have inserted. You might want to give the first IMAGE block a, which can be done by selecting the 'Edit' button. You will encounter this window where you can type in a block title. This step is not necessary. In the end, your main window will look something like this.

Step Four
Now comes the fun part. You must insert instructions telling Netscape to loop your animation (this step is optional since you might not want a loop). This is accomplished by inserting a LOOP block between the HEADER block and the first IMAGE block. Select the HEADER block, then click the 'Insert' button and choose 'Loop'. The correct order is shown in the window below.


Step Five
In this step you will insert the animation speed information contained in CONTROL blocks. A CONTROL block must come before each IMAGE block. The CONTROL block specifies how long Netscape is to wait before loading the next image. Insert the first CONTROL block before the first IMAGE block. Then, after selecting the new CONTROL block, click the 'Edit' button. A dialog window will appear allowing you to specify the to wait before loading the next image. After closing this window, you can copy and paste this block so that each image is preceeded by its own CONTROL block. The final result is shown below. Save your work--you are finished!
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