How To Create Animation Using Gimp 2.8

How To Create Animations Using GIMP

Learn to create animated GIF cartoons using Inkscape and GIMP.

In an older article, I described how to create cartoons using Inkscape. In this article, you can go further and learn how to create animated cartoons using both Inkscape and GIMP. The output for these animations will be the popular and Web-friendly GIF format.

GIF frames and GIMP layers

An animated GIF file is a collection of image frames that are displayed for specific durations, one after another, to create the illusion of a video. In GIMP terms, each epitome frame in a GIF file is a layer. If you plan on creating GIF animations with GIMP, you demand to create several paradigm layers.

So, what is a layer? Graphic artists prefer to place various components of an image separately in what is known as a layer. This enables them to modularise images. Several layers are placed i over another to form the terminal prototype, as shown in this screenshot.

The Layers tab in the right panel showing various layers of an image

If you observe carefully, you will detect that each layer has been given a dissimilar name. GIMP automatically and generates a unique name for each layer but the graphic artist usually renames them in a more meaningful way. Even so, when creating an animated GIF file, you exercise non have to worry about the names for the layers. Instead, you demand to pay more attention to certain actress information that are suffixed to the layer names, i.due east., frame disposal and frame duration.

GIF frame disposal and elapsing

Frame disposal tells the GIF-rendering application (usually an image viewer or a Web browser) how to display a new frame over the previous frame. Frame elapsing specifies exactly for how long a frame needs to be displayed.

In GIMP, frame disposal is specified by suffixing the layer name with "(replace)" or "(combine)". The commencement suffix selection "(supersede)" totally clears the previous frame earlier displaying the electric current frame. The 2nd suffix option "(combine)" ensures that the electric current frame is merely pasted over the previous frame. The second option allows yous to brand cumulative changes over several frames and restrict background content to just one of the previous frames. The frame duration is specified in microseconds. For example, to display a layer for a second, you need suffix the layer name with "(1000ms)". Putting it all together, if you want a layer named "Frame three" to totally supplant the previous frame and be displayed for half a second, you volition have to name the layer "Frame iii (replace) (500ms)".

Frame duration and disposal are suffixed to the layer proper noun

It is not necessary to specify these suffixes manually. When y'all export a .XCF (GIMP projection) file to .GIF format, GIMP volition evidence a dialogue where yous can specify the settings for the layers en masse or globally.

The 'File - Save Every bit' or export dialogue box (for GIF files) in GIMP

Here is the GIF blitheness created using GIMP using the screenshots of the Bing spider web page.

Animation created using screenshots of a web page

Cartoon creation in Inkscape

For this article, I decided to create a jumping frog animated cartoon. The cartoon was created in Inkscape and assembled as a GIF in GIMP. The frog cartoon was created in Inkscape.

The frog drawing (vector paradigm) was created in Inkscape

In Inkscape, I selected all shapes of the frog and made them part of a group (by selecting Object - Group from the menu). This made it easier to duplicate the frog (Ctrl+D) and create dissimilar stages of the frog in movement. In each stage, I made changes to the frogs legs using the Node tool. The body of the frog (i.e., excluding the legs) was in a sub-group. This sub-group remained as a whole in all stages and was not modified. Nonetheless, its position and orientation to the legs was changed. At this stage, the Inkscape cartoon with different stages of the frog in motion was exported as a PNG image file.

Several stages of the jumping frog were created in Inkscape and exported to PNG (raster) paradigm format.

GIF associates in GIMP

I then opened this PNG file in GIMP, cut the various stages of the jumping frog and placed them each in a carve up layer. I added a vertical visual guide and aligned the frog'due south eye to it in each layer. This would create the illusion of the video camera post-obit the moving frog. I saved the image to GIMP's native file format (.xcf extension).

The frog stages were cut from the PNG file and assembled every bit separate layers in GIMP

To test the animation, I used the Filters - Animation - Playback carte du jour option. The PNG prototype I exported from Inkscape was a huge one. GIF files are unremarkably small. Hence, I downscaled the XCF image (without saving the file) and exported that to GIF format. In the salvage/export dialogue box, I set up the global frame disposal to "replace" and the global frame interval to 100 milliseconds.

Getting creative with GIFs

I besides created another GIF blitheness with the aforementioned layers. This fourth dimension, I spread them out linearly then that it appeared similar the frog was moving across the screen.

The layers were moved linearly

And so, midway in the layer stack, I introduced another frog. Hence, half the frames had two frogs. This made the blitheness appearing to have an countless stream of frogs.

This animation has a frog moving linearly across the frame

This animation follows a moving frog within the stationary frame

This GIF animation has several frogs following the one before beyond the frame

Stealing ideas from other GIFs

GIF files do not need to be animated cartoons. GIF does not care what is in the frames. As yous can see in Screenshot two, GIF frames tin can contain screenshots or fifty-fifty photographs. Still, recollect that the GIF format uses a 256-colour palette and rich colours volition exist downsampled. Still, for what it is used (Web graphics and non-interactive animations), GIF is a good selection.

And, just as Web programmers employ the hallowed View Source choice to larn cool tricks from others, you tin can also open up downloaded GIF files in GIMP and learn from the experts in the field. If y'all prefer to go that way, so be sure to change the colour manner Indexed to RGB (View - Fashion). If you forget to change this setting, then the image colours volition announced like they are read-only.

Notes

This commodity was originally published in Open Source For You mag in August 2017.

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