To optimize an animated image:

1Choose Optimize Animation from the Animation palette menu.

2Set the following options:

•Bounding Box to crop each frame to the area that has changed from the preceding frame. Animation files created using this option are smaller but are incompatible with GIF editors that do not support the option. (This option is selected by default and is recommended.)

•Redundant Pixel Removal to make transparent all pixels in a frame that are unchanged from the preceding frame. This option is selected by default and is recommended. The Transparency option in the Optimize palette must be selected for redundant pixel removal to work. (See “Optimization options for GIF and PNG-8 formats” on page 420.)

Important: Set the frame disposal method to Automatic when using the Redundant Pixel Removal option. (See “Setting the frame disposal method” on page 410.)

3Click OK.

4Apply optimization settings. (See “Optimizing images” on page 415.)

When optimizing the colors in an animation, use the Adaptive, Perceptual, or Selective palette. This ensures that the colors are consistent across frames. (See “Generating a

color table” on page 431.)

Viewing animated images in Photoshop

When you open a file containing an animation in Photoshop, only the frame that was selected when you saved the file in ImageReady is displayed. You cannot edit the animation frames separately, play the animation, or save the animation as an animated GIF.

If you add a new layer to the file while in Photoshop, the layer is added to all frames of the animation. However, the new layer will only appear in the selected frame when you reopen the file in ImageReady. If you change the stacking order of layers while in Photoshop, the stacking order of layers will be changed when you reopen the file in ImageReady.

Saving animations

You can save an animation as a series of GIF files or as a QuickTime™ movie.

Saving animations as animated GIFs

Animations that you view in a Web browser are called animated GIFs. When you save an optimized document containing an animation, you can choose to generate an HTML file that contains code for displaying the animated GIF in a Web page.The resulting Web page can contain just the animated GIF or additional Web features, such as links and rollovers, depending on the source document.

To save an animation as an animated GIF:

1Optimize the animation. (See “Optimizing animations” on page 411.)

2Save the optimized image. (See “Saving optimized images” on page 441.)

To import a folder of files as frames:

1 Place the files to be used as frames into a folder. Make sure that the folder contains only those images that are to be used as frames. The resulting animation will display more successfully if all files are the same pixel dimensions.

To have frames appear in the correct order in the animation, name the files in alphabetical or numeric order, with the file to be used as frame 1 the first in order. (You can also change the order of the frames in the Animation palette after you import the files.)

2 Choose File > Import > Folder As Frames, and choose the folder to be imported.

The files appear in the Animation palette as frames and in the Layers palette as layers, with each layer assigned to a separate frame. The image that is first alphabetically or numerically by filename is frame 1 in the Animation palette and the bottom layer in the Layers palette.

Opening QuickTime movies as animations

You can open movies in MOV, AVI, and FLIC formats to view and edit in ImageReady.

To open QuickTime-compatible movies:

1Choose File > Open, and select the movie to open.

2Select the range of frames to import:

•From Beginning to End to open the full file.

•Selected Range Only to open selected frames. Drag the slider below the movie thumbnail to specify the starting point for the range, then Shift-drag to specify the ending point. (A black bar on the slider indicates the range you select.)

3Select Limit to Every <number> Frame to specify which frames to include from the selected range. (You can use this option with either Range option.)

4Click Open.