gifmerge(1) gifmerge(1)
25/5/96
NAME
GIFMerge 1.33 - Merge single GIFs into an GIF89a Animation
SYNOPSIS
gifmerge [-<r>,<g>,<b>] [-<delay>] [-l<loops>] *.gif >
Background
GIFmerge is based on txtmerge written by Mark Podlipec, part of XANIM
distribution. Based on infos Royal Frazier's GIF89a Animation Page I
improved txtmerge to gifmerge.
GIFmerge uses GIF89a extensions, as well the recent developed
application extensions supported by Netscape-2.0 with n-loops. For
details on GIF89a see the GIF89a Specifications and the Application
Extension defined by Netscape (from Understanding GIF89a).
For more specific infos look at Royal Frazier's GIF Making: Looping.
For general approaches of animations look at Animations.
Usage
Command line:
gifmerge [-<r>,<g>,<b>] [-<delay>] [-l<loops>] *.gif > anim.gif
Options:
-<r>,<g>,<b> set transparency, ie -192,192,192,
default: no transparency
-notransp set transparency off (after you used -r,g,b before)
-delay set delay between images in 1/100th secs, ie -100
default: 50 (0.5secs)
-l<loops> set loop counter, ie -l0 (ever) or -l1000,
default: no loops
-d<disposal> set disposal 0 = no action, 1 = no dispose,
2 = restore background, 3 = restore previous
default: 2
-nopos reset offset position (default)
-pos<x>,<y> set offset position for image
Examples
gifmerge -192,192,192 -l0 -50 redb.gif grey.gif > redblink.gif
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gifmerge(1) gifmerge(1)
25/5/96
gifmerge -192,192,192 -l0 -50 redb.gif -10 grey.gif > redblink2.gif
A W3 gallery with GIF89 animations can be found at Royal Frazier's
Animation Gallery.
Backup Advise
Always keep backup of your GIFs you build your animation ...
Trouble Shooting
I received several emails from people having difficulties with
gifmerge, as the animation didn't run. If this happens, make sure your
GIFs are fully correct as some tools create strange GIFs which aren't
fully standard. Use xv the famous X11 image viewer and load/save all
GIFs, and try again with gifmerge. So far this helped in all cases.
Major Problem
Netscape-3.0b3 has major problems with animated GIF enclosed in this
page (the two last longer animations), I also used whirlgif (another
GIF merge-tool) and Netscape-3.0b3 had the same problems, so it seems
it's a problem of Netscape and not of the animation tool.
Netscape-2.0bx or 2.0N, as well Netscape-3.0b2 had not such problems.
Minor Problems
I noticed that the counter-loop doesn't work at Netscape2.0, has a
never-ending loop if you set -lnum. Royal Frazier wrote, that
Netscape-2.0 just ignors the loop counter in their version, but maybe
next version 2.1 they may support it.
Also, Netscape-2.0 seems to shows the animations as busy (comets on
the "N" right upper corner of your browser) as well indicates "Reading
document ..." on the bottom of your browser, which both are quite
distracting for readers.
When you go back to a page (using Back-Button) which has GIF89a
animations with loops, Netscape2.0 does show only few pictures as
animations, some are freezed.
Beside, if you leave a page with some GIF89a animations (with loops as
well), to another page, Netscape-2.0 does not show the page while
loading as usual.
And finally, Netscape-2.0 gets problems when two or more windows are
open with GIF89a animations, you assume right: it crashs in some
cases.
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gifmerge(1) gifmerge(1)
25/5/96
Author
GIFMerge Rev 1.31 (C) 1991,1992 by Mark Podlipec
Improvements by Rene K. Mueller 1996
kiwi@iis.ee.ethz.ch
Man Page
Based on info in the README file.
Steff Nile at steff@csc.liv.ac.uk
With an update by Brian Abernathy at cba@wscoe1.atl.hp.com
- 3 - Formatted: July 4, 2008
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