[Tyrian]

Not entirely sure this belongs here, so feel free to move it.

I was wondering how you go about making one of these animations.  I know you need a series of still frames, with the files numbered in the order you want them to play in, ending with .dds.  Then you write a text file that tells what order to play the images in, ending in .eff.  I know you write it in notepad, but what exactly goes into the .eff file?  And is there a specific format for the .dds file names?

I plan on using the resulting animation in a website I'm making for a school project, so I should probably ask, can you even use an .eff animation on a site?

Also, I know there are probably more efficient ways of producing the animation, but I want to do it this way, because I know no one else in my class knows about this little trick.  It's an ego thing, what can I say?

[Herra Tohtori]

Eff files are of following form:

Code: [Select]

$Type: <insert file type>
$Frames: <insert amount of frames>
$FPS: <insert desired frame rate [frames per second]>

Quite simple, it is.

[Tyrian]

Do you have an .eff that you could show me as an example, along with the naming syntax for the .dds files?

[DaBrain]

Ok, let me explain this from the beginning. I'll use an example case:


You've got an effect named "test".  It has 50 frames and you want it to be played with 30 frames per second.
First the naming convention. The filenames have to be set up like this
test_0000.dds
test_0001.dds
test_0002.dds
...
test_0049.dds
(By the way, DDS is not only the ending, but the compression. I hope you know that. )

Now you only have to create a textfile (txt), open it and write this into it:
$Type: DDS
$Frames: 50
$FPS: 30

Rename the file-> "test.EFF"

Put the whoele stuff into the the effects folder and you're done.


That's how you set up an EFF, but you can use them only in FS2_open(!) You can't use it on a website!

[Tyrian]

Dang...Well, at least I know how to do it now...

Thanks for the explanation though.

[Herra Tohtori]

For website animation, you'd be better off with flash me thinks... if you know how to use it. I don't, and I really couldn't be bothered to use it anyway.

Other option is to create a GIF animation... GIMP is rather good at that. This was made with GIMP, it uses my beam effect frames. Note that this one only has 33 frames à 512x128@256 pixels/colours... and it is about 1.1 MB in size. 56k users may not appreciate the fancy animation graphics...

So if I were you, I would actually leave that kind of animations away from a web site.

Actually, if I were to design a web site, it would *not* contain any kind of utilization of Flash, javascripts or anything else like that. I don't know why people think web sites need to have bandwidth-guzzling animations just to make it look cool - there are other options to make web page look good. 

[Tyrian]

The site I'm making isn't meant to be publicly accessible.  It's for a school project, and the animation is more of a proof of concept thing.  We are supposed to make a site showcasing all that we have learned so far, and I wanted to put in something flashy that I don't think anyone else in my class knows how to do.  Like I said, it's an ego thing.  I wouldn't put huge animations on a website.  That's just mean.  I'm a former 56k user.  I am well aquainted with the pain of animations on 56k. 

On the subject of Flash, we will be learning that in the second half of the year.  Nobody in my class even knows about GIMP, or even what it is... 

Thanks for the pointers! 

EDIT:  Where can I get GIMP?  I Googled it, found their website, went to the Downloads section, and got bombarded with links.  Which one do I want?

EDIT2:  Probably the first question I should ask though, is whether is can be downloaded for free, legally...

[Herra Tohtori]

http://gimp-win.sourceforge.net/stable.html

What you want to download and install are GKT+ 2 Runtime Environment and GIMP for Windows, in that order... as the GIMP won't install (much less run) without GTK+ being installed.

Let me guess - you tried http://www.gimp.org/ and found long lists of packaged file libraries? I know the feeling, I found those first too, then found the (much better organized IMO) page I linked to the beginning of this message.

Just a word of advice. You might find GIMP's GUI a little weird compared to for example Photoshop and such. It is just different, and requires some getting used to.

AS a biggest difference, there's no background window. There is a separate tool box window, and each image opens to the desktop into own window. It might feel a little messy at first, but it works well after you got used to it. Good luck!


EDIT: GIMP is GNU lisenced program, and if I'm not very wrong, you can use the program to do anything you want for free... AFAIK only forbidden thing is to, like, burn it on CD's and sell it on the street (or otherwise try to profit from it in that way).