I've an idea for a new icon but it is an animated one, I've gotten so used to using photoshop for everything and lost touch with .gif animation programs. I used to use a bunch of Ulead programs but thought I would touch base before I went ahead and reinstalled them.

So, my question is which programs are fast and easy for creating and editing animated files or should I stick to the ulead series? Also, how difficult is it to break down a current animated .gif so I can change some minor issues with it (or is it just not possible without the original?)

I've always used Photoshop to create animations from scratch, but I'm not sure what program to use to edit existing animations. Adobe has Fireworks I believe, but not sure of other programs. Is the icon you want to create for the VN boards?

For the life of me I can't figure out how to do animations in photoshop. It is for a new icon here, plus I just figured it was about time I figured out how to do animations. I suppose I'll stick with my ulead utilities since I am familiar with them.

Fireworks is good for creating animated GIFs -- letting you move/resize/rotate objects and text smoothly over frames (I think it's called tweening).

Fireworks isn't great for editing existing animated GIFs that were created by another program. For that, I use GIF Movie Gear.

Both of those programs have trials, so you can mess around with it before shelling out the cash. If it's just for VN icons, I'd say $300 for Fireworks is a bit steep

 

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Do animated icons work now? I thought only the old ones worked.

nope, can't upload animated icons anymore

 

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