AnimGIF_Update

Short:        AnimGIF Update for PPaint 7
Author:       info@cloanto.com (Cloanto)
Uploader:     info cloanto com (Cloanto)
Type:         gfx/ppaint
Architecture: m68k-amigaos
Distribution: Only Cloanto, Aminet and Aminet CD-ROM


CLOANTO SOFTWARE UPDATE


FILES BEING UPDATED

  - Rexx/LoadAnimGif.pprx (any earlier version becomes v. 1.4)
  - Rexx/SaveAnimGif.pprx (any earlier version becomes v. 1.7)
  - libs/personal_gif_io.library (versions 5.1 to 5.3 become v. 5.4)


PROGRAMS USING THE FILES

  - Personal Paint version 7.0 and 7.1


INSTALLATION

  - Automatic (requires Installer to be available on system)


NEW FEATURES

This update provides several enhancements and/or corrections over
previous releases:

1) "AnimGIF - Load Anim-Brush" used to require a double-buffering screen
   mode to create the animation. This is the standard for proper Amiga
   animation, but Personal Paint has always been strong in supporting RTG
   animation without double-buffering. This has been extended to this
   script.

2) "AnimGIF - Save Anim-Brush" allows for the anim-brush transparency
   to be set or cleared directly from the user interface of the Rexx
   script. Additionally, the timing of the anim-brush frames can be
   copied from the timing of the frames in the current animation.

3) On some web browsers, GIF animations using transparency effects would
   be displayed differently (e.g. leaving "trails") than with Personal
   Paint. This was caused by the lack of a clear specification on the
   various frame disposal methods which can be employed for GIF
   animations if transparency is used. The update contained in this
   archive was designed to offer a better compromise between optimization
   and compatibility with different de facto standards. Version 5.4
   solves a potential problem with multiple-palette animations when viewed
   with older versions of certain PC browsers.

This archive does not contain, create or modify any GIF code. Only some
animation features are updated. The installation procedure requires the
personal_gif_io.library (version 5.1, 5.2 or 5.3) to be already installed
in the system. These libraries (or newer ones) are included with the
commercial distribution of Personal Paint 7.

These are some examples of file sizes of famous GIF animations taken from
the Internet and saved again with Personal Paint 7 and this update:

  File          Original   PPaint 7
  ---------------------------------
  Construc.gif       800        551
  Duke.gif         11312      10754
  Explorer.gif     14871       7498
  Jack2.gif         9772       9595
  Nan.gif           8093       7986
  Punchy.gif        4584       4231
  Redbutto.gif      5052       5023
  Starroll.gif      7938       6979
  Tumbleba.gif     19465      17527
  Tumbledu.gif     19465      17504
  Windows.gif      24688      24238
  Wired_1.gif      15691      10407
  Wired_2.gif      23208      17644


NOTES

Visit us at <http://www.cloanto.com> for the latest news. In particular,
the Cloanto web site contains several documents on Internet-related
topics, including tutorials and answers to frequently asked questions.

Please support our continued Amiga development efforts by preferring
original software.

Your feedback is very appreciated. E-mail: <support@cloanto.com>.

For additional technical and legal information on the files, please refer
to the documentation included with the original (commercial) distribution.
In particular, all files are Copyright © 1996, 1997 Cloanto Italia srl. The
"spatch" program file is Copyright © 1992-1995 SAS Institute, Inc.,
included with permission.