Animation and Slideshows
Still images, especially a series, can be put together in a GIF animation, which is a universal Internet file format. AVI videos taken with a still camera can be edited and modified with an animation program. Many of the image-editing programs listed in this chapter also have GIF animation capability. Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro, and Ulead PhotoImpact are several examples.
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This is an animator with ninety-eight animation wizards. Import/export AVI to GIF. Edit existing animations, add text, and create new graphics.
Ulead GIF Animator
Cost = about $30
After playing with the free GIF animator, buy this version for total image control. You can sandwich a number of photographs together, resize them, position them, and play them at millisecond intervals. Import AVI files and fine-tune. If you like animation, this is the program to get.
If you make a lot of slideshows or animations, you might want a program that specializes in that task. Specialty programs generally have more features and can be easier to use. Read reviews and familiarize yourself with the subtle — but perhaps essential — controls such a program offers.
Many of the programs already mentioned in this software chapter include a slideshow capability. The free programs Google's Picasa and Irfan-View and the commercial programs by ACDSee, ThumbsPlus, PhotoImpact, Paint Shop Pro, and Photoshop allow you to create slideshows.
