Monday 29 May 2017

E2B v1.93d BETA available

v1.93d has an improved GIFtoIMA script.
http://www.easy2boot.com/configuring-e2b/animation/ has been updated.

GIFtoIMA.cmd now only uses frames up to frame #255 (maximum for grub4dos) and can also now save as JPG instead of as BMP to save space.

Note that using a transparent background setting for JPGs does not work well because some of the background pixels may be a slightly different RGB value, so if you want to use a transparent background for your animation, choose the BMP option (default).

I spent a LOT of time looking for a GIF editor, but eventually I found a utility
called KickMyGraphics by Marcell Pennock.

KickMyGraphics can load any GIF (or graphics frames/files) and then you can save it in the correct format for use with GIFtoIMA. This fixes Animated GIFs which have different frame sizes or use a 'pixel difference' algorithm for successive frames. v2.0 has a small bug and creates a few small white pixels in bottom right corner - this will be fixed in the next version of KickMyGraphics soon.

Most of the other GIF editors that I found did not save in the correct format for use with E2B.
'Filmora' is another one that does work, but it has $$ annual subscription model.

KickMyGraphics

1. Load GIF
2. Make sure loopback mode is off
3. Test
You can crop the frames (click Select all Frames button first), trim frames to remove any peripheral bad pixels and change the size.
4. Save GIF (uses complete .BMP for each frame of same size)

I suggest you do not change the size using KickMyGraphics because the quality may suffer. Instead change the size using GIFtoIMA (IrfanView will resample to give better quality).

If you use JPGs, there is little point in compressing the IMA file.
If you use BMPs, you can compress the IMA file for faster loading by using the LZMA_Encode.cmd script (see \_ISO\docs\E2B Utilities folder).

P.S. There is a small bug in KickMyGraphics 2.0 - when it saves the GIF file, there are some white pixels in the bottom right-hand corner which should not be there. if you re-load the saved file (and the background is not white) you will see them. The author has promised to fix this soon, so look out for version 2.1! I have an early Beta copy if you can't wait a few days (contact me).

Smile_AnimHorse_Theme.zip (Alternate Downloads - Themes)
Graphics taken from here.
More details about GifToIMA.cmd in previous blog post here.

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