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NerdySyntax
Known Participant
October 31, 2011
Answered

transparent gif from flash

  • October 31, 2011
  • 5 replies
  • 46909 views

I am trying to export these gifs with transparency and I am still getting the background with transparency selected in publish settings. Does anyone know a way to remove the background and just have a transparent gif?

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer

    I just found a method so you can export your Flash movie as an animated gif with transparency.What I have done is create a folder and then export as a png sequence. Then you go into Abobe Bridge select all the png images in your folder under Bridge select Photoshop>Tools>Load files into Layers. Once you are back in Photoshop view the Timeline dialog box, pull down the arrow on upper right hand corner and Make Frames from Layers. If you like at this point you can Select All Frames in the pull down arrow in the upper right hand corner of the dialog box. Then select one frame for the duration of frame, which will set all the frames to this durarion. Then choose the number of times you want it to repeat. Once you have it like you want simply Save for Web and then in the Save for Web dialog box choose gif. Now you'll have your animated gif with transparent background.

    5 replies

    K
    Community Expert
    Kenneth KawamotoCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    July 6, 2015

    In my CC2015 (Mac) the whole export to GIF animation feature is buggy - interlace & dither options will create corrupt GIF file. The transparent option does not create transparent background at all. However you can open the Flash generated GIF in Photoshop and Save for Web; in there you can specify the background transparency colour. I guess the result is the same as Flash generated GIF if Flash's export option was working.

    @kennethkawamoto

    K
    Community Expert
    Kenneth KawamotoCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    July 16, 2015

    Notwithstanding Flash does not export to GIF with transparent background (not for me anyway), the problem with GIF is that it is not really transparent but just not showing one of the indexed colours - so that you will always get ugly jagged edges. Also colours are limited to maximum 256.

    My solution is to export to a series of transparent PNG, then stitch together to create a sprite and set it as background of a <div>, then use CSS/JS to animate it (change the position of the sprite background). This way you get true alpha channel transparency with 24 bit colours. And you can control speed etc on the fly, which you cannot do with GIF. Now I have zero reason to use animated transparent GIF

    @kennethkawamoto

    Colin Holgate
    Colin Holgate
    Inspiring
    July 16, 2015

    You could take your animation into an HTML5 Canvas FLA, and export the spritesheet in one go. No need for any stitching. Or from a regular FLA you can export a movieclip as a spritesheet.

    Also, look at https://tinypng.com , it can dramatically optimize the file size of PNGs without them looking any worse.

      J
      Joycey
      Participant
      August 26, 2014

      If U are using a Flash CC and U want to export ANIMATED GIF WITH TRANSPARENT BACKGROUND

      1. File > Export > Export Movie
      2. Select format > Animated Gif
      3. Under Export Gif pop out option window > Select Colors : 256. Select Transparent, Interlace, Dither solid colors. DO NOT SELECT "Smooth"!

      It should work now. For some reasons, if U want your animated gif to appear "smoother" on the graphics' edges, they come with your stage background color. However, without selecting "Smooth" option, the graphics still looks rather smooth to me, plus, I get to keep a transparent background. Hope this helps.

      M
      marclinn
      Participant
      July 1, 2014

      same question.... I can't believe how can a software become worse this way...

      A
      Anonymous
      Correct answer
      July 12, 2013

      I just found a method so you can export your Flash movie as an animated gif with transparency.What I have done is create a folder and then export as a png sequence. Then you go into Abobe Bridge select all the png images in your folder under Bridge select Photoshop>Tools>Load files into Layers. Once you are back in Photoshop view the Timeline dialog box, pull down the arrow on upper right hand corner and Make Frames from Layers. If you like at this point you can Select All Frames in the pull down arrow in the upper right hand corner of the dialog box. Then select one frame for the duration of frame, which will set all the frames to this durarion. Then choose the number of times you want it to repeat. Once you have it like you want simply Save for Web and then in the Save for Web dialog box choose gif. Now you'll have your animated gif with transparent background.

        java lang
        java lang
        Participant
        July 5, 2015

        Thanks rafhicks, your solution worked for me using cc 2015!!

        kglad
        Community Expert
        kgladCommunity Expert
        Community Expert
        October 31, 2011

        use the anmiated playback option (even though you're not animating anything).

        N
        NerdySyntaxAuthor
        Known Participant
        October 31, 2011

        Well this is an animated .gif. of about 1 sec of animation with a stop action at the end so I am using the animated playback option with a repeat of 1.

        kglad
        Community Expert
        kgladCommunity Expert
        Community Expert
        October 31, 2011

        then what's the problem?  (just set transparent to anything but opaque in the properties panel.)

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