Newbie question - how to reduce file size?

[Daniel Redland]

Hello, I've just tried to use Animate for the first time, to create a 14 second animated GIF.  However, the output file size is shocking:

1920 x 1080: 278 MB

800 x 450:  25 MB (attached)

Could it be because I've stretched the images over 120 frames each?  Is there a setting in Animate to simply pause for say 4 seconds on one frame?  

Thanks in advance!

[Mario_CR]

Gifs in Animate generate a new image per frame so if you stretch an image over 120 frames and export it to gif, it won't be a single image anymore, but 120, one for each frame.

There are external apps and services you can use to optimize these gifs, however, like ezgif.com

[Steiner]

Thanks for the optimization tip Mario, I'll give that a go  (replying from my personal Adobe account).

[ClayUUID]

Since it looks like you're just flipping through some still images instead of exporting an actual animation, ideally you'd be using code to cycle through some JPEGs instead, because the 256-color limit of GIF is absolutely going to degrade your image quality.

But if for some madcap reason you're absolutely committed to using GIF, you should only use a single timeline frame per image, then set your frame rate to the desired delay.

[Steiner]

Hi Clay (responding from my personal account - the DR account is a work thing).  As originally mentioned, this is my first time using this app.  I was hoping to time each transition idependantly, based on the amount of text on each slide.  5 seconds here, 4 seconds there, etc.  Hence trying to extend each graphic asset.  No idea how to use code, but would be happy to learn if you've the time. 

If not, I'll see if the idea of a frame rate change works.  Won't be as accurate as After Effects, but it will probably achieve the file size reduction I require.

Thanks

[ClayUUID]

GIFs allow frame delays to be set on a frame-by-frame basis. There are specialized GIF authoring tools that can do this.

Or you could just export an actual video file instead of a GIF.

[Steiner]

Video would be a better alternative.  But this asset is destined for Mailchimp, so sadly not an option.

[Steiner]

This worked.  Many thanks for the suggestion.  Still happy to learn more about the JPG/code suggestion of course.

[Nick Gioia]

Glad you got it figured out.