Optimize and Export Your Stop-Frame Animation in Drawplus X4

Creating a Dynamic Product

How to …

optimize and export your stop-frame animation in DrawPlus X4

/ When you have finished making modifications to your animation and have saved changes as usual, you are ready to export it to a file format that is supported by most web browsers, but remember to keep a copy of the DPA file too. To edit an animation, the original DPA file must be reopened.

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Click the Export button on the Frames tab. The Animated GIF format is selected by default. This will support both transparency and animation. On the Options tab make changes to the number of colours, resolution (dpi), dimensions and compare the results by clicking on the Estimate Download Time button. This will allow you to achieve faster download times for website visitors and higher grades. Check the Transparency box to keep the background transparent. Preview one, two or four variations. In the example 256 colours = 14.6KB; 128 colours = 13.6KB; 64 colours = 11.8KB; and 32 colours = 11.1KB. The picture quality in the last two is poor and the colours have started to break up.

/ Click on the Animation tab to preview each frame and to preview the animation itself to check quality before hitting the Export button.
ü View individual frames
ü Change the sequence if needed
ü Rename or renumber frames
ü Revise the frame duration/frame rate
ü Change the number of loops
/ Other Formats
ü GIF and TIFF files both support animation and transparency, though TIFF files tend to be larger – in the example the GIF file with 256 colours is only 14.6 KB (estimated download time less than 1 second at 56 kbps), while the TIFF version with the same dimensions and 32 bit depth is 3.3MB KB (estimated download time 8 minutes 18 sec at 56 kbps).
ü Anti-aliased smoothes jagged edges.
ü Interlaced enables the graphic to appear line by line on the webpage.
ü Web-safe reduces the number of colours used, though most browsers can now handle 256 colours. Fewer colours mean a smaller file size, but preview the effect in the window to make sure you are happy with results. Vector drawings need fewer colours than bitmaps to look effective.
/ You can also export your stop-frame animation as a video or convert it to a keyframe animation.
Select Export > Export as Video from the File menu, or Convert to Keyframe Animation.
Finally, when you are satisfied with the file size and quality, click the Export button and save your animated GIF to your Animation/exported_files folder.
Remember to preview your animation in several different browsers if possible to make sure it displays properly. Select File > Preview in Browser to do this.

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Exporting animations in DrawPlus X4

Exporting your stop-frame or keyframe animation outputs your animation to a file which can be shared or viewed, either standalone or when included as part of a web page. DrawPlus lets you export to a variety of formats as indicated below, depending on whether you have created a stop-frame or keyframe animation:
Export / Stop-frame / Keyframe
Flash SWF / X / ü
Flash Lite/i-Mode / X / ü
Video / ü / ü
Image / ü / ü
CAD/CAM / ü / X
Screensaver / X / ü