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lowly animated gif bit-depth issue
Okay, this seems a bit stupid to wrestle with, but I’m creating a station “bug” graphic (appears in lower corner of the TV picture) and for motion to be associated, I have to create a 16-bit animated GIF file. After generating this in Zaxwerks and AE, I rendered a comp with everything set to 16-bit color depth… but WinXP identifies it as 32-bit and the software used to actually move the graphic to air refuses to take it in.
Is there a trick to outputting a 16-bit animated GIF file in AE CS3?
I’m stumped. Any help would be appreciated!
– David
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4 Replies
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the output you’re looking for is 16 bit(low quality graphic) not 16 bits per channel in AE’s 8/16/32 bpc. 32 bit is an extremely nice looking image with 24 bit color of 8 bit/pixel and 8 more bits for alpha. 24+8 that’s where 32 bit comes from. Even more confusing is a true floating point 32 or 64 used at disney or 10 or 14 bit RAW used in RED or other digital cameras. Use a 16 bit photosop palette, save *.act and use Animated GIF export in AE using that act file. Even a web safe might work, try and see.
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Aren’t gif files always 8-bit or less ..?
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sorry for the slow return to the topic…
I realized the bits-per-channel vs the total color palette bits, and I did try going the PS route, creating a color palette of 256 colors as a *.act file. But, when I rendered out from AE using that palette in the color management dialogue section of the render settings, the result was the same… a 32-bit animated gif that won’t import.
Although I’d love to animate the logo bug, I’m nearly resolved to abandon it. I’d thought of rendering out frames, then using PS to batch process to a reduced color palette and re-assembling the gif animation in something like Premiere, but I’m not certain it won’t result in the same thing.
This isn’t a do-or-die thing for a client demand, it’s an interdepartmental request… more a thing of pride. If I get a chance to try this method, I’ll return and post an update. Thanks for your help.
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Your post sparked that recollection enough for me to double-check… and you’re right, only 8-bit color palettes! That means any attempt for me to render an animation (with specular highlights) in GIF will end up looking like crap!
Thanks for saving me the time/trouble of pursuing this further!
In the famous words of Emily Litella, “… oh. Never mind.”
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