ANIMATION ON A WEBPAGE

Introduction to Animation

Animation is basically a series of frames played at certain speed. Each frame contains an image and the image is displayed with other images in order. This gives the effect of a continous movement just like a movie or a cartoon. To humans, we perceive the changes of images from frame to frame as one continous moving image. The number of images displayed in a second is called FPS (Frames per second.) For example, a movie is 16 FPS, 16 images in one second of a movie. This speed is so fast that the human brain cannot detect the changing of frames.

Java Applets and Scripting

Java Applets are different from any other animation. For example, my title java applet is not made from individual frames played in motion. Instead, the Java Applet is programmed to move certain objects and text. Most complex java scripts are contained in files called Classes. A short Java script in the html would be programmed to download and execute the Class and then display the applet. Once the applet is loaded, it can present special effects, such as animation, graphics, sound, real-time data updates, applications, and more, and interact with the user through the mouse, keyboard, and user interface elements like buttons, slides, and text fields.

Click here for Sample 1 of Java Applets

Click here for Sample 2 of Java Applets

Click here for Sample 3 of Java Applets

The above Java Applet was created by Java Machine II. It is wizard-like program that gives you choices of animation and setting and then it would give you the HTML code for it. The Class file for this applet is called rtjmc001.class. For more information or if you wanna make a applet yourself using Java Machine then go to the Java Machine Website.

GiF Animation and Construction

A basic Gif format pictures are any normal picture you see on the net along with JPEG formats. Gif is short for Graphics Interchange Format. GIF is a compressed format that is designed to minimize file transfer time over phone lines. Animated Gifs are pictures with small programs embedded in the picture itself that switches from frame to frame at a set time delay. These Gifs are capable of creating slide shows, animation, and short movie clips.

GIF BUILDER

A program used to created animated Gifs is Gif Builder for Macintosh. There are many other programs for constructing Gifs but since this webpage is a school project I will stick with Mac versions. On gif Builder, all you do is edit each from one by one. If you are familiar with HyperCard you will find this remarkably easy. A good method to use is the "Copy & Paste" method. You draw a picture first, copy, go to the next frame, paste, then make the neccessary adjustments to the image. To set the delay time you double-click the frame number. Be careful not to over-animate your homepage just like what I've done. Too much animation would result in a lower FPS if you've got a slower older computer. It also takes forever to download.

These are examples of our own creations:

Created By Kenny Liau. 1997

Created by Scott Masson. 1997

Here is a list of Gif Animation Programs for your reference:

Gif Builder for MAC - Search for this yourself...this takes you to YAHOO.

Gif Construction Set - Search for this yourself...this takes you to YAHOO.

Giffy Animator - This takes you to their website.