Stykz GIF Optimizer

[stykzman]

As many of you know, the GIF animations that Stykz currently exports, while they adhere to the Animated GIF specification and play fine in web browsers, still have three problems:

1. Size: They are much larger than they need to be.
   
2. Compatibility: They appear as "corrupted" or have "no preview" in many Windows applications.
   
3. Colorization: They use the web-safe color palette instead of using an adaptive color palette that would do its best to render all the colors in your animation properly.

Although all of these are to be fixed for Stykz 1.5, I found an interim solution that will solve the first two (Size and Compatibility) using a command line utility called "Gifsicle", which will be distributed with and rolled into RC4 when it is released and will be seamless to you.

In the interim (or for those that don't want to upgrade to RC4 for some reason), I have made available a quick-and-dirty standalone app called "Stykz GIF Optimizer" that you can download to use, either in a drag-and-drop fashion, or launch it and click the only button in the app.

Here's the download links:

• Mac OS X (Intel processors only)
• Windows XP/Vista

(*NOTE: I haven't tested this in Win 7 yet, so if you have problems, let me know...)

Enjoy! And if you get errors, let me know...

[Nate]

Does it work with non-stykz Gifs?
EDIT: It displays an error with all stykz gifs I've opened so far. Here's a screenie:

[stykzman]

Does it work with non-stykz Gifs?
EDIT: It displays an error with all stykz gifs I've opened so far. Here's a screenie:

What version of OS X are you running?

[Nate]

10.5.7. And the gifs weren't exported very recently, and even ones that are newly exported don't work.

[Monk]

Same error as Nate. Something must be wrong with the program and not stykz. I tried it on a gif that wasn't stykz and it still failed.

[stykzman]

I think it has to do with Snow Leopard vs. Leopard. I'll see what I can do...


EDIT: OK, a revised version is out that works with both Snow Leopard and Leopard (at least 10.5.8 since that's the only version I had to test with). Nate, since you have 10.5.7, can you download this build and try again and let me know what you find?

[Hoboapple]

It won't work on my system.

[scykei]

Okay... I think It works in Windows 7. Now QuickTime can view the GIF's as well as some other image viewing software like Windows Office Picture Manager 2007 though the Office Picture Manager I have only shows the first frame of the animation. There is also a major change in size. Here are the before and after thingies :

Before:

Before optimization

Bouncy.gif (24.67 KiB) Viewed 1438 times

After:

After optimization

Bouncy2.gif (8.97 KiB) Viewed 1437 times

24.67kb - 8.97kb = 15.7kb which is a big difference. o.O

[stykzman]

It won't work on my system.

What's OS version are you running? And is it Intel or Power PC?

[Hoboapple]

10.5.8, but it's an iBook G4 power PC, so that's probably why. :/