Having trouble changing ani gif background to transparent

MrBiggz · **Posted:** Mon Jan 09, 2012 11:22 am **(#1)**

GIMP Version: 2.6.11
Operating System: Windows
OS Version: XP - SP3
GIMP Experience: Beginner Level

Hi!

I have this animated gif that I'd like to use but the background is white

Now I've tried changing the Image->Mode->RGB and then making the white the transparent color. That didn't work well at all!

I haven't been doing that well at all lately with this stuff! :gaah

Cause I usually can solve my own small problems and *grumble* lately it's been terrible!

Could anybody help me out? And tell me what you did so the next time I don't feel like such a nudge! :oops:

I attached the file ...

Attachment:

soccer_ball_animated.gif [ 19.78 KiB | Viewed 5282 times ]

The only thing I need to do after this is just crop is down but thats a simple enough task! I hope!

Thanks so much!

Draconian · **Posted:** Mon Jan 09, 2012 11:31 am **(#2)**

By default, saving as a gif with a transparent background will act like saving as a jpeg and it will automatically put a white background behind it. To save an animation with a transparent background, it has to be saved as an animated png or .apng. There are several threads here related to installing APNG so you can do this very thing.

I cleaned up your gif a little and got rid of some of the white backgrounds in all of your images as best I could (in a hurry), recentered some and cropped them all. I then sved it as a png. When the dialog comes up make sure to uncheck the save background box and check the save as animation box. Go to filters>annimation>playback and you will see your transparent background.

(If I missed anything or got something wrong, someone please correct this as I have limited experience with APNG myself).

Draconian · **Posted:** Mon Jan 09, 2012 12:04 pm **(#3)**

Well, now my animated png isn't very animated is it :gaah

.......ROD!!!!!! Molly!!!!! What's wrong with this picture?

MrBiggz · **Posted:** Mon Jan 09, 2012 12:10 pm **(#4)**

Perhaps another time I'll fool with apng's. I don't even know if they work in all browsers? Probably not IE that's for sure!

I had to dig through the plethora of old software I have and found a copy of Paint Shop Pro 9 which came with Animation Shop 3. That did the trick in like 2 minutes!

Thanks Drac! I still appreciate the answer! Trying to get this done before I go into work! *sigh*

Draconian · **Posted:** Mon Jan 09, 2012 12:27 pm **(#5)**

No problem. I opened the apng file in gimp and it ran just fine, but it appears to be just a static image in the post above. Go figure...

alc59 · **Posted:** Mon Jan 09, 2012 12:39 pm **(#6)**

you can try the fuzzy select to select the white on each layer and delete

Draconian · **Posted:** Mon Jan 09, 2012 12:41 pm **(#7)**

alc59 wrote:

you can try the fuzzy select to select the white on each layer and delete

Pretty much what I did first, just didn't fool with every single pixel.

runSPOTrun13 · **Posted:** Thu Dec 01, 2016 8:51 pm **(#8)**

alc59 wrote:

you can try the fuzzy select to select the white on each layer and delete

can't you just chain link all of the layers in a gif and do it once? :sword

Rod · **Joined:** May 16, 2010 **Posts:** 16173

runSPOTrun13 wrote:

alc59 wrote:

you can try the fuzzy select to select the white on each layer and delete

can't you just chain link all of the layers in a gif and do it once? :sword

If it is going to be exported as an animated GIF deleting the white background in each layer will not work. GIF does not support transparency. Not yet anyways. APNG is the way to go for animated images with transparent backgrounds. Or SWF (Flash).
HOWEVER you can get away with a GIF transparent look by placing the animation on the same color in a web page. For example using a GIF animation on a white background and placing it on a white web page would suffice.
Some browsers still do not support APNG files yet.

Wallace · **Posted:** Fri Dec 02, 2016 8:24 am **(#10)**

Rod wrote:

If it is going to be exported as an animated GIF deleting the white background in each layer will not work. GIF does not support transparency. Not yet anyways. APNG is the way to go for animated images with transparent backgrounds. Or SWF (Flash).
HOWEVER you can get away with a GIF transparent look by placing the animation on the same color in a web page. For example using a GIF animation on a white background and placing it on a white web page would suffice.
Some browsers still do not support APNG files yet.

I'm sorry Rod,
but I disagree that animated gif images don't support transparency.

The animated gif image below has transparency.

Raster file formats that support transparency include
GIF,
PNG,
BMP,
TIFF,
and JPEG 2000,
through either a transparent color or an alpha channel.

Source: Wikipedia
Transparency (graphic)

The Animated Portable Network Graphics (APNG) file format.
Is an extension to the Portable Network Graphics (PNG) specification.
It allows for animated PNG files that work similarly to animated GIF files,
while supporting 24-bit images and 8-bit transparency not available for GIFs.
It also retains backward compatibility with non-animated PNG files.
The first frame of an APNG file is stored as a normal PNG stream,
so most standard PNG decoders are able to display the first frame of an APNG file.
The frame speed data and extra animation frames,
are stored in extra chunks (as provided for by the original PNG specification).
APNG competes with Multiple-image Network Graphics (MNG),
a comprehensive format for bitmapped animations created by the same team as PNG.
APNG's advantage is the smaller library size and compatibility with older PNG implementations.

Source: Wikipedia
Animated Portable Network Graphics (APNG) File Format

Oregonian · **Posted:** Fri Dec 02, 2016 8:49 am **(#11)**

That's right, Wallace, gif's DO support background transparency. All of our smilies are gifs and they have transparent bgs.

Don't know where the notion came from that gifs don't support transparency. To have nice looking gifs you need to semi-flatten them though because they do not support antialiasing and gifs without semi-flattening will have jagged edges. View my tutorial about gifs: viewtopic.php?f=10&t=214

APNGs are not for everyone. First you have to have the ability to make them. Then, there are people who don't have a browser that supports them. Besides that they take up a very LARGE amount of bandwidth so most websites don't use them.