Creating animated GIF's from jpg or png

Audio and Graphics
#1

Hi,
I am looking for a way to create an animted gif file from a set of given JPEGs.
I already created an online solution in php which I can consume as a REST service, but it would be nice to have
this function offline as well. With the PHP graphic libraries this is just a few lines of code…

  • submitting jpg to server
  • converting single JPEGs to single GIF’s
  • merging them to an animted gif
  • returnig the gif

Maybe one of the cool plugin developer is Interested in creating a gif plugin or is there someone who already
did something like this in Corona?

Thanks for your ideas
Andreas

#2

Hey pucman68,

currently there’s no built in solution to genrate animated GIFs. Part of the reason is, that Corona isn’t able to display GIFs at all.

You or someone else might try to port the general GIF genrating code here (http://sydney.edu.au/engineering/it/~graphapp/package/src/libgif/gif.c) to a Corona Plugin.

What do you plan to do with the animated GIF afterwards, as it’s not usable in Corona?

#3

Hi torbenratzlaff,

thank you for your reply.

I have written a photobooth app in corona and one new feature request is to support animated GIF’s.
So, what I would like to do is to create an animated GIF from a set og images taken.

Once it has been created  it should be  shown to the the user in the app, and then the user 
can share it via email or link to any social platform.

here a  link to the app

https://itunes.apple.com/en/app/onetap-photobox-professionelle/id953343606

#4

Would it help in your app if you convert a series of images into a short video, rather than GIF? 

Ben

#5

Yes, video could be an option as well :wink: Andreas

#6

What is the Use case here? Why do you want to make animated GIF’s in your app? Do you intend to display them in your app? Do you want to upload them to giphy or something? Are you just looking for animated displays in your app?

What is the end goal?

Rob

#7

The use case is to create animated gifs im my photobooth app from a bunch of images taken with the camera.

After the gif is created it should be presented to the user (I already managed this by using a webview).

If the user is happy with the gif he has some sharing options:

 - share vie email

 - share via sms (gif or url to uploaded gif)

 - share via facebook (gif or url to uploaded gif)

 - share via twitter (gif or url to uploaded gif)

… and maybe some others coming soon…

I already managed everything, but for gif creation I created a php rest service sitting on my (external) server or a raspbery.
This is working fine as long as I have a fast internet connection, but to avoid some downtime or performance issues I would like

to create the gif in corona on the device within the app.

does that make sense to you?

regards

Andreas

#8

Using that rest service is your best bet.

#9

@Rob

already thought about that, but this means that my app will only work if I have a solid and stable internet connection.

I think this is not what a client wants.

A client/user wants the images or gif’s to be stored on the device if the internet goes down, but the app has still to work as usual.

Once the connection is reastablished the images should be uploaded in the back…

Using rest service in this case is a solution, but far not the best …for me :wink:
Think I need to keep on investigating…anyways…thank’s so far
 

#10

Since you have Enterprise, you may want to consider seeing what you can do on the native side. There are no feature requests for GIF’s that I could find at https://feedback.coronalabs.com and we have no plans to add it. There are probably existing iOS and Android tutorials out there on how to make this work.

Rob

#11

@Rob 

As GIF’s are making a HUGE come back Corona should look at adding it. Everyone are now support GIF additions, Redit etc…

I was just thinking of an app to do something things with multiple Pictures to create and send so I logged in and searched for this exact thing.

It sucks that we cant do animated GIFS but lets add that as a request enhancement :slight_smile:

Larry.

#12

@pucman68  I downloaded your app nice design.

Larry

#13

@doubleslashdesign @pucman68

I have GIF files loading, but not yet animating (and this is first and foremost just a matter of getting around to it), along with all sorts of other formats. (See my little blurb on FreeImage here for some info.) I’ve not even tried saving, but it’s certainly available in the API I’m binding. This is a definite work-in-progress, but let me know if you’d like to give it a spin.

#14

Hey StarCrunch, I’m really interested in your free image module and the gif export… Any progress on your work? Thank you!

#15

@PXL artificer

I haven’t gotten terribly much farther, but I’ll see if I can’t change that soon. (If I can get a few plugins out the door in the near future that should improve my prospects.) It might already work (ha!) and I just need to put together a test case.

(I’ve also wrapped stb_image and stb_image_write from here as lighter-weight alternatives, since FreeImage, being of a kitchen sink natures, is pretty large, but that only has load support for GIF.)

Unfortunately, starting in a couple hours, travel and a family event are going to occupy me probably clear through the weekend.

#16

@StarCrunch sounds great!
Does it work on iOS? I’m not sure but I was reading on another post you were testing it on OSX for now?
Anyway, I’ll send you a DM to talk about it better (I’m interested on that plugin especially for my new 8bit style camera app famicam64.com :slight_smile: )
Thank you!

#17

Well, it builds for iOS, at least. Haven’t had a chance to do any testing.

I’ve done a little investigation about how to reduce the FreeImage binary as well, to target only a few standout file formats and make a “Lite” version. Anyhow, I can send you binaries and my current tests once I’m back on my feet; apologies as I go AWOL for a while, citing the above reasons.  :slight_smile:

#18

Hey pucman68,

currently there’s no built in solution to genrate animated GIFs. Part of the reason is, that Corona isn’t able to display GIFs at all.

You or someone else might try to port the general GIF genrating code here (http://sydney.edu.au/engineering/it/~graphapp/package/src/libgif/gif.c) to a Corona Plugin.

What do you plan to do with the animated GIF afterwards, as it’s not usable in Corona?

#19

Hi torbenratzlaff,

thank you for your reply.

I have written a photobooth app in corona and one new feature request is to support animated GIF’s.
So, what I would like to do is to create an animated GIF from a set og images taken.

Once it has been created  it should be  shown to the the user in the app, and then the user 
can share it via email or link to any social platform.

here a  link to the app

https://itunes.apple.com/en/app/onetap-photobox-professionelle/id953343606

#20

Would it help in your app if you convert a series of images into a short video, rather than GIF? 

Ben