Looking for Gif animation software

[chelynnah]

Hi - it's been ages since I posted - life just gets in the way and I've had less time to get creative. However I'm getting back into doing some creating of signatures (esp animated ones) for members of a whippet board I manage, and I'm struggling to find a good gif animation program.

Up to this point I've been using Animation Shop 3.04 which was supplied with PSP 8. I even managed to use it in Vista even though it said it wasn't supported. I'm now onto Windows 7 and while I can still use it, when I try to make it the default program to open gifs Windows 7 says it's missing a dll file to do it.

I suspect it's coming to the end of it's life which is a shame as it's so easy to use, and works well with PSP etc... It's a shame that Jasc/Corel didn't update that while they were updating PSP.

I have PSP versions 7, 8, X, and X2. Currently I use X2. 8 is loaded but only in order to load the Animation Shop.

So basically I'm wondering if anyone uses another program they would recommend that works as easily and has as much in it as Animation Shop 3.

I've looked at this one: http://www.blumentals.net/egifan/ and it looks promising, but I don't want to lay down the cash until I hear feedback from people who've actually used it. Actually it's reasonably priced, but I don't want to buy something if it's not going to do what I want.

Anyway, thanks so much in advance.

Wendy

[Kat]

Hi Wendy! I've only had Win7 for a few weeks now and so haven't run into a problem with it and AS3, but then again I haven't really done much beyond installing AS. I'll have to try tonight and see if I have the same issue. At the moment I can't really recommend another gif animator - mostly because I haven't looked at any of them. The one you linked to looks interesting though so I may check it out. But I will look around a bit (and see if anyone else has a recommendation) as to another option.

[JackD]

Hi Wendy and Kat. There are no conflicts whatsoever between Windows Vista/Windows 7 regarding Animation Shop ... particularly version 3.11. I have been using AS3.11 with Windows 7 since the operating system was in its Beta stages, and with all versions of PSP since version 7. As far as I'm aware, no .dll is required for it to function as it always has in XP. Vista and Windows 7 do require extra .dll's for some plugins to work properly (they require 6, whereas Windows XP require only 4), but this should not affect AS. By the way ... it can be a very trying effort to copy those 6 required .dll's into their necessary folders ... Windows 7 security will tell you that you do not have permission to do so ... so you'll need to "take ownership" of the folders before they will copy in.
It could be that the difference between AS version 3.04 and AS version 3.11 has a bearing on your problems ... but of this I cannot be sure. What I do know is that the update from AS3.04 to AS3.11 was free for licensed users, and although Corel (who as you are probably aware, took over Jasc Software Inc) no longer support the programme, they also no longer provide the update patch.
Anyway, to shorten a long story ... I have available all the things you'll find necessary to make your PSP, Animation Shop, plugins and Windows 7 live in harmony, including the upgrade for AS3.04 to AS 3.11. If you require them, just let me know by PM and I'll upload what you need and send you the links. ... Jack.