Quality loss while making GIF

[meetdilip]

I use the export option for making GIF. Sadly, the quality of GIF images is low. There are burrs in GIF indicating low quality. I export from Inkscape with decent quality and I would like the GIF to be of the same quality. Is there any way out  ? Thanks.

In simple words, I want GIF frames to keep the same quality as imported into GIMP.

[Blighty]

A GIF only has 256 colours. So if you start with an image that has more than 256 colours (eg a photo) there will be loss of quality.

You can use Colors > Info > Colorcube Analysis to see how many colours the image has.

[meetdilip]

I don't know how. But the guys at JoyPixels are giving away very sharp animated smilies. Not sure how or which tool they are using. We should also be able to do that, right ?

Thanks for the reply.

[Ofnuts]

In the initial GIF format, there are only 256 colors total in the image (same colormap for all frames). This is the format that Gimp supports. The "standard" has been improved a bit since to allow a colormap per frame. This can make a difference if the global colors change a lot during the animation. This newer format is not supported by Gimp (you can export all your frames to PNG and and create the GI using an external utility.

You can also investigate using the WebP format. The animation look much better that with GIF and yields much smaller files. WebP is supported by all browsers now, but sometime not by all server software (such as the one we use here, alas).

And if you show us a bit of the GIF, we could make suggestions to improve it even within the limits of the GIMP-supported format.

[meetdilip]

I am sad due to those burrs along the edges. It is sharp in the base image

   

[Ofnuts]

Well this is a problem with all versions of the GIF format: transparency is an all-or-nothing thing while smooth edges requires partial opacity. You can make them smooth using Filters>Web>Semi-flatten but then your GIF is locked for a specific background color.

[meetdilip]

I see. Use Semi-flatten to each layer of GIF ? Or to the base images ?

[Ofnuts]

(11-20-2019, 10:40 AM)meetdilip Wrote: I see. Use Semi-flatten to each layer of GIF ? Or to the base images ?

Each layer. Since this can be tedious, try this:

• Close all other images
  
• Set Gimp's background color to the intend background color
  
• Filters>Python-fu>Console
  
• Enter these two lines exactly, and after each strike |enter] until you are back to the ➤> prompt:
  

Code:

image=gimp.image_list()[0];
for l in image.layers: pdb.plug_in_semiflatten(image, l)

[meetdilip]

Thanks. I will try.