Ulead Sets New Standard for GIF Animation Software; Ulead GIF Animator 5 Streamlines Animation Creation and Optimization Processes.Business/Entertainment Editors TORRANCE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 2, 2001 Ulead Systems Ulead Systems is a Taiwanese computer software company headquartered in Neihu district in Taipei, Taiwan. History Ulead was founded in August 5, 1989 by Lotus Chen, Lewis Liaw and Way-Zen Chen. Inc., a leading developer of image editing Changing or improving graphics images. It typically refers to bitmapped images rather than vector graphics drawings. Using an image editor, images can be modified by an artist using pen, brush, airbrush and other "painting" tools. , video editing See nonlinear video editing and video editor. and Web graphics software, today announced the release of Ulead GIF Animator Software that is used to compose an animated GIF image. It imports images into the frames, adds the delays chosen by the author, optimizes the sequence and runs the animation. See animated GIF. 5, a major upgrade to the world's leading stand-alone GIF animation See GIF animator and animated GIF. tool. GIF Animator 5 delivers a wide array of feature enhancements that make animation creation and optimization more streamlined than ever before. A new True Color (1) Specifically, refers to 16,777,216 colors (24-bit color). See high color. (2) Generically, refers to photo-realistic color (typically requires 24-bit color as a minimum). object model allows users to manipulate and create multiple object animations quickly and easily, and support for roundtrip auto-updating from external image editors sets a new standard for integration. "Using Ulead GIF Animator 5 I've been able to cut my production time in half," stated Jason Dunn, a long-time Ulead user and author of PhotoImpact Solutions. "While the new object-based model is a breeze to use, the killer feature is the roundtrip auto-updating. Now when I edit or change any frame in an external image editor like PhotoImpact, GIF Animator automatically updates that frame in my animation. This is an amazing timesaver and works equally well with other image editors like Adobe Photoshop or Jasc Paint Shop Pro." Long History of GIF Animation Four years ago, Ulead GIF Animator was the first animation tool developed specifically for GIF animation creation. Today it remains the most popular GIF animation tool with close to 1 million downloads, at CNET's popular Download.com, alone -- more downloads than any competing GIF animation tool. "Ulead GIF Animator has long been a fan favorite among novice and seasoned Web designers alike," stated Colwin Chan, product manager at Ulead Systems. "This latest version secures its position as the leading stand-alone GIF Animation tool with advanced features like tweening, character-level text control, roundtrip updating, Flash output and enhanced compression. No other stand-alone GIF animation tool delivers the same balance of ease and power at such an affordable price." True Color Object-Based Model Despite the constant introduction of new technologies, GIF animation still dominates animation on the Web because of its universal compatibility and simple production. Ulead GIF Animator 5 streamlines the creation process, making it easier and faster to create animations with small file sizes. Among the new features of GIF Animator is the new True Color object-based model for quickly creating multiple object animations. The animation wizard makes it simple to add images, video or animation to the workspace as well as open PhotoImpact, Photoshop and Paint Shop Pro layers as separate objects within GIF Animator. The new object manager allows the user to keep track of all objects in the animation, while tweening features help automate the animation process by automatically generating intermediate positions for selected objects. Tight Integration and Roundtrip Editing One of the key benefits of using Ulead GIF Animator 5 is its ability to integrate with a number of different image editors. Although GIF Animator comes with built-in editing tools such as selections, paintbrushes paintbrushes see castilleja. , transform tools and erasers, a lot of heavy frame editing is done in outside image editors like Ulead's own PhotoImpact 6. GIF Animator 5 saves users time because it can detect changes made in an outside editor like PhotoImpact or Photoshop and automatically update that frame of the animation. In addition, animation layers can be exported as PhotoImpact (UFO UFO: see unidentified flying objects. (United Functions and Objects) A programming language developed by John Sargeant at Manchester University, U.K. ) or Photoshop (PSD (tool) PSD - Portable Scheme Debugger. ) files and reopened at a later time with all layers intact. Furthermore, GIF Animator now allows the creation of "always-editable" text with character-level control and effects like shadow, neon and 13 different move-in and move-out effects. Enhanced Optimization and Output Because of still limited bandwidth on the Web, compressing animation file sizes remains one of the most important steps when exporting a GIF animation. Ulead GIF Animator 5 incorporates updated compression techniques to further shrink animation files down to size. A new before-and-after window lets users preview their animation quality while optimizing it. Lossy See lossy compression. (algorithm) lossy - A term describing a data compression algorithm which actually reduces the amount of information in the data, rather than just the number of bits used to represent that information. GIF GIF in full Graphics Interchange Format Standard computer file format for graphic images. GIF files use data compression to reduce the file size. The original version of the format was developed by CompuServe in 1987. support allows additional compression of GIF files, while palette weighting distributes colors more efficiently. Color palette management enables locking, sorting and snapping of colors to the Web palette for additional color accuracy and reduction control. Output options have also been expanded to include raster-based Flash (SWF See Flash. (filename extension) swf - /S W F/ The filename extension for Adobe Shockwave Flash animated vector graphics files, common on the World-Wide Web. A rarely used alternative expansion is "Small Web Format". ) files, True Color AVI (Audio Video Interleaved) A Windows multimedia video format from Microsoft. It interleaves standard waveform audio and digital video frames (bitmaps) to provide reduced animation at 15 fps at 160x120x8 resolution. Audio is 11,025Hz, 8-bit samples. , MPEG (Moving Pictures Experts Group) An ISO/ITU standard for compressing digital video. Pronounced "em-peg," it is the universal standard for digital terrestrial, cable and satellite TV, DVDs and digital video recorders (DVRs). and QuickTime movies. GIF Animator is also the only animation program that outputs self-playing EXE Exe (ĕks), river, c.55 mi (90 km) long, rising in the Exmoor, Somerset, SW England, and flowing S across the Cornwall peninsula, past Exeter to the English Channel at Exmouth. (executable) animated greetings using personalized messages and music -- perfect for e-mail sharing. Pricing and Availability Ulead GIF Animator 5 will be available in retail and online stores in April for Windows 98, Windows NT 4.0, Windows ME and Windows 2000. The estimated street price for GIF Animator 5 is $49.95. Owners of earlier GIF Animator versions may upgrade to Version 5 for $29.95. A downloadable version will be available for $44.95 as well as a downloadable upgrade for $24.95. For more information on GIF Animator 5 and other Ulead products, visit Ulead's site at http://www.ulead.com or call 800/85-ULEAD (800/858-5323). About Ulead Systems Ulead Systems develops innovative video, imaging and Web graphics applications to help users communicate their ideas effectively and creatively to audiences around the world. The company's award-winning products include Ulead(R) PhotoImpact(R), Ulead(R) VideoStudio(TM), Ulead MediaStudio Pro Ulead MediaStudio Pro (MSP) is a real-time, timeline based prosumer level non-linear video editing software by Ulead Systems. It is a suite of 5 digital video and audio applications, including: Video Capture, Video Paint, CG Infinity, Audio Editor (TM), Ulead Photo Express(TM), Ulead(R) COOL 3D(TM), Ulead(R) GIF Animator(TM), Ulead(R) Photo Explorer(TM), Ulead(R) GIF-X.Plugin(TM), and Ulead(R) COOL 360(TM). Ulead also supports the burgeoning Web graphics community with a cutting-edge line of WebUtilities software products that focus specifically on Web graphics and animation design. For more information on the company, its products and services, visit Ulead's Web site at http://www.ulead.com or call 800/85-ULEAD (800/858-5323). Note to editors: (c)2001 Ulead Systems Inc. Ulead and the Ulead Systems logo are registered trademarks of Ulead Systems Inc. Ulead PhotoImpact, Ulead VideoStudio, MediaStudio Pro, Photo Express, Ulead COOL 3D, Ulead GIF Animator, Ulead Photo Explorer, Ulead GIF-X.Plugin, and Ulead COOL 360 are trademarks of Ulead Systems Inc. All other names used herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders. |
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