Animated GIFs are short videos that are created from multiple images that are stacked one on top of the other. They can be used for digital ecards, emails, presentations or on websites to create more visibility. People often use animated gif programs to create entertaining short videos. They can have serious uses as well, such as making molecular interaction animations. http://molvis.sdsc.edu/protexpl/animgif.htm There are several sources on the web where you can obtain programs to make animated gif movies or you can download pre-made images.

You can make you own gif images using YouTube videos and GIFsoup. You can use photos or download videos with a programs like Clipnabber (Clipnabber.com) and work on them to create GIF videos with several different programs, some of which are free. This web site reviews the sources and gives you the tips on the best places to look for these programs and pre-made animations. There is also a featured video on this website on how to create an animated gif with with the freeware GIMP. Below you will find various programs and online sources for making GIFs, as well as valuable links, blogs, and news regarding this topic.

If you have any questions regarding this topic, please ask in the provided area to the right. You can also find answers to previous questions on this topic at the bottom of this topic page.

1. Adobe Photoshop - GIF creation is enabled through creation of layers
2. GIMP - animated GIFs are created in the same way as Adobe Photoshop, free software.
3. Pivot Stick Figure Animator - Freeware that allows you to create stick figure animations
4. Easy GIF Animator - Can be used to create animated banners, buttons and images, versatile program with many options, cost is about $20.
5. POVRAY http://www.povray.org/ is a freeware program for creating 3-dimensional images and has been used with Gifsicle (a free gif animator)http://www.lcdf.org/~eddietwo/gifsicle/ to make particle movement animations in physics demonstrations. http://www.seas.harvard.edu/weitzlab/research/animglass.html

1. Gif Ninja - supports wmv and asf video formats, limit 4 seconds on gif length.
2. Picasion - can import video directly or from Flickr and from Picasa.
3. Gifworks - has a link with Animation Factory, can load files from your computer and other sites
4. Gikr - can load you own files, from Flikr or from YouTube; limit is 10 pictures.
5. Gif Soup - create animated videos from YouTube URLs.
6. Gifup.com - you can load up to 1024 kb of images from your computer, capture photos from a webcam, use Flikr videos, or you can retrieve images from a web site.

1. University of Chicago - Sources for free graphics (buttons, banners, lines, bullets), HTML tutorials, wallpapers, software, clip art, website design, hosting. http://cuip.uchicago.edu/www4teach/98/teams/Peerpals/graphics/computer-art.html
2. GIFs for those with autism - A site hosted by the School of Social Work at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign http://lrs.ed.uiuc.edu/students/ajk/fun.html
3. Free Web Graphics Links - Many resources for teachers, web design, greater than 1500 free animated gifshttp://homepages.ius.edu/dschwei2/webd/index.htm
4. Instructional Design and Development - Multimedia and web design resources, graphics and animations. http://www.coedu.usf.edu/inst_tech/resources/WWWDESG_1.htm http://mime1.marc.gatech.edu/MM_Tools/MMDM.htm http://www.siec.k12.in.us/~west/online/steps5.htm http://www.mccannas.com/ http://www.gifanimations.com/ http://homepages.ius.edu/dschwei2/webd/index.htm
5. Instructions for making pixelated gif images with Adobe Photoshop. http://photoextremist.com/2009/09/how-to-make-a-pixelated-yet-photorealistic-animated-gif-in-photoshop/