How do you put two or more animated gifs onto one image?

[Tycho Magnetic Anomaly]

Hello folks I have been struggling to work out a way to put multiple animated gifs so they are displayed on one image, for example walk cycles of sprites, animated sprite sheets

I am really really pulling my hair out with this.
I tried to see if I can do it with spiter, but it cant import animated gifs
I know ps cs5 and over can do this, but i only have cs4
I have flash (macromedia flash) 8, and this seems like the perfect thing.. i can import the sprites onto the canvas and have each animation on its own symbol (timeline)..  but when I export/publish it always only shows the first frame, I have tried messing about the the fig publish setting making sure its set to non-static exporting.

on googling a bit more I see that in order for flash to export the frames the frames have to be on the main timeline, but there is a big problem with this that when i bring sprite a in ,, and import the frames directly to stage/main timeline, it imports always at cords 0,0, there are no options to import to stage at a certain position.. .anyway, the problem now is that when i import my next animated sprite it will import all the frames right on top of the last imported sprite.  the only way to fix this is to literally select every frame of every sprite one by one and re-position it manually in some other place. I intend to do possibly 100+ variations of animated sprites so I need a better system then this. I cant understand why flash wont export/publish the frames when they are in their own time lines, at least then i can grab the whole symbol and move it over.  I did also try to select all the frames of one sprite on the main timeline then attempt to drag the sprite, but despite me having selected all the frames in the timeline when i move the image/gif it only moves the first frame position.

Dose anyone know at all a quick and easy method to just drag and drop pre-made animated gifs beside each other onto the same page so i can export out animated sprite sheets for characters. I don't have any money at all so cant afford any paid tools at this moment to do this. I basically have what I have, so if there is some method I can do with what I have, or some free method I would be over the moon.


BTW, I am not 100% sure if it is just my connection or setup, but the post captcha system seems to be not working very well at all.

[PixelPiledriver]

Yo dude.
I use Flash for that too.

Individual gifs from Graphics Gale:


Composited gifs from Flash:

but when I export/publish it always only shows the first frame, I have tried messing about the the fig publish setting making sure its set to non-static exporting.

Use this rather than Flash's Export feature:
http://swfrenderer.kurst.co.uk/
Works great and saved my ass when I first found it.
Exporting from Flash will not include blend modes and other stuff in the images it spits out.
But SWF Renderer exports exactly what the swf looks like.
Get it.

on googling a bit more I see that in order for flash to export the frames the frames have to be on the main timeline

For a specific setup maybe, but naw don't do this.
Import each gif into the Library and it will automatically create a symbol for it.
Rename the symbol and shove all the images into a trash folder because they don't matter.
Arrange your stuff on the Stage and test the swf until you're happy.
Then use SWF Exporter to generate the images.

What might be happening is you have each animation as a Graphic rather than a Movie Clip.
Graphic objects need their parent timeline to have frames otherwise they wont play in a swf.
Movie Clips will play regardless of the number of frames in a parent timeline.
But I think Movie Clips don't export to images. --> most likely your problem
You have to use a Graphic instead so make sure your main timeline has frames.
That's just a guess and some Flash blah blah.
I haven't used the Flash Export option for ages cuz it's garbage and I ran into all the same problems you are having.
Don't really remember how it reacts and I'm not gonna test it.
Get SWF Renderer noted above and it will fix your problems.

I did also try to select all the frames of one sprite on the main timeline then attempt to drag the sprite, but despite me having selected all the frames in the timeline when i move the image/gif it only moves the first frame position.

Shift selecting frames doesn't let you edit object positions on the stage all at once.
That only allows you to edit the frames in the timeline.
For this you have to turn on Edit Multiple Frames. --> tiny button underneath the timeline
A range selection slider will appear above the timeline that you can drag left and right to include or exclude frames.
Then drag or shift select the objects you want to manipulate and do stuff.


If you ever need more help with Flash I've used it for a long time and am using it pretty much everyday for pixel work and compositing.
So I can prob answer any weird questions you have.
Flash is quirky as fuck and sometimes what to do is not obvious.
Despite that, I find that it's amazing for compositing loops and building asset driven pixel animations.

[yaomon17]

You can also export to sprite sheets in gale then order the sheets and reimport them as frames.

It is how I got this image

https://twitter.com/YaomonKS/status/862791790218190848

[Tycho Magnetic Anomaly]

Hey folks thank you so much for the detailed advice, this was starting to break my balls ... I figured out a way after my post here, but your method is way better so I will defiantly start to use your method.
I had planned to use flash for a number of promotional things too and this advice will help me in a more general sense too.

I adore those animated chest sprites yaomon17 

[PixelPiledriver]

Dope.
Glad you found a solution.
 

[Schwee]

Yeah.....major "booooo" for GIFs not having an alpha channel...They get 1 bit per pixel for full transparency or none.  I'm still waiting for APNG/MNG types to surpass the all mighty gif....