STR #829: Support for animated GIFs in Fl_GIF_Image

STR #829

Application:	FLTK Library
Status:	1 - Closed w/Resolution
Priority:	1 - Request for Enhancement, e.g. asking for a feature
Scope:	3 - Applies to all machines and operating systems
Subsystem:	Image Support
Summary:	Support for animated GIFs in Fl_GIF_Image
Version:	1.4-feature
Created By:	Sadysta
Assigned To:	AlbrechtS
Fix Version:	1.4.0
Fix Commit:	2ddfd9d9492d9fc1df111ec9211dd1be4d424c35
Update Notification:	Receive EMails Don't Receive EMails

Trouble Report Files:

#1	greg.ercolano 10:58 Jan 18, 2013

animate.tgz
18k

Trouble Report Comments:

#1	Sadysta 01:15 Apr 23, 2005

The automagic animated GIF support (as in Allegro GIF Addon http://algif.sourceforge.net/ for example) would be most appreciated :) As well as some sort of efficient refresh in Fl_Help_View to display these GIFs.

#2	mike 06:52 Apr 23, 2005

Reassigned to 2.0.

#3	greg.ercolano 10:58 Jan 18, 2013

Here's someone else that posted a message in 2010 with changes for Fl_GIF_Image: http://www.fltk.org/newsgroups.php?s16+gfltk.general+v25+T0+Qanimated That posting suggests this link: http://ringbreak.dnd.utwente.nl/~mrjb/fltk/ I'm attaching his tgz file to this STR (he gives us permission to use it in that article) in case his link goes stale. His suggested mods would need some changes, but might be a good starting point. ALSO: I'm thinking this STR can probably be reassigned back to the 1.3 release stream, as we now have a way to integrate ABI breaking features..

#4	ianmacarthur 15:32 Jan 19, 2013

Yes, I agree with Greg, this looks do-able now, with the ABI guards and so forth in place, and Marc's code looks decent, though might need poking a bit to make it more fltk-compliant! So, maybe an option for 1.3.x where x > 2 then?

#5	ianmacarthur 15:34 Jan 19, 2013

For now, I'm moving this to 3.0 (as it seems more appropriate there than 2.0) but I think we should consider putting onto 1.3.x with a suitable ABI-define guard around it...

#6	szukw000 14:07 Jan 24, 2013

The code in 'animate' has bugs: the background is always white. You can test the 'cat.gif' with 'test/browser_pixmap': this image has transparency. 'cat.gif' seems to have only one transparent frame - if any - and only the foreground changes in each frame. This is hidden by the white background pixels. If you have an image viewer that handles transparency (e.g. gimp) you can seen what happens with the background. winfried

#7	szukw000 08:25 Jan 25, 2013

I wrote: >The code in 'animate' has bugs: the background is always white. Here I am wrong: the white color is the button background color. I have found another animated GIF image: 'puma_e0.gif' has the same geometry as 'cat.gif'.But has one distinction: each frame has a white background. The current white background paints over the previous background and therefore the previous movement of the animal. The standard 'test/pixmap_browser' shows the white background. The 'test/pixmap_browser' with the animated Fl_GIF_IMAGE.cxx does not show a white background. The animation with 'animate puma_e0.gif' shows that the code is buggy: a white background is shown only for the first frame, all other frames have a black background. winfried

#8	greg.ercolano 12:55 Sep 21, 2016

Moving this from 3.0 -> 1.3 because.. reality. I'd suggest moving it to 1.4 only if it really can't be done in 1.3.

#9	djcj 14:48 Dec 29, 2018

Anything new on this? I found this header-only gif loader, which may be useful: https://github.com/hidefromkgb/gif_load

#10	ianmacarthur 13:52 Jan 02, 2019

I do not know. For my part, Marc's code form here: http://ringbreak.dnd.utwente.nl/~mrjb/fltk/ Is still possibly our "best bet"... It doesn't seem that we have great urgency for this - the original STR dates to 2005, and it only seems to see nay activity very 2 or 3 years...! Thoughts?

#11	AlbrechtS 10:22 Feb 01, 2019

I've been evaluating the given patch(es) since I happened to study the GIF spec for another (meanwhile fixed) STR [1]. I'd like to get animated GIF's in FLTK 1.4 eventually. Assigned to myself, bumped to 1.4-feature since 1.3 is closed for new features (we could use ABI guards, but this patch would be too big to do this in 1.3). I'll be working on it slowly, as time permits. Maybe I can post a working branch in the near future, but the patch as it stands now is not suitable for FLTK (uses vector and increases the class size more than necessary). That said, please don't hold your breath. If anyone else feels inclined to work on this, please drop a message... [1] https://www.fltk.org/str.php?L3491

#12	chris 20:01 Feb 02, 2019

JFTR: There's a rather complete implementation (well, actually two) around for a while here: https://github.com/wcout/fltk-gif-animation

#13	AlbrechtS 19:41 Jan 14, 2023

We have GitHub PR #375 "Animated GIF support (Fl_Anim_GIF_Image class)" https://github.com/fltk/fltk/pull/375 with a working implementation. Therefore this STR is no longer needed and will not be worked on. Please follow progress at the linked PR. Closing this STR now "w/Resolution" because we will have animated GIF support in FLTK 1.4.0 very soon.

#14	matt 08:30 Jan 21, 2023

Fixed in Git repository.