Computer GIF question

Factual Questions
1

I have used my webcam to create a 200k sized avi. I want to make it my AIM buddy icon so I presume I need to make it a GIF file. Well thats the hard part. Any idea how to convert to a GIF? And would the size of the file shrink dramatically?

The actual avi file is here if you wanna take a look:

http://home.comcast.net/~paypal2006/aimcon.avi

2

Sorry its:

http://home.comcast.net/~paypal2006/aimicon.avi

3

http://www.topshareware.com/123-Avi-to-Gif-Converter-download-2238.htm

I did some googling and it looks like the size limit is 7 KB. And animated GIFs are bigger than AVIs. Good luck.

4

Ouch, was hoping it wouldn’t have to cost $30 to buy the software just to make one icon.

5

Ah, I got it down to about 15KB… I’m really not sure how you’re going to get it lower than that without compromising image quality, clarity of what you’re doing, or both.

http://s4.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=83A9AFEA0DEE3724B45714293126D1CB

6

irfanview can extract the frames from an avi file

7
      • Jasc’s Animation Shop (comes with Paint Shop Pro) is easy enough: you open the AVI in Animation Shop, and then hit “save as–>gif”. It asks a couple questions, and then does it.
  • I couldn’t really get it anywhere near 7K either though; reduced to 60 x 45 pixels and 31 colors it was still easily viewable, but still ~57K. Alternating frames could be culled (there’s 43 as-is) but you’re still going to end up with something rather small and jerky if you want it under 7K.
    ~
8