# Creating animation file from multiple still images **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 24, 2010, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creating-animation-file-from-multiple-still-images/540615 "2010-05-24T20:41:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![sparky\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/77aa72/32.png) [@sparky\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sparky_1)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2010, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creating-animation-file-from-multiple-still-images/540615/1 "2010-05-24T20:41:32Z")
Does anyone have advice on creating a simple animation if given the following: I have AutoCAD and plan to export multiple image files (.tif or such) showing the growth of a cylinder. So basically I figure I’ll just keep increasing the length of the cylinder each time I create the image file. I then want to somehow make that collection of images be a movie file that I can load into PowerPoint. Can anyone recommend an animation software (preferably free) that will do this for me? If it’s easy, then I plan on creating more detailed movies showing a few designs coming together. ---
**Author:** ![groman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/73ab20/32.png) [@groman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/groman)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2010, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creating-animation-file-from-multiple-still-images/540615/2 "2010-05-24T20:58:54Z")
I know you can do this fairly easily with [**ffmpeg**](http://ffmpeg.org) but their site seems down at the moment. It’s a command line utility, so if you’re looking for something with a GUI, then I’m sure one of the other dopers will think of something. If you have a bunch of numbered frames such as img0001.jpg, img0002.jpg, … then the command line for ffmpeg would be something like ```auto ffmpeg -r 5 -i img%03d.jpg -y -an output.avi ``` Where the “5” above the the frame rate in frames per second. ---
**Author:** ![PsychedelicSanta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/77aa72/32.png) [@PsychedelicSanta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PsychedelicSanta)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2010, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creating-animation-file-from-multiple-still-images/540615/3 "2010-05-24T21:01:16Z")
[ImageMagick](http://www.imagemagick.org/script/index.php) is a command line tool that will convert a set of still images to an animated GIF. Animated GIFs are not the best format for movies, but they will work in a pinch (and they can be imported into PowerPoint slides) PS ---
**Author:** ![sparky\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/77aa72/32.png) [@sparky\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sparky_1)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2010, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creating-animation-file-from-multiple-still-images/540615/4 "2010-05-24T23:22:03Z")
Nevermind everyone, it looks like iMovie that came with my Mac will be able to do it. ---
**Author:** ![DHMO](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecc23a/32.png) [@DHMO](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DHMO)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2010, 11:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creating-animation-file-from-multiple-still-images/540615/5 "2010-05-25T11:03:36Z")
…And for the PC crowd, there’s Windows Movie Maker bundled with the Operating System. ---
**Author:** ![Anaglyph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Anaglyph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaglyph)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2010, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creating-animation-file-from-multiple-still-images/540615/6 "2010-05-25T14:50:20Z")
On a Mac, you can just put a series of images into a folder and open them as a movie with Quicktime ---
**Author:** ![rainy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c2a13f/32.png) [@rainy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rainy)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2010, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creating-animation-file-from-multiple-still-images/540615/7 "2010-05-25T20:18:51Z")
Paintshop Pro by JASC can be used to do this. It is cumbersome, and the resulting file is huge, but I’ve done similar things with image captures from SolidWorks.