Photo Explosion Animations

The Photo Explosion animations provide you with animation effects for your images. You have access to tools that can make your images simulate effects similar to that of a Rubik's Cube® or a kaleidoscope! Applying these animation effects is easy and you can customize most of them. To learn what Animations are available, click an item below.

  Kaleidoscope

  Fireworks

  Magic Cube

Related info

  Using Animation Effects


Preset dialog box

This dialog box is common to many of the tools available in Photo Explosion. The specific type of operations and options may be different for each of the available effects, but they all share a similar structure. Below are the possible options available in the Preset dialog box.

Preset effects: This is available with all Preset dialog boxes. These thumbnails display examples of how the feature will modify the active image. Click a sample and then click Apply (or double-click a sample to apply the transformation instantly). In Animation effects, click a sample to see a preview of the effect on the image. You cannot apply the effect without saving it to an animation file.

Advanced mode: Allows you to customize the settings with additional controls to refine and modify the effect. The Firefly Animation Plug-in does not support this feature.

Next: Goes to the Animation Output dialog box.

Close: Closes this dialog box.

Note

  Click this button on the toolbar if you want to view the animation effect in the workspace.

Related info

  Kaleidoscope Advanced dialog box

  Magic Cube Advanced dialog box

  Animation Output dialog box

  Using Animation Effects

  Photo Explosion Animations


Kaleidoscope dialog box (Advanced Mode)
Kaleidoscope dialog box

Advanced mode

Type: Displays the available kaleidoscope tiling patterns that can be applied to the image. Click a pattern to select it.

Adjust pattern: Allows you to customize the selected pattern. Drag nodes to adjust the size and shape of the tile pattern. You can also move the position of the pattern to where you want it in the image. Adjusting the tile pattern and size drastically changes the kaleidoscope effect.

Preview: Displays how the kaleidoscope animation will look like when applied to the image.

Preview in the workspace: Click to display a preview of the effect in the workspace. This preview is only a single frame effect and not an animation. Click the Play animation preview button in the toolbar to view the animation effect in the workspace.

Back Arrow: Goes back to the Preset mode.

Next: Goes to the Animation Output dialog box.

Close: Closes the dialog box without applying the effect.

Related info

  Kaleidoscope

  Animation Output dialog box

  Using Animation Effects

  Photo Explosion Animations


Animation Output dialog box

GIF animation file: Saves the animation effect as a single GIF file. There is an additional option here where you can specify the number of frames you want for the animation sequence.

Output to a Web page: Allows you to use the image for a Web page. This opens the Web page dialog box where you create a Web page. You must have the Web Studio Plug-in installed to use this command.

Back Arrow: Goes back to the Preset mode.

Close: Closes the dialog box without saving.

Related info

  Animation Save As dialog box

  Using Animation Effects

  Photo Explosion Animations


Animation Save As dialog box

For GIF Animation file

Save in: Select where you want the GIF or BMP files saved.

File name: Type the name you want for the GIF or BMP files. If you are saving this as frames, then all the files will have the same file name but with sequential numbers (for example, IMG00001.BMP, IMG00002.BMP and so forth).

Save as type: In GIF Animation file mode, the only available file format is GIF. In Image File mode, the only available file format is BMP.

Output Option: Determines the properties of the GIF animation file and allows you to preview the GIF animation file.

Frames: Determines the number of frames in the animation sequence. If Image file is selected, the value here will also correspond to the number of files created. For better quality animations, specify more frames. However, this will cause the file size to be much larger.

Dimension: Select the image dimensions for the animated GIF file. If the image's height and width are not equal, the program will not save as the selected dimension but instead will maintain the aspect ratio. (For example, 1600X1200 will be saved as 80X60 if you select 80X80.)

Preview: Click to open your default Internet browser to preview your animation file.

Related info

  Animation Output dialog box

  Using Animation Effects

  Photo Explosion Animations


Magic Cube dialog box (Advanced mode)
Magic Cube dialog box

Advanced mode

Border: Determines the thickness of the borderlines on the Magic Cube. Dragging the slider control to the right makes the borderlines thicker.

Apply color tint: Adds a tint of red, green, yellow, blue or purple to the images in the Magic Cube. The color of the tint added to the three different images depends on their position on the Magic Cube.

Border color: Displays the current color of the border of the Magic Cube. Click to change the color.

Transparent Background color: Select to remove the background color. Your cube will be displayed with the transparent background.

Background color: Displays the current color of the background of the Magic Cube. Click to change the color.

Back Arrow: Goes back to the Preset mode.

Next: Goes to the Animation Output dialog box.

Close: Closes the dialog box without applying the effect.

Related info

  Magic Cube

  Animation Output dialog box

  Using Animation Effects

  Photo Explosion Animations


Fireworks

Adds an animated fireworks display effect on the image.

Related info

  Animation Preset dialog box

  Using Animation Effects

  Photo Explosion Animations


Kaleidoscope

Transforms the image into a kaleidoscope image and creates an animation effect similar to that of rotating a kaleidoscope.

Related info

  Kaleidoscope Advanced dialog box

  Using Animation Effects

  Photo Explosion Animations


Magic Cube

Transforms the image into a Rubik's Cube® and creates an animation effect similar to that of solving a Rubik's Cube®.

Related info

  Magic Cube Advanced dialog box

  Using Animation Effects

  Photo Explosion Animations


Play Animation Preview

 Click this button on the toolbar to view the animation file.

Related info

  Using Animation Effects


Stop Animation Preview

 Click this button on the toolbar to stop the animation.

Related info

  Using Animation Effects


Using Animation Effects

1.	Open an image.

2.	Open the Web menu on the Command panel and click an animation effect.

3.	Select a preset animation effect from the Options panel.

4.	Click the Play animation preview button on the toolbar to view the animation effect in the workspace.

5.	To customize the effect, click Advanced mode then adjust the settings.
(Only available for Kaleidoscope and Magic Cube)

6.	Click Next to save your animation.

7.	Select how to save the animation and adjust the dimensions of the file.

8.	If GIF animation file or Image file is selected, click Close after saving.

Related info

  Animation Preset dialog box

  Photo Explosion Animations