Scenario: The teacher has asked for some guidance regarding
the different animation formats available. The teacher would like the students
to be able to compare three
different animation formats (e.g. animated GIF, Flash, QuickTime and Dynamic HTML).
Task: Create a new blog page, which will discuss three
animation formats. Make sure that you identify at least two good things about
each format and two limitations (of each). In comparing, you must explain what
is similar between the formats, as well as what is different; expand on each
point and explain what it means in terms of the type of animation you can
produce. Use photos and Videos to support your answers.
Flash
Flash is used to create animated GIFs because it allows you to create the animation frame by frame. Another reason it is the most used format is because it can also be used to add sound to the GIF.
Advantages
An advantage of using animated GIFs is they have loss-less compression, meaning the size of the file can be made smaller and the image will not lose any of its quality.
Another advantage is that animated GIFs already have a small file size. This allows you to use more GIFs on a webpage without it effect the download speed too much.
Disadvantages
The main disadvantage of animated GIFs is that they only support 256 colours, this limits your options when it comes to using GIFs. Only having 256 could also be consider as an advantage because it makes the file size small.
Having too many GIFs can decrease your bandwidth, which will slow your download speed making it frustrating waiting for a webpage to load.
Shockwave
Shockwave was designed for 3D animation and is used in videos. Shockwave also has a fast rendering engine meaning it will play the videos in a smooth motion.
Advantages
An advantage of Shockwave is that is supports 3D animations unlike Flash that only supports 2D.
One advantage of Shockwave is that it uses vector images, meaning the actual size of the image can be made much larger without it losing any of its quality.
Another big advantage of Shockwave is that when it is used on a web page it does not lower the download speed, causing the page to load slowly, unlike Flash that does have this problem.
Disadvantages
One of the main disadvantages of Shockwave is that you have to install a plug-in on your PC in order to view the animation.
QuickTime
QuickTime is similar to Windows Media Player and because of this it's main advantage is it used to support; sound, animation and video.
Advantages
The biggest advantage of Quick Time is it's actual function, the fact that it supports any form of media such as; images, videos, animation and sound.
Disadvantage
One disadvantage of QuickTime is that it can slow down other codex on your PC, as QuickTime was originated on Mac when using it on Windows it can cause the PC to slowdown.
Another big disadvantage of QuickTime is that it is very high in memory which means you will have limited space on your hard drive.
Because of these disadvantages people prefer to use the more familiar Windows Media Player which is a disadvantage to QuickTime in its own right.
Comparison
When it comes to using animation on web pages Flash would be the best form to use as it has a small file size which will ensure it doesn't decrease your download speed meaning the web page will load quickly and smoothly. The best thing about using Flash on webpages instead of Shockwave is that you don't have to install a plug-in in order to view the animation. The one good factor of using Shockwave on webpages is the images can made larger and they will not use any of the quality unlike Flash that can appear blocky when enlarged.
When it comes to using animation that is a video or sound, Flash is not an option as it doesn't support those media outlets, whereas both Shockwave and QuickTime do. I think Shockwave would be the better form of animation to use because, as mentioned before, it has a fast rendering engine meaning it will play the videos in a quick, smooth motion. Even though you have to have a plug-in to use Shockwave it is much better than having QuickTime that takes up a lot of space on the hard drive.
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