Bard's Tale II animated pics

[dragonbait]

To make animated screenshots, you will need a program that can make animated .gif files. I think there may be other programs that make animated .png files but I haven't used any as of yet.

First I started off using a program called "Better Screenshots"
This program is pretty good, however the colors sometimes are a little bit off. There's a trial version and also the full version is only around $15. Basically here you would be clicking the printscreen button at a rapid pace to take shots. Its not the best way to do it but it works.
http://www.publicspace.net/windows/BetterScreenshots/

Then I learned a more effective way to take the animations. First take a video of the area you want to record. I have used a program called Hypercam 2. I was using the free version for a while but I ended up using it so much I decided to purchase the full version. By the way the free version always displays a "Unregistered Hypercam 2" at the top of the screen of the recorded video. Upgrading will remove the top ad. It cost $39. I don't remember paying that much when I bought it so they must have raised their prices since then.
http://www.hyperionics.com/hc/

There is a way around the Hypercam 2 ad though. You can record the video making sure that the top area is above the area that you want to record so that you can edit out the top portion when you convert it to .gif

I had picked up a free version of Animated Gif Producer 4.0
This program works great for converting video into animated .gif files.
http://www.avlandesign.com/animated_gif_producer.htm

It can also resize and crop the file to eliminate the ad from Hypercam 2 which is great! However when I upgraded from the free version of Animated Gif Producer 4.0 to the full version not all of the options work as well. I was dissapointed after upgrading. Wish I could go back to the free version.

So basically to sum it up on how I have been recording animated .gif files is to record it with Hypercam 2, then import the video into Animated Gif Producer to make an animated .gif

There may be other and possibly cheaper ways to record animated .gif files out there. I look forward to hearing about other ways if anyone out there has any. And also any info on making animated .png's would be great too as .gif files don't match up in quality to .png's.

-Dragonbait

[Saxon1974]

To make animated screenshots, you will need a program that can make animated .gif files. I think there may be other programs that make animated .png files but I haven't used any as of yet.

First I started off using a program called "Better Screenshots"
This program is pretty good, however the colors sometimes are a little bit off. There's a trial version and also the full version is only around $15. Basically here you would be clicking the printscreen button at a rapid pace to take shots. Its not the best way to do it but it works.
http://www.publicspace.net/windows/BetterScreenshots/

Then I learned a more effective way to take the animations. First take a video of the area you want to record. I have used a program called Hypercam 2. I was using the free version for a while but I ended up using it so much I decided to purchase the full version. By the way the free version always displays a "Unregistered Hypercam 2" at the top of the screen of the recorded video. Upgrading will remove the top ad. It cost $39. I don't remember paying that much when I bought it so they must have raised their prices since then.
http://www.hyperionics.com/hc/

There is a way around the Hypercam 2 ad though. You can record the video making sure that the top area is above the area that you want to record so that you can edit out the top portion when you convert it to .gif

I had picked up a free version of Animated Gif Producer 4.0
This program works great for converting video into animated .gif files.
http://www.avlandesign.com/animated_gif_producer.htm

It can also resize and crop the file to eliminate the ad from Hypercam 2 which is great! However when I upgraded from the free version of Animated Gif Producer 4.0 to the full version not all of the options work as well. I was dissapointed after upgrading. Wish I could go back to the free version.

So basically to sum it up on how I have been recording animated .gif files is to record it with Hypercam 2, then import the video into Animated Gif Producer to make an animated .gif

There may be other and possibly cheaper ways to record animated .gif files out there. I look forward to hearing about other ways if anyone out there has any. And also any info on making animated .png's would be great too as .gif files don't match up in quality to .png's.

-Dragonbait

Wow sounds like there is more to it than I thought! Thanks for the nice writeup Dragonbait!