Animated GIF--Loop Just Once?
Dec 12, 2012
By
Bob Wiker
I created an animated GIF in Adobe Fireworks. It's a gauge with a needle that moves from the 6 o'clock position to the 12 o'clock position, using 16 frames ('states' in Fireworks parlance). I set the animation to run just ONCE; the needle rotates from 6 o'clock and stops at 12 o'clock. I tested the animated GIF in my Web browser and it works as expected.
When I insert the animated GIF onto a Storyline slide, however, the animation loops forever. It loops in Preview mode and also when I publish to Web (HTML) output.
Does Storyline recognize and respect the 'looping' setting contained within an animated GIF file?
81 Replies
Dominique, I have submitted this as a bug to get fixed.
Hi Joseph and Dominique,
I do see the issue is filed with our QA team, and that they're taking a look at it. I don't yet have an update to share, but once we have information we'll post here in the forums and then those users that mentioned submitting a case will also receive information via their case as well. Thank you both for your patience with this particular issue and please let us know if there is anything else we can assist with.
This isn't like normal help desk support.
Joseph, you may want to revisit the first couple of posts in this discussion because there is at least one workaround that resolves the issue while we're waiting for a fix, and it works really well. See this comment:
https://community.articulate.com/discussions/articulate-storyline/animated-gif-loop-just-once#reply-58911
Others have had success with converting animated GIFs to MPEG4 videos using various tools, so there’s a second possibility. We’d all love for this bug to be fixed, me included. But realizing that no software is ever perfect, workarounds are a de facto part of the elearning author's life. Best wishes.
Thanks, Bob, I did create my own workaround by using MP4s instead of GIF, but it kinda defeats the whole point of using alpha channel animated graphics to use MP4 because the alpha channel is lost.
Hi Joseph,
Just to clarify, we don't share dates or timelines in regards to bug fixes, new releases, features etc. in the forums or any other public venues, but it is something our team is keeping track of internally and once we have information to share it will be posted here and made available to all.
If you have any further questions, we're happy to assist and appreciate the feedback in regards to our bug process and how we communicate that in the forums.
...then try the workaround I previously suggested, which involves lengthening the display time of the last frame in your animated GIF, thereby making it easy to set its endpoint on the Storyline Timeline.
https://community.articulate.com/discussions/articulate-storyline/animated-gif-loop-just-once#reply-58911
Bob, I appreciate you providing the workaround, but I have come up with my own workaround which is not elegant but is a patch that will last until they fix this issue...
Is this issue still on the table to be corrected? Thanks.
Hi Cheryl!
It is. It is still in the hands of our QA Team, but I do not have an update to provide at this time. This thread is attached to the issue so that we can update this thread when applicable.
Thanks, Leslie. Hopefully soon!
No it's not yet fixed.
Hi Leslie,
Would just like to confirm if this bug has been addressed since we're encountering a similar behavior?
Thank you!
Hi Jeanne!
The issue is still in the hands of our QA Team, so I do not have an update to provide. They are looking into it though.
Alright, we'll be waiting for the updates regarding this. Thanks for the prompt reply, Leslie!
I hope it is fixed soon.
You are right and it is just unacceptable! Unfortunately is is not the only annoying bug hanging around for years!!!
Although I like SL for a lot of stuff I do not understand how users do not complain more about long lasting issues. I do not understand either how Articulate just don't care or even treats obvious bugs as feature requests.
Sooo sad!
Hello. I wanted to offer some insight into this and our bug process. We do look at all bugs and we do prioritize all bugs according to their severity, the impact on our overall community and the complexity of addressing a bug. Unfortunately not every bug is going to make it into a point release. You can see the issues we have addressed in Storyline 2 here and in Storyline 1 here. I have reviewed this particular issue and we have had six cases regarding this bug over the course of 4 years or over 50,000 cases. We have had one feature request for Storyline 1 and one feature request for Storyline 2. While we don't always use the number of cases or feature requests to determine if a bug is going to be addressed, in this particular instance, this did not rise to the level of severity that warranted pushing it into a stage to be fixed. Using an MP4 is a valid workaround. I understand that alpha channels are an issue with MP4 there but the impact of this bug on the community as a whole, is minimal. That being said, I did consult with the QA Lead on Storyline today to see if there is something we can do about this particular issue, though I can tell you that there are no plans to address this in the current or previous version of Articulate Storyline for the reasons I outlined.
I just wish this was easier.
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I have put in several of them. Not sure how you see only one.
I appreciate the time you take to state Articulate position about this issue three years after it has been reported. Thanks for the insight into your way of working. Having been QA manager in the software industry for many years, I find it fascinating.
Keeping your customers in the dark is really not a good practice. Your colleagues just pasted a couple of time their "out of the box" answer : ”Our QA bla, bla, blah" . We never know if a feature request or bug will be addressed anytime.
On top of that SL does not only break animated GIF looping mechanism but your so called "picture optimization process" ruins scaled animated GIF quality which makes them unusable. I reported the issue and provide SL files to demonstrate. Doing the same in other well-known products works really well. I was suggested to create my GIFs at different sizes! Seriously ????
Not being able to properly handle animated GIF is just ridiculous and I cannot believe that just 4 our 5 people are affected.
This bug looks like it could cause a lot of frustration, though I haven't used it myself. The one time I have tried to do something like this, I built a loop from object states in Storyline with individual triggers. That seems like another feature request in itself, the ability to loop states of an object as a singular trigger. But since I was beginning to work with GIFs, the info in this thread was extremely helpful.
Cheers!
I don't know but it seems like more people are affected.
Hey Joseph and Dominique,
While it's true that this specific bug hasn't cracked the upper echelon in terms of breadth and depth of customer impact, our decision to try and justify that with feature request metrics and count of support cases may have been misguided. I apologize for that, and we'll try to do better.
I'm also emailing you offline to continue the conversation.