I want to create an animation from a bunch of PNGs, what's quickest?

[d000hg]

I have about a dozen PNGs describing step-by-step guide for something. I'd like a tool that will _very_ quickly let me create an animation of some sort, which doesn't require a special tool to play.
Do animated GIFs still get used, or is there an animated PNG that is supported in browsers, etc? Or a (web?) tool to quickly create a flash or a video?

[VectraMan]

or is there an animated PNG that is supported in browsers,

It's called MNG.

[NickFitz]

It's called MNG.

Unfortunately, browser support for MNG is pretty much non-existent.

I have about a dozen PNGs describing step-by-step guide for something. I'd like a tool that will _very_ quickly let me create an animation of some sort, which doesn't require a special tool to play.
Do animated GIFs still get used, or is there an animated PNG that is supported in browsers, etc? Or a (web?) tool to quickly create a flash or a video?

Animated GIFs are supported everywhere, so if the limitations of the GIF format don't reduce your file quality noticeably, that'd be the easiest way to go.

Otherwise, just do it with JavaScript. Here's a quick demo I've knocked up; there's also a ZIP of all the files, so you can have a look at the source.

Much of that code is to do with setting up the demo; the actual animation code is just a few lines (in the startAnimation function near the top) and some variable declarations.

[VectraMan]

Unfortunately, browser support for MNG is pretty much non-existent.

Really? It's been around for donkeys years. It's a shame because 256 colour Animated Gifs really are tulip in this day and age.

a quick demo I've knocked up;

Object does not support property or method.

[NickFitz]

Really? It's been around for donkeys years. It's a shame because 256 colour Animated Gifs really are tulip in this day and age.

Yep - in fact, Mozilla used to support it, but remove support in 2003 because nobody actually used it.

Object does not support property or method.

I think you'll find it was "Object does not support this action" - crappy IE doesn't support changing a button's type by setting the property, only by using setAttribute (as opposed to those cases where it only supports changing the property, and doesn't support setAttribute). Fixed now

[xoggoth]

I've used a combination of animated gifs and jscript for simple animations as here, gif for the smaller movements, jscript for the major movements.

Food

Jasc Animation shop 3, now Corel, is good for producing simple animations, just put in your series of photos, set frame speed etc. You can add various effects like wipe, scroll, fade etc to move from one to other and make it look a bit flashier.

Corel - Animation Shop 3 - Software

[Jaws]

Jasc Animation shop 3, now Corel, is good for producing simple animations, just put in your series of photos, set frame speed etc. You can add various effects like wipe, scroll, fade etc to move from one to other and make it look a bit flashier.

Corel - Animation Shop 3 - Software

I've used this before when it came bundled with paint shop pro (unless I'm mistaken). Very easy to use to string together a bunch of images as you've described.

[Sysman]

I have about a dozen PNGs describing step-by-step guide for something. I'd like a tool that will _very_ quickly let me create an animation of some sort, which doesn't require a special tool to play.

Not quite what you are asking for but using Keynote (Apple's answer to Powerpoint), I can simply drag a load of PNG files into a new presentation, put them in the right order and then set the playback options as I wish. Or simply export as web pages. It's certainly _very_ quick to do.

I haven't tried this with Powerpoint, but if that's all you have it's worth a try.

[Sysman]

I've used a combination of animated gifs and jscript for simple animations as here, gif for the smaller movements, jscript for the major movements.

Food

That's pretty impressive Xog.

[d000hg]

Not quite what you are asking for but using Keynote (Apple's answer to Powerpoint), I can simply drag a load of PNG files into a new presentation, put them in the right order and then set the playback options as I wish. Or simply export as web pages. It's certainly _very_ quick to do.

I haven't tried this with Powerpoint, but if that's all you have it's worth a try.

I ideally want to spit out a file that can just be emailed or whatever, a self-contained unit. The web-based approach is cool though and I'll definitely try to remember it for the future. Powerpoint is probably a ubiquitous enough format (due to free viewers and google-app compatibility) but I was hoping for something I could put in a web-page as well, like a PNG or even a SWF... are there tools which will spit out a SWF slide-show from input files?