Help me reduce the size of this ImageReady CS animated gif file for an email banner.

September 10, 2007 8:14 AM

Help me reduce the file size for Adobe ImageReady CS animated gif.

I was asked to create an animated email banner in either gif or jpeg, at 468x60 pixels and only 15 kB, looping three times only. I created a layered Photoshop file with one image and some text layers (all 72 dpi). As this is my first time using ImageReady, I am getting a file that is ten times larger than needed (156 kB). My attempts at "optimization" and whatnot have proven fruitless. Anyone care to assist me and get this thing wrangled down to 15 k?

posted by UnclePlayground to computers & internet (5 comments total)

By the way, I am a graphic designer with much experience in the printed arts, but hardly any in the e-world. Thanks for your consideration.
posted by UnclePlayground at 8:15 AM on September 10, 2007

You wouldn't want to share the file, would you? I could get a better idea of what to do if I could look at the file. If so, my email is in my profile.
posted by Thorzdad at 8:29 AM on September 10, 2007

Jim, sent it to your gmail.
posted by UnclePlayground at 8:48 AM on September 10, 2007

Generally, here's what I'd do:

Simple background, few colors: GIF. 16 or 32 colors. GIFs save space by reducing the color information but not detail.

Busy background or lots of colors: JPG. 4-5 quality. Maybe 5% blur. JPG compresses detail and colors, resulting in a harsh image if the quality is set too low

I'm usually not constrained by size, but 15k is extremely tight regardless. If you have to do this routinely, argue them up to 30k so that the work you hand in isn't forced to look bad.

If you're new to ImageReady, you might want to try optimizing it in photoshop's "Save for Web..." function. It has the same options, but in a compact interface (the resulting file size is shown in the lower left). Just remember: color depth for GIFs, quality slider for JPGs. Forget the other checkboxes and options. If it looks bad as a 15k GIF, try the same thing as a JPG.

Forgive me if CS1 can't "save for web" animations in PS, I've only worked in PS6 and CS2
posted by cowbellemoo at 9:10 AM on September 10, 2007

A 15K animated gif is going to have to be mostly flat colour and not much changing each frame. You have to progressively limit the palette, shrink any photographic elements and restrict movement (fades and slides are lethal; fast wipes can sometimes be OK, but probably not with 15K to play with) until it gets under the limit.
(Post a link to the image and you'll get better advice)
posted by malevolent at 10:47 AM on September 10, 2007