Images saved in Chat Logs: How do I make them save as .gif files and not .png? - Printable Version
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Images saved in Chat Logs: How do I make them save as .gif files and not .png? by keenan777 on 08-26-2008 at 05:02 PM
Hi there.
As the title says, I'm wondering how you get the images saved to automatically save as a .gif file, instead of a .png file.
i ask because if I wanted to use the file elsewhere, the animations don't show, instead it stays as one frame, irrespective of if I then change the file to .gif.
Any help would be appreciated 
RE: Images saved in Chat Logs: How do I make them save as .gif files and not .png? by Spunky on 08-26-2008 at 07:56 PM
Where are you trying to save the gifs from?
RE: Images saved in Chat Logs: How do I make them save as .gif files and not .png? by keenan777 on 08-26-2008 at 10:06 PM
Well the images by default automatically save into the Chat Logs
C:\Documents and Settings\Keenan\My Documents\My Chat Logs\August 2008\Images
I just want them to save in .gif instead of .png
RE: Images saved in Chat Logs: How do I make them save as .gif files and not .png? by CookieRevised on 08-26-2008 at 10:18 PM
You can not change the format of a file by simply renaming its extension, that will never work. eg: renaming a Word document to .XLS doesn't make it an Excel file.
Anyways, with the current versions there is no way to let Plus! save animated gif graphics to GIFs instead of PNGs. The suggestion to add this has been done before though. So, maybe this is on the todo list for a futur version, who knows, (if it is possible at all that is. Because it might as well be that Plus! does not have access to the actual animated data being show!).
But as for now, no, not possible in any way.
RE: Images saved in Chat Logs: How do I make them save as .gif files and not .png? by keenan777 on 08-26-2008 at 10:52 PM
Thank you for the response Shame mind.
BTW, .DC2 files from the custom emoticons folder are able to be changed to .gif files, so it is possible.
RE: Images saved in Chat Logs: How do I make them save as .gif files and not .png? by CookieRevised on 08-26-2008 at 11:02 PM
quote:No it is not possible. Some of the files in the custom emoticon folder (not all!) are already gif files (others are png files). You don't change the format by renaming the extension. You simply make other programs aware that those files are actually gif files, you don't change the file format at all.
Originally posted by keenan777
BTW, .DC2 files from the custom emoticons folder are able to be changed to .gif files, so it is possible.
Analogy: all you do is renaming a Word document which was named "Hello.xls" to "Hello.doc". You don't change anything in the file, the file was already a Word document, but with the wrong extension.
RE: Images saved in Chat Logs: How do I make them save as .gif files and not .png? by Adeptus on 08-27-2008 at 12:15 AM
quote:It's interesting that you assume (twice) that wherever the original poster writes "change", it means "rename". "Change" could very well mean conversion using some image editing software.
Originally posted by CookieRevised
You don't change the format by renaming the extension.
Of course, then there wouldn't be any reason to point out the obvious and life would be boring.
RE: Images saved in Chat Logs: How do I make them save as .gif files and not .png? by prashker on 08-27-2008 at 12:49 AM
quote:But the opening poster wants animated gifs
Originally posted by Adeptus
quote:It's interesting that you assume (twice) that wherever the original poster writes "change", it means "rename". "Change" could very well mean conversion using some image editing software.
Originally posted by CookieRevised
You don't change the format by renaming the extension.
Of course, then there wouldn't be any reason to point out the obvious and life would be boring.
RE: Images saved in Chat Logs: How do I make them save as .gif files and not .png? by Adeptus on 08-27-2008 at 01:18 AM
quote:Correct, but nowhere is he saying that he has been trying to rename files to .gif extension to accomplish this. The assumption that is what he means by "change" is completely unsupported (and somewhat intelligence-insulting).
Originally posted by SonicSam
But the opening poster wants animated gifs
There's lots of software that could be used to convert -- or "change", if you will -- a PNG graphic to GIF format. It doesn't surprise me that most don't support animation and only leave you with the first or the last frame, but if the OP keeps looking, he will probably find something that preserves the animation. My top bet would be on Adobe Fireworks.
RE: Images saved in Chat Logs: How do I make them save as .gif files and not .png? by CookieRevised on 08-27-2008 at 02:39 AM
quote:
Originally posted by Adeptus
nowhere is he saying that he has been trying to rename files to .gif extension to accomplish this.
quote:Some of those files are already in gif format, there is nothing to change, format wise. The only thing he could have changed is the filename.
Originally posted by keenan777
BTW, .DC2 files from the custom emoticons folder are able to be changed to .gif files, so it is possible.
Also, the fact that 99% of people who come with this very same problem or who say they "changed" the file do mean renaming.
And, if he realy used a converter he wouldn't have said what he said, he would have said he used a converter and not just changing/renaming the file.
quote:It doesn't matter if the converter supports animations or not because a png is a static image.
Originally posted by Adeptus
There's lots of software that could be used to convert -- or "change", if you will -- a PNG graphic to GIF format. It doesn't surprise me that most don't support animation and only leave you with the first or the last frame
quote:That is completely not what he is asking for.
Originally posted by Adeptus
but if the OP keeps looking, he will probably find something that preserves the animation. My top bet would be on Adobe Fireworks.
(And using adobe fireworks is realy not a best choice for a converter. In fact, again, what do you want to convert in the first place? The animated emoticons are _already_ gif files, there is absolutely nothing to convert to begin with.)
RE: Images saved in Chat Logs: How do I make them save as .gif files and not .png? by Adeptus on 08-27-2008 at 03:44 AM
CookieRevised,
quote:
Originally posted by CookieRevised
Some of those files are already in gif format, there is nothing to change, format wise. The only thing he could have changed is the filename.
quote:Why don't you make up your mind on which it is?
Originally posted by CookieRevised
You can not change the format of a file by simply renaming its extension, that will never work. eg: renaming a Word document to .XLS doesn't make it an Excel file. Anyways, with the current versions there is no way to let Plus! save animated gif graphics to GIFs instead of PNGs.
quote:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animated_PNG
Originally posted by CookieRevised
It doesn't matter if the converter supports animations or not because a png is a static image.
quote:
Originally posted by CookieRevised
And using adobe fireworks is realy not a best choice for a converter. In fact, again, what do you want to convert in the first place? The animated emoticons are _already_ gif files, there is absolutely nothing to convert to begin with.
quote:Once again, why don't you make up your mind on whether the files are GIF or PNG?
Originally posted by CookieRevised
You can not change the format of a file by simply renaming its extension, that will never work. eg: renaming a Word document to .XLS doesn't make it an Excel file. Anyways, with the current versions there is no way to let Plus! save animated gif graphics to GIFs instead of PNGs.
You, sir, despite your entirely undeserved reputation, are a bag of hot air. You pretend to be an authority on issues you know nothing about. You post contradictory and inconsistent claims that often are left undisputed only because you are so categorical in your self-righteousness that very few would dare to challenge it.
I dare to challenge it and I call you full of feces. I also dare everyone reading this to think critically and re-evaluate whether the declarations of your extremely one-sided and frequently incorrect views warrant the respect that your charlatanism has received here to date.
I will stop at expressing my disdain for you here, while I can keep myself sufficiently to the point of not making this a plain old flame.
RE: Images saved in Chat Logs: How do I make them save as .gif files and not .png? by CookieRevised on 08-27-2008 at 07:45 AM
Adeptus, I'm afraid you're the one here that, very clearly, doesn't know what he's talking about in this case....
-------
For the first part:
The two quotes you picked on express the EXACT same thing: You can not change a file format by renaming the file.
And I think it is very clear that the OP was talking about the animated DC2 files, which are in the GIF format already.
--
The second part:
I knew someone would come up with that APNG argument. But that is not valid because:
1) APNG is not PNG or vice versa; if I would refer to APNG I would say APNG.
2) APNG is not an official extension of PNG!!
3) because of that it will never be used in Messenger
4) the DC2 files which are PNG, are PNG, not APNG
--
Third part:
I think I made it very clear that the animated files are already in GIF format as that is what I literally said. And the static images are in PNG format.
What on earth have you been drinking? I would realy appreciate it if you don't call me a bag of air, full of feces, a charlatan or whetever else if it is very clearly that you are the one here who is completely and utterly misinterpreting things and way over his head.
Anybody who knows a bit about the file formats and/or the knowledge to use a hexeditor will back me up on this.
RE: Images saved in Chat Logs: How do I make them save as .gif files and not .png? by vaccination on 08-27-2008 at 08:34 AM
Yeah, Adeptus, you're completely wrong.
Those two quotes state the exact same thing(changing file name only changes it's file name, not it's format.)
Secondly there is no software, and never will be, to convert a static png(that was saved from a .gif*) back to a .gif and somehow reanimate it. This is because the png only contains ONE static image, therefore there's nothing to animate.
When Plus! saves an .png from a .gif in the chat logs, it just captures one of the frames(I guess the first or last frame) and saves that data as a single, static, one-frame, png. This png will not have any other data from the gif(so no hidden layers with the data for the other frames(like a gif does)) - This makes it impossible to re-animate as there isn't any data within the file to use other than the data for the first 'frame' in the png.
(and APNG is a "completely" different format, APNG != PNG)
*Ofcourse, if you were to rename 'animation.gif' to 'animation.png', a application could easily "reanimate" it, infact you wouldn't even need an application, if you just renamed it to 'animation.gif' again it'd "regain" it's animation - HOWEVER this is only due to the fact that the original image contained all the data(all the frames etc) for the animation, and by renaming it to .png all you did was change the extension, NOT the format of the file(and thus did not remove any data from the file, so all the animation data is still there - only that windows believes it to now be a png, and opens it with the default png viewer/editor, which will then do what it will with it(if it supports gifs, it'll animate, if it doesn't it'll display the first frame))
I'm aware APNG isn't completely different to PNG, but in this argument, it really shouldn't of even been mentioned ;p
--
quote:
Originally posted by Jesus
quote:Actually, it will still animate the renamed .gif (at least the integrated windows viewer will) because internally, the file still looks like a gif and thus will be opened as such.
Originally posted by vaccination
only that windows believes it to now be a png, and opens it as such, and thus only displays the first frame
Yeah I've edited that now(I was already discussing it with Cookie) - I was getting confused because my default program for PNG is Windows Photo Gallery, which cannot display animated GIFs and so was only displaying first frame(I'm on Vista))
RE: Images saved in Chat Logs: How do I make them save as .gif files and not .png? by Jesus on 08-27-2008 at 10:39 AM
quote:Actually, it will still animate the renamed .gif (at least the integrated windows viewer will) because internally, the file still looks like a gif and thus will be opened as such.
Originally posted by vaccination
only that windows believes it to now be a png, and opens it as such, and thus only displays the first frame
RE: Images saved in Chat Logs: How do I make them save as .gif files and not .png? by keenan777 on 08-27-2008 at 08:23 PM
Lads chill out man 
I'm not insulting anyones intelligence (Stop taking yourself so seriously) but merely trying to find a solution to a problem.
I renamed the ends of DC2 files to GIF and they worked. That is all I was stating. I have no doubt you people are pros at this (Hence why I'm here) and have taken on board that you cannot do the same with the PNG files due to the way they are saved.
The question was asked in order to stop me having to take a long road in order to get the animated images off my MSN properly. But clearly this is not possible.
So thank you
RE: Images saved in Chat Logs: How do I make them save as .gif files and not .png? by CookieRevised on 08-28-2008 at 05:22 AM
quote:Nah, Adeptus directed that at me.
Originally posted by keenan777
I'm not insulting anyones intelligence