{"id":33114,"date":"2021-01-06T15:18:00","date_gmt":"2021-01-06T15:18:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.padtinc.com\/2021\/01\/06\/ansys-mechanical-outputting-results-4-animated-gif\/"},"modified":"2022-12-07T07:42:27","modified_gmt":"2022-12-07T14:42:27","slug":"ansys-mechanical-outputting-results-4-animated-gif","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.padtinc.com\/2021\/01\/06\/ansys-mechanical-outputting-results-4-animated-gif\/","title":{"rendered":"4 – An update on outputting results in Ansys Mechanical: Animated GIFs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This post is the fourth of six, and it is about making animation files that are not videos, called Animated GIFs (pronounced <\/a>with a J like Jeff, not G like Garry). <\/em>
For a couple of reasons, making an animated gif is not as easy as we would like, but with a few tips below, it is not so difficult. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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An update on outputting results in Ansys Mechanical<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  1. Making High Resolution Images<\/a><\/li>
  2. Taking it to the Next Level with Ansys EnSight<\/a><\/li>
  3. Making Videos<\/a><\/li><\/ol>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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    1. Animated GIFs<\/a><\/li>
    2. 3D Result Objects<\/a><\/li>
    3. 3D Printing Results<\/a><\/li><\/ol>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

      Animated GIFs explained<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

      The GIF image file, Graphics Interchange Format, was invented in 1987 when color computing was new and the internet was not around yet. It is compact and allows only 256 colors (remember that part) and supported animation. The animated format was very popular on dial-up services and the early internet. They then fell out of favor until their use in messaging apps and social media to send animations to people that did not require a player. Everyone could see your cat falling off the table, instantly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Or their dog being woken up in the middle of an afternoon nap. I just took my iPhone, turned around in my chair, and took this video. Then I converted it to a GIF. It took me less than 30 seconds to make and share this gem:<\/p>\n\n\n

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      \"\" <\/picture><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

      For those of us in the world of simulation, they have been a popular format for the same reason\u2014almost all applications, from email to web browsers to Microsoft Powerpoint, support animated GIFs. The file contains as many images as you want and a tag for each layer documenting how long to display each frame. The difference is we are not capturing our overweight mutt struggling to roll over. We have specific information we are trying to convey. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Ansys Mechanical Default<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

      If you read the post about making videos, you will remember that one of the output options was GIF. Well, here is what you get when you use that option. Note, it only plays once, to play it again. <\/p>\n\n\n

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      \"\" <\/picture><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

      And by default, the file does not repeat. Also, to make things worse, the way Ansys stores the GIF is an order of magnitude larger than a video. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      As a contrast, here is the same result as a video played through YouTube:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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