Importing Images and Movies
The File, Import, Image and File, Import, Movie menu commands instantly open the File dialog box, which lets you browse for specific images and movie files that you can import. These files are added to an image layer in the Layers palette. (You can learn more about using image layers in Chapter 22, “Adding Image Layers.”)
The Image Import command imports several different formats including the following:
JPEG: The most common format for photorealistic images on the Web. JPEG images can be compressed to reduce their file size so they can be transmitted quicker over the Web.
BMP: The image format used by the Windows operating system.
PNG: This format is also used on the Web, but it isn’t as common as JPEG or GIF images because it is newer. PNG files support an alpha channel for holding transparent information, which allows a nonrectangular image to be created using this format.
Targa: Another common image format that allows compression and alpha transparency.
GIF: Another common Web format for displaying 256-color, palette-ordered graphics.
Tip
Anime Studio cannot import Photoshop PSD files, but within the Extra Files folder where Anime Studio is installed is a script that runs in Photoshop that saves the document as an .ANME file. This script is covered later in the chapter.
In addition to the common image formats mentioned above, Anime Studio also allows movies to be imported using the following formats:
AVI: The AVI format is used on Windows-based systems, but is not available on Macintosh systems.
MPG: The MPEG format is another cross-platform video format.
QuickTime (MOV): The QuickTime (MOV) format is available for both Windows and Macintosh systems.
After a movie file is loaded into a project, you can view the loaded movie using the Play button (Spacebar) located in the lower-left corner of the main interface. Figure 7.2 shows a movie loaded into Anime Studio.
Note
Imported movies can also be used for video tracking, which is covered in Chapter 28, “Using Video Tracking.”