The beginners in animation can sometimes face issues with their animated flags due to the bad processing of the gifs they use for different platforms. Sometimes the flag gifs can take too much time to load. Sometimes the gifs can lose their quality when they are exported to different platforms like a website and an app. If you want to make sure that your users experience quick loading high-quality animated flags whenever they visit your platforms, these tips are for you. These tips will help you create clean and creative flags gifs for your projects.
Reduce the number of colors
While it is a no-brainer that you will be using the necessary colors while designing your flags, it is better that you avoid using any unnecessary colors in your gifs. A gif will perform better if it has fewer shades and brightness. Use neutral colors so the gif can fit in the right size. When you want to create an animation that looks more realistic, you can choose other formats like MP4, which will take more space but will provide better quality animation.
Resize your animated flag
Gifs are easy to resize using special tools that can do the job without compromising the quality of your animated flag. When you have a flag with more complete designs and details, it is important that you know the minimum and maximum size you can use without losing the quality of the flag. It is better to have multiple copies of the flag gifs before you can pick the one that fits your size and quality requirements.
Use simple shapes
You are free to design flags in various ways using 2D and 3D tools. The more you complicate your flag design, the harder it will get to animate each element of the flag. That is why it is better to keep your design simplistic and use shapes that can be controlled easily without using unnecessary dynamics.
Add an overlay
Once you have finished animating your flag gif, you can add an overlay to reduce the number of colors in your image. A sepia shade or a black-and-white shade will optimize your gif quality for all types of platforms. It will also highlight the unseen elements of your gif that will get the same value as the other elements with a common shade over the entire animation. Adding an overlay will also reduce the size of the gif without affecting its quality.
Use smooth gradients
When you want to add gradients to your animated flag, use two similar colors to do so. Do not add a gradient to every contrasting color, as it will increase the file size. Platforms like WordPress only allow a limited size for animated gifts. Considering that you want to add your animated flag to your website, it is suggested that you do everything you can to maintain its file size to the minimum.