Help creating image for animation and identify command

[metsfan666]

Some brief background:
I'm trying to create an animation that displays a message but it adds one letter at a time. Each letter is an image and not font.
Frame 1 H
Frame 2 He
Frame 3 Hel
Frame 4 Hell
Frame 5 Hello

I have this working however when I try it in a specific program, it seems the animation barfs and the image is wrecked.

I then grabbed an image that does work and ran identify on it. One of the frames reports this:

Code: Select all

good.gif GIF 7x5 48x48+17+10 PseudoClass 16c 8-bit 542b

When I do identify on a frame from my image i see this:

Code: Select all

bad.gif GIF 48x48 48x48+0+0 PseudoClass 2c 8-bit 98b

Clearly, theres a difference. I know what the numbers all represent and for whatever reason, the program this needs to work for likes the first version.

What do I need to do in order to get my images like in the first sample? I currently make a transparent image the full size that's needed (48x48) and compose the letter at the correct point.

Thanks for your help.

[anthony]

The first image is frame optimized, so that the overlay frame is not as big as the virtual canvas on which it sits.

the second is unoptimized.

See IM Examples, Animation Optimization, Frame Optimization
http://imagemagick.org/Usage/anim_opt/#frame_opt

Also you may like to look at Animation basics for a more complete understanding of what is in the GIF file
Studying Animations
http://imagemagick.org/Usage/anim_basics/#study