Product: Version History

Below is a reasonably detailed list of changes and additions made for each release and update of GIF Movie Gear.

Version 4.3.0 -- November 22, 2015
+ Improved memory usage to allow for larger animations.
+ Ability to load an external palette when editing a palette.
+ LiveEdit support for 24/32-bit images.
- Fix setting of default delay when adding a single PNG frame.
   
Version 4.2.3 -- September 16, 2009
+ Add Increase Canvas Size functionality to allow growing the size of a frame's canvas.
+ Allow Undo/Redo following a save operation.
+ Add Windows 8/7/Vista most-recently-used-files support.
- Fix issues with Animated PNG (APNG) and the Hide First Frame functionality that caused playback issues in FireFox and Opera.
- Fix issue with bicubic resizing of transparent images.
   
Version 4.2.2 -- August 16, 2009
- Fix error exporting large-dimension animations to SWF (Flash). The error manifested as an apparently blank SWF playback.
- Make animated PNGs show up in most-recently-used list and make SWF files not show up there.
- Clean up some extremely minor visual glitches in a few dialogs.
   
Version 4.2.1 -- July 9, 2009
- Fix error in writing out animated PNGs (APNG) with non-transparent frames.
- Fix "black dot in lower left corner" issue with 32-bit ANI (animated cursors).
- Fix color mapping error when removing a local palette from a frame.
- Fix funky color issue when blending two local-palette-based animations.
   
Version 4.2 -- March 18, 2008
+ support for animated PNG (APNG) format.
+ improved filmstrip support: export and import with automatically encoded file name speeds up automation
+ support for exporting timing files
+ improved support for 24/32-bit image handling
+ support for monochrome JPEG images
- fix import of XviD-encoded AVI video
- fix export to SWF/Flash of animations with long delays
   
Version 4.1.2 -- July 13, 2006
+ update Vista 256x256 icon format for latest Vista beta.
   
Version 4.1.1 -- April 26, 2006
+ handle Vista icons with multiple PNG images mapped to lower resolutions.
+ improve timing conversion between GIF and ANI formats.
- fix color mapping of 32bpp images to a fixed palette.
   
Version 4.1.0 -- January 25, 2006
+ support for Windows Vista icons using PNG compression for large-dimension (>128 pixels) icons.
+ task for centering all frames at once.
+ option to load a pre-defined timing file to specify inter-frame delays.
- fix crash in flood fill in Edit Pixels.
- fix miscellaneous small issues.
 
Version 4.0.2 -- July 13, 2004
+ customized Save As dialog for Windows XP
+ new installer is smaller and cleaner (saves 300KB).
- fix export of PNG with certain types of image data.
- fix rotation of animation with offsets in frames.
- fix stepping through preview of Selected Frames.
- fix handling of certain kinds of Layer Masks in PSD files.
- prevent the ToStart dialog from getting scolled inadvertantly.
- fix handling of Use settings changes.
- fix handling of indexed transparency in PSD files.
 
Version 4.0.1 -- March 28, 2004
- fix setting palette preferences when Use is not custom
- fix import of v6 PSD files with indexed color and transparency.
- fix display of some dialogs on 120dpi systems
 
Version 4.0 -- February 12, 2004
+ completely reworked Export functionality. It's all in File>SaveAs, with file types and options selectable in the lower part of the dialog box.
+ LiveEdit that allows you to edit a frame "live" in an image editor. When you save in the editor, the change shows up in GMG. If you have Photoshop, the whole animation can be edited as layers.
+ new input model for better and faster palette management when inserting more than one frame at a time
+ support for 24-Bit Color with 8bit alpha channels for most operations. Export to AVI, JPEG, PSD, Macromedia Flash (SWF), ICO, BMP, ANI, and PNG. Go to Edit>Preferences>Export to turn this feature on.
+ very very basic pixel editor (Frame>Edit Pixels)
+ import/export of PNG images
+ export to BMP (filmstrip or individual frames)
+ export to Macromedia Flash (SWF)
+ export to JPEG (filmstrip or individual frames)
+ export to Photoshop (PSD) layered files, with each frame becoming a layer.
+ basic support for adding an audio stream to an AVI file
+ ability to define a fixed frame rate for AVI output
+ automatic "ping pong" of an animation (from 12345 to 12345432)
+ animation preview of selected frames (rather than all frames)
+ arrow keys can be used to move frame selection
+ rearranging of some menus
+ "To Start" dialog when first opened or after restart
+ little interface enhancements throughout
+ Color Lock feature in Reduce Colors locks down a given color's value.
+ small interface enhancements throughout
   
Version 3.0.2 -- July 9, 2002
+ new icon and manifest for better display in Windows XP
   
Version 3.0.1 -- March 1, 2001
+ updated installer program
- import AVI files generated by Amapi 3D
- add support for old-style (non-alpha) 32-bit-color BMP files
- fix preference tracking for AVI compression (asked when told not to).
- fix otpimization handling of local palette mapping to global palette when none exists
- fix animated cursor export for NT
   
Version 3.0 -- August 2, 2000
+ multiple selection of frames : select more than one frame at a time using the standard Windows Ctrl+ and Shift+ shortcuts. Functions that work with multiple selection right now are: Properties, delete, move, resize, crop, cut/copy/paste (between instances of GMG as well), and exporting as individual frames.
+ new timing editing : you'll notice the clock button on the main toolbar as well as in the preview window. Hit it and see what happens. Set individual frame times (before and after) like you could before on the toolbar. Or make global frame changes to the timing (relative or absolute), all while watching the preview.
+ "Blend" of two animations : make a new animation by overlaying one animation onto the other, maintaining transparency. This is an easy way to put a background on a sprite animation or combine one animation with another.
+ zoom in Crop dialogs
+ export frames as individual GIFs : find this under File>Export As.
+ support for import/export of ICO (Windows icon) : multiple resolutions as separate frames.
+ scale one frame (or multi-selected frames) at a time: find this under Frame>Resize.
+ more options when importing PSD : convert layers to frames with no blending and preserve transparency in each frame.
+ FrameTips : see information about a given frame by simply holding the cursor over the frame. Turns this on in Edit>Preferences>FrameTips.
+ automatically remove interlacing : remove interlacing from animations when reading in. Both IE and NS have problems displaying interlaced frames within animations.
+ more complete Unoptimization : set the removal method to "Leave Alone" after unoptimizing.
+ AVI saving more automated : control in Edit>Preferences>AVI.
+ full-screen preview option : turn on/off in Edit>Preferences>Program.
+ auto-play of Animation Preview at startup : can turn this off in Edit>Preferences>Program.
+ no-show of Properties bar option : turn this on/off in the View menu.
+ changes in File menu : reword Save and Save As and add AVI Save at top level.
+ remove Direction setting from toolbar (still found in View menu).
+ pre-validate Most-Recently-Used-Files list : no more "file not founds" on old opened files.
+ make sure all dialogs are visible : really a bug fix for centering dialogs when the "center" isn't visible.
+ snazzier look for About dialog and friends : update the About box and related dialogs with the new logo look.
+ fix all outstanding bugs in 2.63
   
Version 2.63 -- July 6, 1999
+ Tutorial now included with program
- fix rare threading-related crash that could follow the opening of an animation
   
Version 2.62 -- November 19, 1998
- fix file corruption bug when merging web-cube-based animations
- fix vertical centering in Move/Crop dialog
- fix support for grayscale multi-layer PSD files
- fix Properties dialog for NT3.51
+ mirror scroll movements in before-and-after views of Reduce Colors
+ remove unopenable files from Recently Used list in File menu
   
Version 2.61 -- September 3, 1998
- fix bug in optimization that under rare circumstances caused corrupt GIF files during save.
+ increase number of files that can be handled in a single multi-file read
   
Version 2.6 -- August 11, 1998
+ Undo/Redo with infinite levels (settable in Edit>Preferences>Program)
+ improved inter-frame optimization with "replace with transparency"
+ reworked menu layout
+ hotkeys for common operations
+ single tabbed dialog for all property (frame, global frame, animation) sheets
+ preview window is sizeable, animation is zoomable, and background color is changeable
+ zoomable image preview in Edit Palette
+ invoke Windows' color picker from Edit Palette
+ new look for Reduce Colors with zooming, background color, and arbitrary number of colors
+ support for multiple transparent colors in Edit Transparency
+ zoomable image preview in Edit Transparency
+ new Reduce Frame Count function to "thin" animation by removing every nth frame
+ new memory model for much decreased system resource usage
+ faster file size calculation and now include signature comment
+ add animation dimensions to status bar
+ import/export support for Windows animated cursors
+ import support for grayscale PSD files
+ import support for grayscale JPEG files
+ various minor bug fixes
   
Version 2.51 -- April 23, 1998
+ improved move/crop dialog now allows easy mouse control of move/crop actions
+ cropping of entire animation
+ editing of palette color values
- reordering of all the frames in an animation (1 --> 10 becomes 10 --> 1)
- fixed problems with importing non-cropped PSD layers
- fixed problems importing AVIs with nonstandard compression
   
Version 2.5 -- January 17, 1998
+ new palette merging model that includes self-adapting global palettes
+ new optimizing ability to remove all local palettes with use of self-adapting global palettes
+ importing support for Photoshop PSD files either as frames based on layers or as a single frame.
+ importing support for JPEG
+ animation sizing, either with or without re-sampling
+ updated AVI support for better handling of 24-bit video
+ tracking of theoretical download times
+ option to rotate all the frames in an animation at once
+ option of "flat look" toolbar
+ animation preview respects iteration loop count (with override)
+ option to add GIF Movie Gear to all GIF file's context menu
+ smaller, faster, neater setup program (save 200K+ of download weight!)
+ numerous small improvements and bug fixes
   
Version 2.04 -- November 24, 1997
- fix AVI compression export (some animation caused out-of-memory errors)
   
Version 2.03 -- October 29, 1997
+ added information on the color under cursor in ShowPalette and EditTransparency dialogs
+ moved "View Transparency As" to menu from Preferences dialog
- fixed saving compressed AVIs under NT
- improved handling of source transparency during frame insertion/merging
- improved support for having GMG as a default file type handler
   
Version 2.02 -- September 29, 1997
+ show number used and total number of colors in palette dialogs
+ reset button in Move/Crop dialog
+ show prev/next to loop around to last/first for better alignment reference in Move/Crop dialog
+ speed up file size calculation following a palette reduction
- better handling animation size change inside real-time preview
- improved handling of compression errors when exporting compressed AVI
- fix saving 24-bit AVI as GIF animation
   
Version 2.01 -- September 19, 1997
+ remember chosen direction between sessions
- fix copy+paste of transparent frame sometimes loses transparency
- fix out-of-resources handling during optimization of very large animations
- optimization to handle case of all-transparent first frame or last frame
   
Version 2.0 -- September 11, 1997
  Official public release of GIF Movie Gear