Zoner GIF Animator 5 is an extraordinary tool for creating and editing images, especially Web banners, in the animated GIF format.
The new version 5 provides unique tools for directly creating "trick banners" (animated GIFs with simulated Windows controls), without using another graphics application. Trick banners generally have the highest click-through rate.
Other new features/abilities in version 5: adding vector graphics (e. g. clip art) in the WMF and EMF formats "rendering" (restoring) animations' original frame states, a texture generator, support for Adobe Plug-Ins, a transformation tool for rotating and resizing frames and trimming bitmaps, the option to give frames a solid (alpha) transparency of 0-99%, and an improved algorithm for optimizing animations (minimizing their file size).
Other abilities and features: support for text frames, including advanced editing functions, merging frames, "tweening" (blending) between frames, frame drag-and-drop, support for all frame-refresh methods, titles for all animation frames, easy definition of animation borders, lockable borders, frame printing, frame rotation and flipping, creating empty bitmap frames, distortion effect, export of individual frames to bitmaps.
Bitmap import: GIF, JPG, PCD, MAC, PNG, TIF, TGA, BMP, DIB, RLE, ICO, WPG, BMI, and PCX, animation import: FLI, FLIC, and AVI.
"Optimization" commands -- to minimize animations' file sizes: dither frames, trim frames, remove comment blocks, remove titles, remove special features (convert vector graphics, TrueColor bitmaps, and simulated controls into the ordinary bitmaps used in aGIF frames), use difference method, create global and/or local palettes, and set palettes' color depth precisely.