ImageReady
Created | Updated Aug 19, 2007
Adobe ImageReady is a sister program to Photoshop. It is used to prepare images for the web. It is also be used to make animated GIFs.
Making Images Web Ready
To prepare images for the web (known as "optimizing" an image), it is capable of everything that the save for web feature in Photoshop is capable of and more (such as the fact that you can edit the image and imedidatly see how it effects the optimized image).
Slices
The only thing you can do with slices in ImageReady that you can't do in Photoshop is create rollovers (will be covered later). So if you want to know more go to Basics of Photoshop. You should note that each slice of an optimized image will be saved as it's own file. Also, too many slices can slow the time it takes for the image to appear.
Colour Table
The colour table only applies to GIF and PNG images. While you can alter the colour palatte with the save for web feature of Photoshop, ImageReady deals with GIFs more often than Photoshop for a couple reasons
- GIFs generaly are used for the web, and ImageReady is designed to make images for the web.
- ImageReady can make GIF animations.
You can have a custom colour table or use one of the preset colour tables1. Later versions give you the ability to set one of the colours to transparent.
Comparing Optimizaton Options
To compare the appearance, (file) size, and download time of the different optimized formats you can go to the 4-up option, which is on a tab towards the top of the workspace. Or if you just want to compare a single optimization option to the original you can go to the 2-up option, right next to the 4-up option.
Compacting GIFs by Cleaning Up
Because the way GIFs work, if you have a long (hoizontal) line of pixles of the same colour, the file will be smaller (this is one of the reasons why reducing the colour table is one of the best ways to compact GIFs). So if you don't need a bunch of different colours in a certain area, you can go in with the pencil tool and eliminate the uneccissary colours and compact the file at the same time. This is generally most useful for web flags. This method also works with PNG files as well.
Animation
ImageReady has the ability to make animations (though really as useful as Macromedia Flash when it comes to making them). Animations can only be saved as a PSD or a GIF. Since ImageReady is used to make images for the web, the PSD animation is almost completely useless. The only real use for a PSD animation is to make the animation and save it as a rough draft so you can go back and alter some of it2. Something that helps make the process of animaition easier is the motion tween option. All you need to do is create the beginning frame and then the ending frame (for one direction of motion per object in motion) then select the ending frame and select Create motion tween and set the parameters for the tween and how many frames you want it to add. The advantages are that it is much easier to do than animate frame by frame and that it helps keep the motion steady and consistant. The best way to animate a PSD is to make sure the object you want animated is on it's own layer. If you want part of the animation to change colour, duplicate the layer you want to change colour (keeping as many things as possible on their own layer is never a bad idea if you plan to animate to PSD) then make the colour change. How do you keep the other layer from being visible? Well, if you notice the layers window, there is a little eye ball icon next to all the layers visible. Just click this icon and it will make the layer transparent in that frame.
Slice Rollovers
You can set a slice to have a rollover. This means that you can set it so that when you perform a certain action (clicking on the slice or moving the cursor to a certain postion in relation to the slice) it will change.
Misc
There are only 6 major versions of ImageReady despite the fact that the latest version is 9.0 (also know as CS2, but that's irrelivant). The reason is that after version 3.0 (released with Photoshop 6.0) they decided to sync the version number to that of the version of Photoshop it's packaged with (so the next version was 7.0 instead of 4.0).
1Not acctually a preset table, it just uses preset paramiters to form the colour table for the image.2Interestingly, a PSD animation can be smaller than the same animation saved as a GIF if many of the frames are repeated. This generaly only works if it was saved as a GIF though.
