Gazelle is a Movie editor that can be used
to make short animated movies. It is written in Java and leverages
the Java 2D engine. This platform choice is to allow wide distribution
of Gazelle, as well as to make it easy to incorporate Gazelle into web
pages and Java applets and applications.
Running Gazelle on Your Computer
There are two ways to run Gazelle:
If you have Java 1.2 or higher installed on your computer, you can download GazelleEditor.jar and run it by double clicking on it. If you don't have Java installed, you can download the official Java for free from Sun's website: http://java.sun.com.Go to http://www.kitfox.com/gazelle and run the program as an Applet. While this will allow you to use most of the Gazelle features, due to Java security you will not be able to load files, save files or use resources.
When you first start Gazelle, you will be presented with a grey window with no project loaded. To begin, you must first either load an existing project (by selecting File/Open from the menu and then following the dialog boxes) or create a new project (by selecting File/New).
When you create a new project, a new file ending with the .spj extension will be created. Also, two directories will be created in the same directory as the project that will be named image and sound. These are for storing resources. For example, if you include an image called myCat.jpg in your Gazelle movie, myCat.jpg will have a copy of it made and placed in the /image subdirectory.
The reason for this is that Gazelle movies when displayed on web pages need to have their image and sound files in a place that is a subdirectory of the the directory containing the project. The Gazelle movie editor automates this by making copies of your resources in these subdirectories.
If you ever move the .spj file, make sure
you move the /image and /sound directories along with it, or Gazelle will
be unable to find the resources.
Tracks can be edited by selecting a track in either the Track or Flow window and then selecting Project/Edit Track from the menu bar.
Above is a typical track editing window. Some tracks, such as Spline, have a GUI component where you can edit them by clicking and dragging points in the Main Window.
Track Components:
All tracks have a name. This is a descriptive name that helps you to identify the track and your intended purpose for it. You can name a track anything you want, but it may be helpful to keep the default name as a prefix as it will help you identify the type of track it is.
Some tracks have track wide properties. These are properties (such as references to resources) that apply to all keys. In the above example, the sound of this track is the Chimes resource.
Key Navigation:
The row of buttons separates the track portion from the key portion. They allow you to add, remove and switch between frames.
<<: Go to the first key in this track
<: Go to the previous key
-: Remove this key from the track
+: Add a key at this point in the track
M: Move this key to a different position in the track
>: Advance to the next key
>>: Advance to the last key in this track
Text Box: The current frame. By typing a new number in this box, you can change the current frame.
K: The letter K is displayed if a key occurs in this track at the current frame. No K is displayed otherwise. In addition, the key editable portion is disabled when the current frame is not a key frame.
Key Editing:
When the current frame is also a key frame
of the track being edited, keyframe properties can be changed. This
can be done by changing the data in the boxes below the row of navigation
buttons. Some tracks additionally have key properties that can be
modified by clicking and dragging in the main window.
When you exit Gazelle and the project you are working on has not been saved, you will be asked if you wish to save before the program shuts down.