Just noticed that the GIFs - which are the first image of a model - don't work in thumbnails when posted in a group's discussion.
Check this post...
The 3 have GIFs as their first image, but are shown as still images.
I suggest reallowing GIFs to work, they give a better representation of the model.
After all, that's why they were made...
As for faster loading, static images can be previewed till the GIFs load. Loading will be fast, and GIFs will be previewed.
GIFs are very cool to show some model animations. The real problem about them is the size. A big GIF file will take a long time to load on the page and affects the page performance.
I think it would be very cool, if a video player could be additionally implemented, so bigger animations can be shown here.
Upon now it is only possible to integrate youtube-videos.
What do you think?
I was wondering about this also. It is frustrating taking the time to create an animation and then when it is uploaded it is a static picture. This is a main reason I did not bother with animations for some time. I have started to have fun with animations now though. Excellent point though Yahya.
GIFs are at least working when you visit someone's profile. If you look at my profile you will see the animations.
But I think that the implementation of a video player is an important point, too. I'm currently working on a >2min animation and there is no possibility to share it directly on GrabCAD...
You can share it through a YouTube link...
I know and I mentioned it in earlier posts...
It would be much better, to upload the videos directly here. If you upload something on youtube, you do it twice for the model.
An implementation of a player would would lead to only one upload necessary.
I will be talking to the Technical team about this and see what we can do about this.
Gif is quite a troublesome format. In past it was patent-protected, thus many people invented their unofficial encoders and decoders of GIF to evade of patent fees. And those implementations are still living in vast of software, making troubles of incompatibility.
Now it is better to invest into support of modern open source formats. For example, MNG (kind of animated PNG), which is not very popular yet, but free to use.
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