Pictograms Madnes or Working Out the Funk

I've been more quiet than I normally like on this blog. I'm trying to find ways to animate pictograms and it is a slog. I can't exactly write about how to do something if I can't do it. You'd think that I'd find something else to write about but I get fixated on an idea and can't let it go.

A pictogram is a symbol of an idea or concept. It is designed to convey information that isn't necessarily language based. For a non-artist like myself, it can be an effective way to make animations or gif tutorials. I really like the idea of animating these suckers but I am not going to purchase Adobe Effects.



There are other ways to animate still images. PowerPoint has an animation tab and you can do limited motion path graphics. Rendering those slides to video is my current bump in the road. I have tried the built-in saving to MP4 and WMV. No luck.

I've tried to record using the add-in Camtasia recorder. Zilch.

One of the tools I could use (and paid cash money for) is Adobe Voice. It does work very well and quickly. The bugaboo with that is it will not store the video locally and the Adobe servers are swamped with other creators. It is not a reliable way to present a video.

Some of the editing software I have will not see the PNG image files. Other video editing software will not animate them. 

There has to be a way to do this in a timely manner. So far I've wasted a lot of time. I think it can be done but haven't found what I need.

And that is part of the creating process. You slug it out. You sit with it. You curse and question your own worth but you figure it out.

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