<p>The &quot;modern equivalent&quot; of animated GIFs is... MPEG. Or really, any decent movie compression format. These techniques are designed to spend fewer bits on static areas and more bits on moving ones. And better still, they're designed to be dynamic, allowing motion in any are at any time, rather than only in fixed areas.</p>
<p>So just make a short, looping movie of the &quot;background image&quot; you're trying to build. You may want to get into the details of the compression system you're working with, so that you can give lots of bits to the initial frame and fewer bits to moving areas.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-02-25T11:01:52.027Z
great thanks very much for this! Is it possible to fine tune these settings using something like ffmpeg or would i need to get 'down and dirty' with code?(something im not able to do due to lack of ability)
user2105725
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-02-22T22:55:48.060Z
2021-02-22T22:55:48.060Z
Nicol Bolas
<p>I am in the process of making a 'Game' using the Unity game engine which features pre-rendered 3d background images. Currently, we are using JPegs but I thought it would be nice to get some movement in them. I remembered Final Fantasy VII having really neat pre-rendered images with movement in them and researched it and they <a href="https://i.sstatic.net/uMQOI.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer">still look great</a>. the images on this site are gifs but I'm not sure what compression would have been used back then, very possibly gif. I seem to recollect that animated gifs only update the area of the image which actually changes which helps with compression. My question is: Is there a modern equivalent to animated gifs that would allow me to create high-quality background images with small areas of movement in them?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-02-22T22:52:37.813Z
"*very possibly gif.*" I rather doubt that. More than likely, they used an internally-developed compression technique, with animated areas just being overlays of a short, looping "movie" (much like Myst).
Nicol Bolas
<rendering><compression>
Creating high quality background images for a game which have small areas of moving detail
user2105725
# Creating high quality background images for a game which have small areas of moving detail

(Asked by: username_0 on 2021-02-22)

I am in the process of making a 'Game' using the Unity game engine which features pre-rendered 3d background images. Currently, we are using JPegs but I thought it would be nice to get some movement in them. I remembered Final Fantasy VII having really neat pre-rendered images with movement in them and researched it and they [still look great](https://i.sstatic.net/uMQOI.jpg). the images on this site are gifs but I'm not sure what compression would have been used back then, very possibly gif. I seem to recollect that animated gifs only update the area of the image which actually changes which helps with compression. My question is: Is there a modern equivalent to animated gifs that would allow me to create high-quality background images with small areas of movement in them?

**Tags:** rendering, compression

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: "*very possibly gif.*" I rather doubt that. More than likely, they used an internally-developed compression technique, with animated areas just being overlays of a short, looping "movie" (much like Myst).  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2021-02-22. Score: 2

The "modern equivalent" of animated GIFs is... MPEG. Or really, any decent movie compression format. These techniques are designed to spend fewer bits on static areas and more bits on moving ones. And better still, they're designed to be dynamic, allowing motion in any are at any time, rather than only in fixed areas.

So just make a short, looping movie of the "background image" you're trying to build. You may want to get into the details of the compression system you're working with, so that you can give lots of bits to the initial frame and fewer bits to moving areas.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: great thanks very much for this! Is it possible to fine tune these settings using something like ffmpeg or would i need to get 'down and dirty' with code?(something im not able to do due to lack of ability)  

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