GIF to AVI with windows Animate Control

Question

I was trying to convert a GIF image (Ajax waiting like):

to AVI that will be used with TAnimate control (win32 animation control).

I have tried a few tools, but the problem is that the output AVI is either not suitable for the Animation control or not transparent.

Notes:

• I don't use windows XP Themes manifest (D5). the Common Avi's are transparent even if my program is not themed.
• Using the GIF itself to show animation is not an option.

Do you know any tool that can help me with this conversion?

EDIT:

I have tried using ImageMagic with ffmpeg as described here. but I can't seem to set ffmpeg to encode to msrle.

Answer 1

Jasc Animation Shop is able to directly read an animated GIF and write out a compressed AVI. This is an old program that appears to be no longer offered by Corel (who acquired Jasc), but you may still be able to find the free trial version for example.

Answer 2

You could try the TGIFImage component (written for Delphi 5), which claims not only to support Animated GIFs, but also Transparency, as well as a means of converting a GIF to an AVI (and vice-versa).

Whether it does all that or not I cannot say as I haven't personally tested it. Like TLama mentioned in the OP comments above, I use my own means of playing each frame in an animated fashion (only mine uses a RES file and a TImage, where each frame is stored as a PNG for full semi-transparency support).