[Acer Iconia A500] JaeKar99:
Part II - Assembly

Patience is the greatest principle from this point on. Much of this takes time and practice to get all the variables to work the first time. Expect lots of trials and errors.

Step 1:

Download and install all the programs that are listed above.. then go hunting for the video images that you will want to use. Once you find the vid you want to turn into a boot animation you download it using the YouTube downloader.

Step 2:

Once you have the file you can use the Video to jpg Converter to break it into the number of images you desire; or you can put it into your video editor to adjust the length or add a caption.. Keep in mind that when importing process lowers the overall quality of the end image output. It is not really noticeable on a phone but makes many boots on a tablet it can appear grainy.

Things to consider; If you are cutting up a HD video each image will be very large in memory size and you may have to reduce the number of images that you have.. A really good number is ~100. Sometimes a 100 image sequence will 20+ megs in size. There is a trade off with larger numbers of images.. big images means really clear images, awesome colors and great resolution… but – slow load times, animations may start and stop, blackouts or freeze ups. To ensure smooth image flow and good load times I have always tried to keep all my animations under 5 megs. The absolute max on a tablet that will still flow is 9 megs. But this all depends on image color and density, black is always better.

Step 3:

Once you have your images procured you can edit them in batches: use Faststone to change the numbering in batches.. Android OS is nice enough that it will follow the established sequence and will keep playing even if you leave a number out.. You can also do batch changes in file format from jpg to png. This program is nice for this process because it does not degrade the integrity of the image.

I recommend any image editing be done in batches as well.. I use Microsoft Picture editor to select all the images at once and then crop as I need to.. Warning: if you crop either left or right side of the image the corresponding crop has to occur on the opposite side. The same applies to the top and bottom of the image. If you cut 10 pixels off the top you have to cut 10 off the bottom. If the crop is not symmetrical your images will play skewed and you it will look like your boot animation shifted diagonally to one side or the other.. or will not play at all.

If you do not crop in batches it is very time consuming to crop each image.. If you have to color edit or colorize you will have to address each image individually.

Step 4:

When you feel that all your images are completely edited to your liking you can start to assemble the images into the boot animation. The bootanimation.zip file has to contain certain structures: Image Folders and the desc.txt file.

The folders that contain the images; each folder labeled so that when told to play it plays the specific folder first. Then a desc.txt file. This file is the commander for the os/kernel. (more on that later)

If you want to break up the images into different folders this is the time to do it. One folder can be made to be played one time where the next may loop over and over again.. There is no current limit on the number of images in any of the folders. Early phones had caps of about one meg per folder. I have not found this to be the case with any Android system after 2.1.

Folder labeling – really does not matter as long as the desc.txt file contains the direction to that specific folder in it. Almost all boot builders will use ‘part0’, ‘part1’, ‘part2’… etc. as respective names for the folders. It is usually helpful to set up a working folder where your images are located and then drop your images there for editing.. you can then change the name to the desired folder in the boot sequence.

Step 5:

The desc.txt file

: This is where most errors take place if they are going to happen to prevent a boot from playing first time. Using Notepad ++ open an existing file from a boot that you have already.. you will notice that there a few lines of code :

Line 1: The first two numbers on line one are the resolution and the third is the frames per second to play the image sequence

Line 2: Left blank. Some boot builders put a blank line in here for unknown reasons. I have found that it is not needed but you can keep it in if you choose.

Line 3: p = play, 1 = number of times to play, 0 = pause in the number of frames/second, part0 = the folder containing the image files chosen for that section. Note: spelling must match identically with the folder name.

Line 4: p = play, 0 = (0 infinite) number of times to play, 0 = pause in the number of frames/second, part1 = the folder containing the image files chosen for that section. Note: spelling must match identically with the folder name.

Line 5: ALWAYS LEFT OPEN. If you do not have an open last line the line preceding it will NOT play work and the boot will stop playing.. or will not play at all.

The desc.txt file for a boot animation that will loop only one folder:

1 1285 805 35

2

3 p 0 0 part0

4

The desc.txt file for a boot animation that will play the first folder one time then loop the second folder:

1 1285 805 35

2

3 p 1 0 part0

4 p 0 0 part1

5

Step 6:

When you have your folders and your desc.txt file assembled you should move all of that to what I call a working folder and then select them using 7zip.. then zip them up… IMPORTANT!!! DO NOT compress the files.. they are to be ‘stored’ – to a file called ‘bootanimation.zip’.. if it is compressed in any fashion it will not work.. You also cannot open the archive and then drag and drop files to it. You must compile the file each time from the folder(s) and the desc.txt file.. and zip it. If you opt to go the drag n drop route it will not work.

Copy over to your device and try it..

Expect many attempts that do not work the first time.... do not give up.

There is an example boot attached.. it is set up to loop only the first folder (part0) - and the the desc.txt file is set to run it correctly.. the part0 folder contains only a few image files. Please feel free to download and use the example for parts.