Can't 'Save as Optimized' in ImageReady

[Cosmic Average]

I'm running Windows XP with Photoshop and IR 7 on a Dell.

First, I created multiple layers of my animation in PS, saved it as a .PSD file, then opened it in IR. I created the animation layers, checked to make certain it was running correctly, saved it as .psd file, then saved it as a .gif file from the optimization que under the dropdown 'file' menu(it was 1.4 mb).

When I saved it as a .gif, the quality went down majorly(it saved the file as 170 kb), so I reopened the .psd file and changed the optimization preferences in the dropdown 'edit' menu, hoping that would work. Unfortunately, it made it worse and now anything I save as a .gif from IR is coming out blurred and in black and white.

How can I save my animation without losing any quality? I don't really care about file size. Thanks in advance.

[DarkSilver]

simply put....you can't

GIF is the only filetype for images you can use (aside from flash) to create animated images, unfortunatly, if you use complex images with over 256 colors, you *will* lose image quality.

There's no way to get around it, sorry.

[Cosmic Average]

Ah, damn.

Thanks for the quick reply.