animate

      set term gif animate {delay <d>} {loop <n>} {{no}optimize}}

The gif terminal animate option creates a single gif file containing multiple frames. The delay between display of successive frames may be specified in units of 1/100 second (default 5), but this value may or may not be honored accurately by a program used to view the animation later. The number of animation loops during playback can be specified, with the default of 0 meaning unlimited looping. Again this value may or may not be honored by the program later used for viewing. An animation sequence is terminated by the next set output or set term command.

Example showing continuous rotation:

     set term gif animate loop 0
     set output 'rotating_surface.gif'
     do for [ang=1:359] {
         set view 60, ang
         splot f(x,y) with pm3d
     }
     unset output

The optimize option [DEPRECATED] is passed to the gd library when the output file is opened. It attempts to reduce the size of the output file by saving incremental changes rather than full frames. Caveat: The implementation is known to be buggy. Do not use.