The Tutorial!
First, Interesting
Now, onto the Gif Tutorial!!!
Ok, so this is a pretty simple tutorial. I assume you've got some knowledge of photoshop or other photo editing software. This isn't a how-to-animate guide, it just shows the steps you need to take in order to make a gif.
Tools:
-Photoshop (any version works)
-Virtual Dub (link)
-Amazing Photo Editor ( link)
Intro!
So pretty much, to make a gif, you're going to need software to compile images into a video and then convert the images into a gif. If you know anything about Vdub, you know that you can add a plugin to compile images into gifs instead of Avi's, but that is really complex, and I'm showing a shorter version. Gifs, by nature, will lower the quality of any video you convert to gif format. There are also other ways, such as gif programs, like adobe image ready which allow you to capture gifs in the program. I suggest DLing this program if you have access to it.
P.S. You found these just like I did, okay?
Adobe Photoshop 7.0 for PC
Photoshop 6 with imageready 3
Tutorial
So for those of you not using the image ready method above, you're going to start with Photoshop. Select an image size/canvas size to work with. If you're doing icons for LJ you should already know there's a 100x100 pixel limit to size. LJ gifs have to be very very small, but that has to do with the codec you use to compile an image to avi. Smaller avi's=smaller gifs
Anyways, make your animation. You've gotta do it frame by frame. If you're watching a video, you can use FRAPS to capture a small avi or you can screen cap each frame if you've got the right player. I use SMPlayer for that, which allow me to screenshot and move a frame forward.
After you've gathered ever image, and they've been scaled to the right size (make sure each is the same size in pixels), you've gotta save them. I usually save as bmp. However, Virtual dub will take png, bmp, jpeg, or even gifs, but you've gotta save each image as 1, 2, 3, 4, and so forth as they'd corespond to frame number. For general reference, average film runs at 24 frames per second. I think the human eye runs at about 42 frames per second, and virtual dub defaults to 29 frames per second, but you can change this. I suggest 24 frames per second. It's not much different than 29, but if you're using movie images, they'll run fast if you have it on 29 fps. But frames are something you need to plan on as you make the gif.
So, once you've got all of your images saved as they'd appear per frame, you're ready to move on to virtual dub. Run the virtual dub.exe. First, you're going to go into open video file>filename>image1.extension. It should show the frames at the bottom and an image of the video in the main view screen. Check to make sure it loaded properly, and all the frames are in the video clip. Click the triangle with the I under it, this will play a quick version of the video you're compiling. If everything is good, it's now time to adjust the settings and capture the avi. Click Video>Frame Rate, and then click the bullet that say Change Frame Rate to (fps), and put you're desired fps in that bar, then click okay. Next click Video>Compression. It's going to bring up a series of codecs which you have access to. Select from that list which codec you wish to use. The default makes a few second avi around a few hundred megs, and a minute long avi into a few gigs. This is bad. I tend to use fraps, Xvid, or Ligos. These usually make videos of a few kb's for a few seconds depending on the images' types (gif, jpeg, png, bmp, ?). Selecting Force Key Frames will give you frame loss, and you'll have resolution/video loss if you choose to limit the kbs/sec. Click okay when you're done. Now go to File>Save As AVI. It's going to go throught the naming process, etc, and then compile the images into a video. When it's done, run the avi in a video player to make sure it runs right.
Now you're going to convert your AVI into a GIF. This is where you use the Amazing Photo Editor. I don't like the program and only use it for Avi conversion. I recommend adobe's software, it's a bit more trustworthy. Anyways, you're going to open the program. Click Convert>AVI to GIF. Select the AVI, Click convert, then click Save GIF as, and you've got a Gif. Double click on the Gif. If you're default program to open images is paint or photoshop, right click it, then select open with> some video program like quicktime. If it runs great then you're done!
Now, onto the Gif Tutorial!!!
Ok, so this is a pretty simple tutorial. I assume you've got some knowledge of photoshop or other photo editing software. This isn't a how-to-animate guide, it just shows the steps you need to take in order to make a gif.
Tools:
-Photoshop (any version works)
-Virtual Dub (link)
-Amazing Photo Editor ( link)
Intro!
So pretty much, to make a gif, you're going to need software to compile images into a video and then convert the images into a gif. If you know anything about Vdub, you know that you can add a plugin to compile images into gifs instead of Avi's, but that is really complex, and I'm showing a shorter version. Gifs, by nature, will lower the quality of any video you convert to gif format. There are also other ways, such as gif programs, like adobe image ready which allow you to capture gifs in the program. I suggest DLing this program if you have access to it.
P.S. You found these just like I did, okay?
Adobe Photoshop 7.0 for PC
Photoshop 6 with imageready 3
Tutorial
So for those of you not using the image ready method above, you're going to start with Photoshop. Select an image size/canvas size to work with. If you're doing icons for LJ you should already know there's a 100x100 pixel limit to size. LJ gifs have to be very very small, but that has to do with the codec you use to compile an image to avi. Smaller avi's=smaller gifs
Anyways, make your animation. You've gotta do it frame by frame. If you're watching a video, you can use FRAPS to capture a small avi or you can screen cap each frame if you've got the right player. I use SMPlayer for that, which allow me to screenshot and move a frame forward.
After you've gathered ever image, and they've been scaled to the right size (make sure each is the same size in pixels), you've gotta save them. I usually save as bmp. However, Virtual dub will take png, bmp, jpeg, or even gifs, but you've gotta save each image as 1, 2, 3, 4, and so forth as they'd corespond to frame number. For general reference, average film runs at 24 frames per second. I think the human eye runs at about 42 frames per second, and virtual dub defaults to 29 frames per second, but you can change this. I suggest 24 frames per second. It's not much different than 29, but if you're using movie images, they'll run fast if you have it on 29 fps. But frames are something you need to plan on as you make the gif.
So, once you've got all of your images saved as they'd appear per frame, you're ready to move on to virtual dub. Run the virtual dub.exe. First, you're going to go into open video file>filename>image1.extension. It should show the frames at the bottom and an image of the video in the main view screen. Check to make sure it loaded properly, and all the frames are in the video clip. Click the triangle with the I under it, this will play a quick version of the video you're compiling. If everything is good, it's now time to adjust the settings and capture the avi. Click Video>Frame Rate, and then click the bullet that say Change Frame Rate to (fps), and put you're desired fps in that bar, then click okay. Next click Video>Compression. It's going to bring up a series of codecs which you have access to. Select from that list which codec you wish to use. The default makes a few second avi around a few hundred megs, and a minute long avi into a few gigs. This is bad. I tend to use fraps, Xvid, or Ligos. These usually make videos of a few kb's for a few seconds depending on the images' types (gif, jpeg, png, bmp, ?). Selecting Force Key Frames will give you frame loss, and you'll have resolution/video loss if you choose to limit the kbs/sec. Click okay when you're done. Now go to File>Save As AVI. It's going to go throught the naming process, etc, and then compile the images into a video. When it's done, run the avi in a video player to make sure it runs right.
Now you're going to convert your AVI into a GIF. This is where you use the Amazing Photo Editor. I don't like the program and only use it for Avi conversion. I recommend adobe's software, it's a bit more trustworthy. Anyways, you're going to open the program. Click Convert>AVI to GIF. Select the AVI, Click convert, then click Save GIF as, and you've got a Gif. Double click on the Gif. If you're default program to open images is paint or photoshop, right click it, then select open with> some video program like quicktime. If it runs great then you're done!