Photoshop is definitely the best to make gifs these days--it has a lot of great features and is generally unparalleled. That being said, it can definitely be difficult to download without purchasing, and most of us don’t have enough money to buy it legally. I know that I’ve struggled to find photoshop downloads for my Mac, and for a while, I thought I wouldn’t be able to make quality gifs. I played around with GIMP a little bit, but I found it quite difficult to use, there were no good gif plugins that worked on Mac, and I couldn't find any tutorials that produced high quality, photoshop-like gifs. So, I have come up with a way to make gifs involving little downloading and primarily two websites.
The first step is to find a high-quality video that you want to make into a gif. THIS IS CRUCIAL! We’re going to need as much quality as we can get, especially since we’re moving our gif around from website to website rather than keeping it in one place. I was able to use a torrented version of Thor: The Dark World that my friend found. I then used command-shift-5 on my Macbook to take a video screenshot of the segment in the film that I wanted. I believe in Windows 10, you would press Win+Alt+R, but I’m not sure. Depending on what device you’re using, even mobile devices, you should be able to easily record your screen. If not, there are plenty of free programs that let you do this, such as this one.
Once you’ve got your video, go to this website to convert it to a gif. .MOV and .MP4 files work best. I set it to 540 px, 10 FPS, 5 seconds that I liked, and clicked convert.
Now that you have your gif, download it and open it in the website photopea. This website has many photoshop like features and can open PSD files. It is definitely the best website I’ve found so far for opening PSDs.
I deleted every other frame to condense my video down to only 22 frames. This is optional, but will make your gif faster and smaller in size. Remember, you cannot upload a gif to Tumblr that exceeds 3.1 MB, or else Tumblr will compress it for you and make it look very low quality.
Select all the layers at once by holding down shift as you click from the top layer to the bottom and play around with them until the gif looks bright and sharp. I personally chose:
Filter: Noise: Add Noise... : 3%
Filter: Sharpen: Smart Sharpen: 15%, 1.5px
Image: Adjustment: Exposure: 1.4
If you want more edits, download a PSD from a photoshop resources page such as this one and open it in photopea. Drag the folder with the PSD over to the tab with your gif to place it on top of the gif.
To add text, just click the T button on your left and place a text layer on top of your gif. Make sure it ends up on top of your frames. Pick a simple font with the color white and rasterize the layer when you’re done by going to Layer: Rasterize. To add a black border around the text, go to Edit: Stroke, and select your preferences. For a gif of 540 px, I think 3px of a black border is more than enough.
Now you’re done! Export your file as a gif and upload to Tumblr :)
Hey! Just wanted to say I love your edits. Your gifs are always so HQ and vibrant, they're so pretty! I was just wondering if you'd be willing to share the PSD's you use or do a tutorial on how you get your gifs to look so amazing? I just recently learned to gif and would love to be able to get my gifs looking as crisp and sharp as yours. Thanks in advance for anything you share!
Thank you SO MUCH! I usually think the quality of my gifs aren’t that great compared to some others, so it’s nice to know people like them!
I’m going to try and make a tutorial of how I make my gifs, because I actually use a method that I haven’t seen anyone make a tutorial for.
Also, if you like a coloring, i’d be happy to give you psds. I don’t save all of them but I have a bunch of base psds that I use. I always use my own, but I do take some inspiration from other people (which I will always credit before giving a psd away)
GIF TUTORIAL
Putting the tutorial under the cut if you want to see it!
This is the gif i’ll be making
A couple things about my gifing situation first. #1 - I use a mac #2 - I’m operating on photoshop cs4#3 - you need to be able to use quicktime player (for mac/ for windows)
Alrighty, lets get started!
PART 1 - Screen Recording!
1 - finding a good quality clip is SO important. ALWAYS use a 1080p if possible. The great thing about quicktime is that you can screen record literally anything. For example, for my parks and rec gifset I screen recorded right from Netflix. For this tutorial I am going to recreate one of those gifs.
2 - Okay, now we’re gonna screen record the clip! Make sure your web browser with netflix or your video is minimized. The screen record won’t work well if its recording too much of your screen.
example:
3 - Now open quicktime and we’re going to click file > screen record
4) Hit the record button (don’t worry, it doesn’t record yet!) We still want to select only part of the screen!
5 - Now just drag a box over the part of your screen that you want to record. When that’s ready just click ‘start recording.’ You CAN just click to record the whole screen, but I don’t recommend it.
6 - when you’re done recording what you want (I wouldn’t record more than a minute because it’s going to be more difficult when we get to the actual gif making) just click the stop button which will be on the top menu bar.
7 - It will then prompt you to save the video. I just save mine as whatever I want and save it to my desktop, but do whatever works for you!
ALRIGHT, now time for the actual making of the gif! I won’t be showing how I do my coloring in this because it will legit make this post a million years long. But again, if you like a psd I use just message me and I’ll send you a link. Or maybe i’ll even make a psd post in the future ;P Okay, onward!
PART 2 - Making the Gif
1) Open your file
2) Your screen should look like this! If you’ve never made a gif before and don’t already have the animation bar open, all you have to do is click ‘window’ in the menu bar and make sure ‘animation’ is checked and that its on ‘animation (timeline)’
3) Now we want to trim the clip to only what we want in our gif. Its in second format, so make sure your clip isn’t more than four seconds (if its a 245 px gif) or 1.75 seconds (if its a 500 px gif) to trim the clip to where you want to gif use the blue arrow to scan through the clip and the two blue brackets to make the parameter. Sorry, if this is confusing you can message me and i’ll give you more explanation.
4) Now we’re ready to crop the clip! My size for this gif is 245 x 140 (with 72 resolution) I’ve highlighted to crop tool so just make sure that’s clicked and drag a box around the area you want to crop to!
5) Alright, to the sharpening! I use basically the same sharpening as everyone else on tumblr tbh, but just incase, here’s a step by step! filter > sharpen > smart sharpen
6) My preset settings
7) Okay, after this step i’ve just dragged on my psd on to this new gif. Because we’re still in timeline rather than frame setting you don’t have to worry about the sharpening or psd being on every frame because it’s laid over the whole clip.
8) Now it’s time to render the clip! file > export > render video
9) Here are my rendering settings. They were already like this the first time I used it, but i’ve highlighted the most important parts in the picture below, so just double check those!
10) Next we’re going to import to layers! file > import > video frames to layers
11) Find your clip wherever you put it, and press ‘load’
12) Now make sure you have it limited to every two frames (very important so we don’t have choppy gifs. Smooth gifs are where it’s at! Just follow my settings below
13) Now your clip should be in frame format ‘animation (frames)’ It will always automatically make each frame .02 seconds which is WAY too fast, so that’s the first thing we change.
14) Click the icon on the opposite side of ‘animation (frames)’ on the bar above the frames and click ‘select all frames’ (pictured below)
15) We want to make our gif .06 which isn’t a preset option, so we have to click ‘other…’
16) and change it manually (make SURE its .06 and not .6)
17) Almost done! Now it’s time to Save for Web & Devices
18) Here are my settings! Make sure your gif isn’t more than 2 mb or else tumblr won’t allow it!
19) and FINALLY, we save it!
So I think thats it! I’ve never made a tutorial before, so please let me know if anything is really confusing!
1. Open photoshop, then go to file >> import >> video to layers
2. Click ‘Select Range Only’ and find the scene you wish to gif. Once you find the beginning, press & hold shift and use the scrubber bar or the arrows to select it in its entirety.
3. If not already open, go to Window >> Animation and open the animation bar.
4. Press the little button on the right corner of the Animation bar that looks like this
and then Select All Frames. After that, press the little black arrow on any frame
and change the frame delay to .06
5. Once that is done, convert all frames to timeline by pressing this button at the bottom right corner of the Animation bar.
After that, go to the layer’s palette and right click (or ctrl+click) and pick Select Similar Layers
And then, still on the layers palette, right click again (or crtl+click) and pick Convert to Smart Object
6. Go to Image >> Image Size...
to resize your gif to 540px (or 500px if you use the old dimension script), 250px (or 245px), or any other variation thereupon. You can also use the crop tool to do that too or cut down on the height whatever man play around.
7. Add your psd (make sure it is placed above your gif) and text (also above the gif) and sharpen as you see fit (Filter >> Sharpen >> Smart Sharpen) and use these settings
8. Once you’re done with all of that, to File >> Save for Web and Devices and make sure you have these settings
KEEP AN EYE OUT FOR YOUR GIF SIZE! It has to be below 2.0M. You can view it on the left under your gif.
If you find that your gif is too big, you can remove colors or, and this is the best way, delete frames by going back to the gif and moving the blue markers on the animation frame like so
by me for anyone who needs it, but requested by the lovely hayley.
[i apologize if there's a typo down there in the explanation, i'm a native spanish speaker, but i hope my instructions are as clear as possible. also, this took me quite a while to do so please, if you use this tutorial, please give it a reblog and a like to know this tutorial is useful.]
under the cut you'll find a detailed explanation of how i do my gifs, but keep in mind i use os x (mavericks) and therefore this tutorial might not be helpful for those who use pc or other platforms since there are other more simple screencapping programs for windows or linux; but still, everything mentioned here, works in every laptop.
you'll need:
patience (cause you gotta practice a few times)
photoshop (i use CS6 extended, and for the method, i recommend using the same. here's a link to a safe torrent)
avidemux 2.5.4 (link there, and i recommend using this version because it goes frame by frame, which is what we need, and as far as i'm aware, the new ones don't work like that. this download link also contains installation for windows)
lets get started!
Step 1: Once you've download your screencapper, you'd need to follow this tutorial to make it work if you're using mavericks in your os x (mac), if not, skip this.
Tutorial here.
Step 2: Open avidemux (you need to already have the video you want to use when you're on this step). You'll click this thing right here.
and once it opens, it shall look like this:
Step 3: Click the 'open' icon, and select the source of your gif, the video can be as long as you want, from a six second vine, to a full 3 hour movie, it doesn't matter.
and again, once selecting the video, click open.
Note: if you encounter this
always click 'NO'
or 'OK' depending the case.
Step 4: Once it opens, move the little dot thing in the line
and find the scene you want to gif.
If you're having trouble finding precisely where it starts, use this arrows
, cause they'll help you to go frame by frame.
Once that's done, and your cursor ball thingy is set in the frame you want your gif to start at, click this
and your window will look like this
Now, you see the blue selection area is huge, and we do not want to get all those many frames, so then you gotta move the cursor to the last frame you want for your gif and once its there, select this
and now your screen will look like this:
Step 5: Save the selection, for this you'll go to the upper bar and select "File > Save > Save Selection as JPG images..", and you can normally pick any folder you want for this, though, I do recommend using an specific folder for your screen caps so it's easier for further steps.
Step 6: Once your screencaps are saved, close avidemux and open photoshop. There, you go to the upper bar again and select
"File > Scripts > Load Files into Stack.." and it should look like this
Click browse, go to the folder where you saved your pictures, select all of the screencaps, click open, then okay, and let the pictures load. Then after a bit you shall have something like this:
See how all our screencaps are up there in the layers? Good, that's just what we need. Now you go click that thingy in the down left corner that says 'timeline' and it will pop up this:
Then you'll click on 'Create Video Timeline' and then you'll click on the bottom left corner again where you see this icon:
That will give you this:
So now you can see the frames. Okay, now go to the other bottom corner, right side, and click this thing:
Cause it will open this:
And you first wanna click where it says 'Make Frames From Layers' once that's done, click the icon that opens that list from above again and select 'Reverse Frames'; yes, it will be selectable once you have your frames. This will be the result
You're gonna need to change the timing in your gif or else, it will move so fast it won't even be worth all this trouble, so now you gotta select all your frames in that timeline, and click where it says '0 sec' it will open a list of preset timing but usually for tumblr, most users go for 'other' and then they introduce '0.05' or '0.06' depending on how fast you want your gif to go, and for animation the usual would be '0.04'
Once that's done, you can now resize your gif by clicking on 'Alt + Cmd + I' so you get this
Change the width or the height of your gif to your desired size, most users on tumblr use '245x141' for photosets, and for one big gif they can use '500x(anyheight)'. Here we'll make a small hq gif so we want to go for 245 in the width. After that, just click 'OK'. Your picture will now be small and almost ready to be sharpened and colored; but first you gotta convert the frames into a timeline by clicking this guy right here
(bottom left corner)
And now, you'll have this timeline with all the frames listed there, but we gotta convert them into a smart object to sharpen it, so now, you gotta select all the frames in 'Layers' and it will basically look like this
Once those are selected, right click on your mouse and select from the list 'Convert to Smart Object' and once that's done, the large list of layers will turn into this single smart object:
Step 7: Sharpening is easy, you just go to the upper bar and select 'Filter > Sharpen > Smart Sharpen'. Fool around with the cursors to get the sharpening you want, though, this are my settings in case you're curious
Step 8: Coloring is even more easy if you feel like playing around with the adjustments. I'll usually just fool around with the 'Curves' and sometimes with the 'Brightness & Contrast' when really needed. And whenever I feel fancy, I'll also play with the 'Hue & Saturation'. This step is really up to you and how you want your gif to look like, if super bright or dark or you can just easily download a PSD.
Step 9: Time to save your gif. For this you gotta remember that now, tumblr limits gifs to weigh 2MB the most, so I suggest you keep your gif under that size. To know that and save, you can either go to the upper bar and select 'File > Save For Web..' or if you're lazy like me, select in your keyboard: 'Alt + Cmd + Shift + S' and you'll get this window:
There you can see the size of your gif, mine is 1.13M
And also, do not forget to change this bar:
From 'Once' to 'Forever' so your gif works always.
Step 10: Click 'Save' and you'll finally have done your first gif. Mine looks like this:
I hope this was helpful, and if you need anything, my inbox is always open!
Mac Gif Tutorial (i'm not sure if it works with windows)
Hi ok so someone asked me to make a gif tutorial so here you go:
What I use:
QuickTime Player 7 Pro
Windows Download x
Mac Download x
Once you've downloaded those or if you already have it installed use this tutorial to turn your QuickTime Player 7 into Pro (if it doesn't work for you just put into youtube 'how to get quicktime 7 pro' but it worked fine for me so)
Perian (so you can play mkv files in QuickTime)
Download x
Photoshop (i think any version is fine i have CS6)
OK so once you've got all that installed or if you already had it you're going to open the video you want to gif. To do this find your video (it can be mp4 or mkv).
If its mp4 it should open into QuickTime straight away but if its mkv you have to double click on the video and click: Open With > Other
Then this or something similar should pop up:
In the search tool thingy at the top right corner type in 'QuickTime' and click the one that says 'QuickTime Player 7'.
Then your video should open.
OK so once you have your video open you need to go the the part where you want to gif and crop the video.
To crop the video we use these little marker thingys (I've dragged the second one along a bit so you see what i mean)
So you drag these markers to the part of the video you want to gif (make sure you crop the video to exactly what you want to gif, don't include any little bits before or after the bit you want or it will show up in the gif if that makes sense)
Then once you have the markers in the right place go to: Edit > Trim to Selection and it will crop the video.
Then you have to save the video. Go to: File > Save As and call it whatever you want.
Right thats QuickTime out of the way so open Photoshop.
To import the video into Photoshop to gif it go to: File > Import > Video Frames to Layers. Find your video by typing in what you called it and this should open:
These are the settings I have for it so I'd probably just leave it at that for yours too. Then just click ok and Photoshop will make your video into frames.
So i'm going to make my gif with a width of 245px so that it will fit into a photoset for tumblr.
I'm going to crop it to the size I want using this:
and then i'm going to resize my gif by going to: Image > Image Size and typing 245 into the top width box.
I'm then going to change the timing of my gif to 0.06 seconds.
Highlight all the frames like this:
Then click one of the little arrows next to the 0.04 sec thingy.
A little drop down menu should come up and select: Other and type '.06' into the box and it should set the timing of your gif.
So this is what my gif looks like atm:
Which looks ok but i want to add nice colour and things.
First I sharpen it by using these settings:
and i sharpen every frame.
Then I add colour.
My colouring process varies depending on each gif but for this gif I used:
Brightness/Contrast layer with brightness at +9 and contrast at -8
A curves layer
Vibrance layer with saturation set to +20
A colour balance layer with red set to +14, green set to +5 and blue set to +9
Another Brightness/Contrast layer with contrast set to +48
A levels layer
Again I don't have a set process for my colouring but in all my gifs I make sure to have a brightness/contrast, vibrance and a curves layer.
Once you're done to save your gif so it's ready for tumblr you go to: File > Save for Web
These are my settings for it:
Then click Save and you should be done.
Ok so this is my final result:
I don't think I missed anything out but if you have any questions or anything just ask ok thanks for listening good luck with giffing xoxo
ugh ok for some reason the gifs aren't moving in this tutorial for me but they should be moving but you get the gist with the colouring and stuff right ok? ok sorry lol this is embarrassing
and here we are! due to popular request, a gif tutorial for photoshop CS6/mac users. this is a bit of a continuation of my other gif tutorial for CS5/windows, meaning you can mix and match the tutorials for whatever versions you're using! both tutorials are divided into two parts, capping & creating, so if you're capping your gif with a mac and creating it with CS5, follow the capping part of this tutorial and the creating part of the other one!
CAPPING - MAC
first, download vlcplayer and a file of the video you want to gif, i would recommend using 720p clips for higher quality but it's not necessary!
open your video in vlcplayer and go to just before the part you want to gif. on the file menu under playback, drag the "playback speed" down to 0.31 or so. now go to VLC>preferences>hotkeys and find "take video snapshot", change the hotkey to something simple like "A" and press save. now go back to preferences and under the video heading find "video snapshots" and choose where you want them to save to.
go back to your video and press play, it should start going in slowmotion. now hold down the hotkey you chose to take video screenshots for the durration of the clip you want giffed. [usually the video will start playing normally, stop, and then start again in slow motion!] continue to "creating".
CREATING - CS6
open photoshop, go file>scripts>load files into stack>browse and find the folder your caps were saved to. select the frames you want to gif, i try to keep the number between 10-20 depending on what size of gif i'm making. if you've taken more than that, then try to select the frames with the most content in them. select them by holding down shift and hit okay. let them all load and this is what you should have:
now since i'm making a square gif to go in a gifset i'm going to go image -> image size -> height: 245 [if you want just a normal gif go width: 500] and hit okay. then i'm going to go image -> canvas size -> width: 245 to make a nice little square. now it's time to sharpen your gif. so go filter -> sharpen -> smart sharpen -> these settings, after you do this once just press ctrl+f to repeat the action. go through the layers and sharpen each one.
now let's open the timeline [window>timeline] and click "create video timeline". you should have something like this:
click the three squares in the bottom left corner to convert it to a frame animation. on the far right of the bar is another icon that has a drop down menu. click it and select "make frames from layers", click it again and "reverse frames"
now, select all your frames by holding down tab and using the drop down menu next to "0 sec" change the frame delay, i always put mine at 0.13 so press the "other" button and type it in. finally, change the "once" repeat to "forever".
your close to being done! add on a psd if you like [make sure it's visible on the first frame!] and press play to see how it looks! now go file>save for web and put your settings to something like this, if the gif is over 1M you can reduce the size by lowering the colors or reducing the number of frames.
and you're done! if you have any questions please check my gifhelp tag, if it hasn't already been answered please shoot me an ask!
