Hi, first off, your gifs are incredible! They are so stunning, I'm in awe. I was wondering if you would be willing to share your process (without going into your personal settings, as I know that is likely private and not usually to be shared). Thank you very much.
okay, so funny i got this message because i was genuinely about to start working on a post to release my gif action, so thank you anon because you can officially consider this:
LEXI'S BIG BAD GIF MAKING TUTORIAL:
**(at least the way she gifs)
disclaimer: i use a mac so some of my settings might differ but should be retroactively the same.
1.download the media you're looking for. i use t*rrents and various accounts that post downloads. if you want to know what i use specifically, come to me off anon and i'll share them with you for legal purposes lmao. for reference, i'm using the film companion (2025) and sophie thatcher as my subject for the gifs.
2.once the media has downloaded on my laptop, i start creating folders for what i need. i leave one for 'clips' which are, you guessed it, for clipping and 'sophie gifs' for storing the gifs in one spot.
3. from there, i will open the file with the media i downloaded and start my clipping process. personally, i clip little by little for the sake of my storage so i usually clip every ten minutes in one minute increments, finish the set of gifs, and then move onto the next ten minutes of the media until i'm finished.
4. quicktime player is pre-installed on my mac so i don't have to use any external features for this, and trim as needed.
5. once i've clipped everything, this is how my 'clips' folder usually looks. imagine there's usually more, but i only clipped a couple for tutorial sake!
6. now for the fun part, we can finally open photoshop!
7. i usually the videos frames to layers to make my gifs, so you'll go to file -> import -> video frames to layers
8. from here, i'll use those little cursor bits to pick out what i want to gif.
9. and now we're finally in. this is what my personal setup looks like. if you're working with a default version, you'll want to play around with what you like, but you will absolutely need to have your actions, layers, properties, and timeline checked. you can find these in the window tab if they are unchecked.
10. now i'm going to apply my action by clicking on 'lexi's big bad gif action' and hitting the play button.
11. when this pops up, just hit cancel.
12. now we're going to highlight all of our layers by using shift + select. then right click and 'convert to smart layers'. your layers should now be condensed.
13. now we're going to go back to our actions. see how the smart sharpen is highlighted now? play that and just hit okay through the sharpening.
14. ooh, pretty! i apply my base coloring psd which looks wonky as hell because it isn't colored for this specific clip.
15. i'll open up that coloring folder and get to work. here are the specific colors i used, but all of this is going to be based on what you are coloring in specific.
16. now we're just going to crop and resize to our liking. i prefer my gifs to be 268x151 for gif packs!
17. look at that, you have a gif! from here, we'll save from web and i'll show you the way i have my settings for exporting. you can save from web by going to file -> export -> save for web.
18. it'll automatically throw you into a filter that says optimized, which i switch back to original.
19. now i'm just gonna save this to my 'sophie gifs' folder.
once you export, you'll have a little guy like this:
that's my entire process from start to finish. i've also compiled my action + base coloring in the source link! i truly do not believe that gifmaking or making gif packs should be gatekept, so if you need any help at all, please reach out to me and i'd love to hold you hand along the way!
HOW TO GET YOUR OWN SCREENCAPS FOR MAKING ICONS / GFXs / ETC.
being able to find pre-made icons of whomever you want to roleplay as can be nothing short of tedious, right? well, that's why i've put it upon myself to make this tutorial! because idk about you guys but i prefer making my own icons because mine are all 150 x 65 because i simply like and prefer rectangular icons to square icons. so let's get down to business, yeah? and like pretty much all of my lengthy tutorials, this will be under a READ MORE.
STEP 1: PROGRAMS
the main program you'll need for this is VLC Media Player. the reason for this is because it has a built-in feature that allows you to screencap any video you play. now if you're roleplaying as a video game character and you need the cutscenes from said game ( or video game movies as i call them if they're all together in one video ) then i definitely recommend you getting 4K Video Downloader. the free version allows you to download up to 30 videos / day for free whereas the license grants you an unlimited # of downloads / day off of youtube.
STEP 2: THE SETUP
after you've install VLC Media Player, get it going and go to Tools > Preferences. once you've done that something like this should pop up.
now do me a solid and click All in the box that's highlighted in the red box. by doing so will result in this popping
now scroll all the way down to where you see Video and then click on Filter. once done you'll have this pop up.
once you have this window up scroll the sidescroll all the way to the right until you see Scene filter video. it'll be third from the top as highlighted down below. check it and then click Save.
STEP 3: WE'RE ALMOST THERE
so once you hit Save, the box closes. there's nothing to freak out or worry about because that's perfectly normal. what we're gonna do now is have you go to ... like ... your Pictures folder and make a folder named after whatever you're getting screencaps for. if you're needing screencaps for, say, crisis core reunion then you'll create a new folder and name it something like ... say ... Crisis Core Reunion Screencaps. now do me a favor and double click on the folder so that you're now actually in it. you'll see why in a minute.
i need you to go back to Tools > Preferences > All > Videos in VLC Media Player. once you do that i need you to click on the little > right next to Filter so that a little drop down menu will pop up. it'll look a little something like this.
now scroll all the way down until you see Scene filter and click on that. once you've clicked on it this window will pop up.
remember when i told you to keep that folder up and running for Crisis Core Reunion Screencaps? well, this is where it comes into play! click on where it says This PC > Pictures > Crisis Core Reunion Screencaps , highlight everything , and the press CTRL + C to copy it. and for those of you wondering ... ... ... ... ... it'll look a little something like this: C:\Users\PROFILE\Pictures\RP Stuff\References. that's perfectly normal!
now i want you go pay close attention to the box i have highlighted down below. why? because the original number they had for the Recording ratio is ridiculous. switching the number to 1 means that it'll take one ( 1 ) screencap every second! and the number of screencaps you'll have will determine how long your video game movie is.
now you're probably wondering why the Directory path prefix is empty. of course you are. why wouldn't you be wondering it? well, that's where you're putting the directory for the directory path you just copied earlier! click on the empty box and press CTRL + V to paste it. once finished, click save and you're good to go.
STEP 4: GETTING THE ACTUAL SCREENCAPS
now that you've gotten all of the hard stuff done and out of the way, this is when you click on Media > Open file and then click on that Crisis Core Reunion movie you downloaded using 4K Video Downloader. once you have that going, the screencapping will commence and all you have to do is just minimize VLC Media Player and go on your merry way until the "movie" is done!
this is all you have to do to get screencaps. and all you have to do every time you want to get screencaps for something super specific is to make a folder for said thing, copy the directory path, and paste it into the Directory path prefix.
i'm hoping this tutorial was simple enough and easy to understand for y'all!
- basic formatting knowledge (here’s a tutorial with shortcuts)
- this website
- a lil bit of patience
if you find this helpful consider buying me a coffee!✨☕
just start off with the very basics. Or however you write your replies. I don’t know your life. This is just an example post.
now you format it! add icons, bold/italicize words, add links, headers, etc. I guarantee it will be easier to do this now than in HTML (which will be next).
spicy, right? Now for the HTML bit. If you don’t know how to get to that, no worries, it’s right here!
sweet. now once you are in HTML format it’s going to look like this which unless you know code (which i dont lmao) is going to look like a fucking mess. Fear not! just locate the part you want to color in (and if it’s a lot of text try ctrl+f) and copy it. Then you take it to THIS SITE
pick the colors you want here
and then hit the RUN button to make it work.
then you simply COPY the bottom part, and PASTE from where the original text was.
Hit preview to make sure it worked
And boom, you got some fancy colored text with only basic knowledge of code!
many of us seem to be struggling with a minor bug when it comes to typing out our responses on tumblr using the BTE. the biggest one i've come to notice is when we make our replies small. it's super common for the BTE to hardcore glitch and have the last couple of letters regular sized while the rest of the response is small. here is an example:
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Aliquam eros leo, feugiat sit amet massa at, dapibus consectetur massa. Aliquam eget metus nec dolor efficitur sodales faucibus interdum dolor. Maecenas mollis justo euismod varius dictum. Etiam scelerisque erat vitae est hendrerit, a maximus justo tempor.
idk about you but i find that to be pretty annoying but that's just me.
another problem is that, for some odd reason, we're not able to do a form of "indentation" when typing out our responses on here via the BTE. why? idk. i really don't. now when i say "indentation" i mean like how one does when writing a research paper for school or writing out a fanfic. you know ... something like this:
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Aliquam eros leo, feugiat sit amet massa at, dapibus consectetur massa. Aliquam eget metus nec dolor efficitur sodales faucibus interdum dolor. Maecenas mollis justo euismod varius dictum. Etiam scelerisque erat vitae est hendrerit, a maximus justo tempor.
so what i honestly recommend doing is to just type all of your responses on Roleplay Formatter. the reason for this is because Roleplay Formatter is what many coders and graphic designers call WYSIWYG. for those of you wondering, WYSIWYG stands for What You See Is What You Get. this is very beneficial for those of us who code, do gfx, and whatnot because it helps us get a better idea on what to expect for the end result.
it's super easy to use and i honestly can't recommend it enough. really. and not only that but you can use hell of a lot more colors for your text through there than on here where you only get eight options to choose from. all you need is a website that gives you the color hex and you're golden. here's a couple of sites i recommend you using for getting color hexes:
so i made a tutorial in the past explaining how to do add color to your text on my previous blog @shinsources but unfortunately it's no longer active. and not only that but i found it a bit complicated so i'm gonna go ahead and remake it. the things you will need will be Beta Text Editor, Roleplay Formatter, and a website that provides you with color hexes. here are a couple that i recommend using:
encycolorpedia
color-hex
wikipedia ( a - f ) ( g - m ) ( n - z )
so the reason you have to use BTE is because colored text is only available in BTE and not LTE. and the reason i recommend you using Roleplay Formatter is because the number of options BTE supplies us with is ... uh ... limited, to put it bluntly. we literally only get eight colors which sucks. but whatever. eight is better than nothing i guess. idk.
anyways! let's get to the actual tutorial, yes? because it's relatively long i'mma throw everything under a READ MORE for simplicity's sake.
now all you have to do is type out your response on Roleplay Formatter, highlight the text you want to color, and then select color text font as shown down below.
once you click on that the image on the top will pop up. i need you to do me a favor and click on more options which will trigger the image on the bottom to pop up.
now obviously you're gonna want to pick out your color in advance because that'll make things 1,000,000 times easier in the long run. i'mma choose emerald green because that's what i use for my ulquiorra blog over @segnuda ( shameless self promo ). the color hex for emerald green is #50C878 for any of you wondering, fyi. you will do like i did in the image on the top and paste it in the second or bottom box. once you do that you click on okay and it will turn out like it does in the image on the bottom.
now i recommend you going ham and doing anything fancy shmancy with your text — bold, italics, strikethrough, small font, etc. — because who doesn't like fancying up their writing, right? i decided to make my text small ( in which you click on Styles until you see Small and click on that ) and bold / italicize / underline the first line as seen in the image on the top. once you get everything to your likings click on Source as highlighted in the image on the bottom.
NOTE: don't pull a me and actually underline your stuff because i forgot that BTE doesn't support underline. it won't register it at all.
once you've done that, you'll see something similar to the image similar to the one on the top. i need you to copy the whole entire source code via CTRL + C and then get onto tumblr followed by getting a text box open. i need you to do like i did in this tutorial here and completely backspace to where it goes from the middle image to the bottom image.
once done, click on the settings widget in the top right corner and go from Rich text to HTML as seen in the top image. it'll now look something like the image in the middle. after you've done that, paste the code you just copied and it'll look a little something like the one on the bottom.
when done you'll click on the settings widget again and go from HTML to Rich text. once done it'll look a little something like this!
literally all you have to do now is add any icons you want and the whole nine yards then you're good to go! simple as that!
i remember seeing a post a while back that @rpclefairy made talking about keeping your background white when making gfx. this is 100% beneficial and accurate! one reason i recommend doing this is because even though you might be using dark mode on your dash which makes your post background #222222, your post background is still white on your actual profile via dash mode. which leaves me with why i made this post in the first place ... ... ... ... ...
i recommend not only having a dummy background that is strictly #ffffff but also have a background for whatever theme palette you're currently using. the reason i personally recommend this is because it gives you an idea on how your icons, dividers, etc. will look on whatever theme palette you're currently using. down below is a list of colors that each palette uses via post background:
TRUE BLUE - #ffffff
DARK MODE - #222222
LOW CONTRAST - #36465d
CEMENT - #e9e9e9
CYBERNETIC - #222222
CANARY - #fafac8
GHOST - #ffffff
VAMPIRE - #222222
PUMPKIN - #221000
SNOW BRIGHT - #ffffff
GOTH RAVE - #0c0c0c
PRIDE - #ffffff
i still strongly recommend you using #fffff ( white ) / #000000 ( black ) / #222222 ( dark gray ) because white & black contrast each other and then we have the dark gray that's used in dark mode along with cybernetic and vampire. either way it gives you a general idea on how it's going to look in whatever theme palette you're using. however, like stated in rpclefairy's post, make sure to use white as your default dummy background color because your eyes can and will trick you otherwise!
NOTE: because my other blog got term.i.na.ted i thought i'd go ahead and copy / paste this into a post on here and give a more clear and better understanding of everything.
as some of you are aware, anyone who makes a blog on or after of november 26, 2022 are unable to use LTE. if you've made a blog prior to this update, you will see an option to switch between BTE and LTE in the top right corner of their browser. it would look something like this for those who do have it:
what this means is that the staff is on the roll with fully implementing and enforcing the BETA TEXT EDITOR on everyone. not only that but i'm going to assume that they're going to be making a site wide update within the next month or two ( march at the very latest ). what this means is that literally everybody is going to be forced to use the BTE whether they want to or not.
and not only that but it's gotten to the point to where the new xkit is slowly but surely breaking for people because of how outdated it is and the staff enforcing us to use the BETA TEXT EDITOR. so i definitely recommend y'all going ahead and embracing BETA TEXT EDITOR as well as getting xkit rewritten for when the day actually make the site wide update for literally everybody.
so with that being said, here are a couple of addons i recommend y'all getting:
limit checker: this is an absolute life saver. i kid you not. it tells you the number of asks you sent as well as text / video / videos / etc. posts you've made among a few other things. it's super neat.
mass deleter: unfortunately this only deletes stuff from your drafts and queue but it's definitely worth getting if you have tons of stuff and / or are a hoarder.
mass unliker: i like to sort through my likes every once in a while tbh but if it gets out of hand and you tend to have 8,645,132,154,568 likes then feel free to use this so that you don't have to go through each and every thing in your likes.
mutual checker: do i really need to explain this one?? being able to see who you're moots with via dash is 1,000,000 times easier than going to your followers and CTRL + F nonstop.
tag replacer: having a mass tag replacer is, without a doubt, an absolute life saver. this is especially useful for us roleplayers who tend to change our aesthetics from time to time and have updated our tags. and even if you don't change your tags regularly it's still worth getting this.
tag tracking+: this lets you know when you've been tagged in something!! ah!! 10 out of 10 love it.
timestamps: this is a must for just about all of us in the tumblr rpc. it lets us know when those we follow / moots have posted! so that definitely helps out a lot. it also allows you to choose between the standard format and iso 8601 format, so there's that!
trim posts: thankfully this addon isn't as confusing as it was when first implemented. thankfully it's a lot more user friendly and easier to use now! but keep in mind that you cannot trim legacy posts in this. all replies have to be strictly done in BTE otherwise it's a one-sided editing spree. no exceptions.
there are a bunch of other little addons you can pick from as well but these are some that i use and can't seem to recommend enough tbh!
