a really nice anon requested a gif sharpening tutorial (referring to this gifset) and I’m only too happy to oblige! First off, I’d like to credit this tutorial for the base sharpen settings and PiXimperfect on YouTube for this sharpening tutorial and action - I can’t explain the principles as well as he does, so please do watch the video! For more gifsets from me, see my sideblog here.
You’ll need:
Any version of Photoshop with Timeline - I’m using CC 2018 (I’m currently exploring the version without timeline, send me an ask if you’re interested and I can update you).
Basic giffing knowledge. I currently use the load files into stack method, but most gifmakers I know use the video timeline method. Here’s a good giffing tutorial by @marysberry and another good giffing and coloring tutorial by @bestmistake.
As an aside, the best thing I’ve discovered through this is that you can make gifs out of higher-end 480p quality gifs. See this set from a bootl*g I got online. They won’t be as amazing as 4k or 1080p gifs, but they’re great for stuff where you really cannot get the best quality. This point clarifies that you do not need a 2160p or memory-heavy 1080p video in order to use this sharpening method.
Difficulty: ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆ if doing manually, ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ if using the actions. This works best with portrait shots, i.e. a gif focusing on about one to three people as this sharpening tool really benefits the outline of the subjects more than anything else.
The rest of the tutorial is (very screenshot heavy and) under the cut!
[1] Making your GIF (ft. Jonathan Bailey)
Make your gif through whatever method gets you to the video timeline. Just your usual - and if you have a regular sharpening that works relatively fine, you can use it here and skip [2]. Here’s what your layers tab, timeline tab, and working GIF may look like without any other edits:
[2] OPTIONAL: Smart Sharpen your GIF
For those who don’t have a regular sharpening... routine, this is how I do my basic sharpening. I will be using two different sharpens in this portion. Click on ‘Filter’ and find Sharpen. Hover your mouse on it and look for Smart Sharpen (shown below):
Click on it, and the window below should open. The first one I use is 500%, 0.3px, and Remove Gaussian Blur, but feel free to experiment as you wish:
the second smart sharpen I use is 10%, 10px, and Remove Gaussian Blur. Again, feel free to experiment. The ending GIF should be shown with the label “Smart Sharpen x2″ towards the end of this tutorial:
[3] Use what I call the “Vivid Sharpen” to further sharpen your GIFS
Normally you’d stop at [2] and be ready to post or do whatever else with your GIF. I do this extra sharpen because not all GIFs look great when posted here (particularly those downloaded off YT, bilibili, dailymotion, what have you, or bootl*gs as mentioned above). I got a relatively nice-looking video, but this will still help make the gif look sharper.
First off, duplicate your GIF layer twice. I use the Right Click on Layer and Click Duplicate Layer method because it works best for my timeline, but a good old Ctrl+J on Windows (Cmd+J on Mac if I’m not mistaken) should work. Just make sure all three layers are aligned like so:
Turn off the visibility of the uppermost layer (mpv-shot0090.png copy 2 here; see below) Click on the second layer (mpv-shot0090.png copy in this case) and change its blending mode to Overlay. This is what the layer should look like:
Now turn the topmost layer (mpv-shot0090.png copy 2) back on. Invert the layer by clicking Ctrl+I (that’s I, not L). This is what it should look like:
Now change the blending mode of this layer to Vivid Light. See results below:
Now click on Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur above. A window opens asking for the pixel amount. I usually enter in 3.0px but again, feel free to experiment. The GIF may now look overly sharpened, like so:
Group together the topmost layer and the layer just below that. This is important. I usually just highlight both layers and click on the folder icon at the bottom right corner. Once both layers are grouped together, set the group’s blending mode to overlay. This will remove the yellow spots you see above.
This is the last step for this version of sharpening. Set the opacity level of your sharpening group to what you think looks good. For 1080p source videos, I usually go for between 30-40% (I’m using 40% in the one below) opacity, but feel free to adjust according to what you like! For the 480p gifset I linked above, I used around 70%, give or take.
Here are the different results based on the sharpenings I did!
The only thing this last gif would require, in my opinion, is some coloring brighten everything up, but other than that, Jonny Bailey looks pretty crisp! This marks the end of a very long tutorial, which only takes a few seconds using the two sources I credited above (smart sharpens and vivid sharpening). Do let me know if you have other gif-related questions; send them either to me or @vaganov, my edits sideblog. Thank you!
