Tutorial: Creating GIFs (Mac)
Applications
I. Preface
Instead of screen capping a scene from a movie or television show to make GIFs, I personally like to use video because of its accuracy in capturing a moment and I find it to be less time consuming. I mainly use 720p or 1080p MKV video files when I make GIFs because of their image quality. Unfortunately MKV files will not open in Photoshop so they will need to be converted to MOV/MP4/M4V/etc. If the file is already Photoshop-ready, you can skip to the next part if you wish or you can trim your MOV/MP4/M4V/etc. file as well.
II. Trimming & Converting
Open the video file in QuickTime X. It will take awhile to load depending on how big the file is. Once it is loaded select Trim (Edit > Trim) to trim the file to a particular scene. The trim does not need to be exact. It will be fixed up in Photoshop later.
For this guide I'm going to use a scene from Justified.
After the file is trimmed, save it by selecting File > Export. Now I have a video file that is compatible with Photoshop.
Caveats: If the video file has subtitles enabled I use MKVToolNix to remove them. On QuickTime Pro subtitles can be turned off through Window > Show Movie Properties. Find "Text Subtitle" under the Format column. Uncheck its box.
If the MKV file does not load, I will open it in QuickTime Pro and follow the same process. If that doesn't work, my last option is to use a screen recorder (Screenflick) to record the scene and save it. Unfortunately neither of these applications is freeware.
III. Introduction of Animation Window
Now it's time to open the file in Photoshop (File > Open). Go to Window > Animation if the Animation window is not open.
If you haven't used Animation Timeline before here is a little guide to help you figure out where everything is.
When a video file is opened the Animation Window should automatically be in Timeline Animation. If it's in Frame Animation, click on the animation button in the bottom-right corner to switch it to Timeline.
Click on the Animation Menu, which is located in the top-right corner of the Animation window and select Panel Options. Under Timeline Units select 'Frame Number'. I prefer this because it helps me narrow down the frame number which is important to the size of the animation. Press OK.
IV. Clean Up
At the moment the animation has 116 frames. That is way too big! It's time to clean up the scene I had previously trimmed. In this particular case, I want to gif the part where Tim Gutterson is shooting his gun.
I click and hold on the Current Time Indicator and move the indicator to the right until I get to the start of the scene. I then move the Work Area Start indicator to where the Current Time Indicator is. I again move the Current Time Indicator to the right until I get to the end of the scene. I move the Work Area End indicator to where the Current Time Indicator is.
To trim this area go to the Animation Menu and select Trim Document Duration to Work Area. Now it's down to 9 frames. After trimming the scene I usually play the animation to see how it looks.
For LiveJournal icons I try to keep the animation down to 3-8 frames for a 100x100 icon. For Tumblr it's anywhere between 13-24 frames for a 500x250 gif.
I still need to get rid of a couple of frames. I could trim the animation again, but instead I decide to edit with Document Settings (Animation Menu > Document Settings). A dialogue box will appear.
I usually play around with the fps number to get the number of frames down. I put in a lower number, press OK, and if it's too many or too little I undo the changes (Command+Z) and try again. In this case I change the 24 fps to 15 fps. The Current Time Indicator will move so move the Work Area End to the same place and Trim Document Duration to Work Area. It's now down to 6 frames! (Tip: If the Duration in the Document Settings is left blank it will automatically trim the animation.)
Note: You can edit the colors/brightness/sharpness of the animation while still in Animation Timeline. Usually when I'm making GIFs for Tumblr I will edit now. What I usually do is hold down the Option key and select Layer 1 in the Layer Palette and move the cursor above Layer 1. Release and a new copy of Layer 1 will appear. Set it to Screen to lighten up the animation. I do the same thing again and set the copied Layers to different blending mode settings. I also add adjustment layers to play with the colors. However, when I make icons I usually wait until the end to edit.
Go to the Animation Menu and select Flatten Frames to Layers. The frames from the animation become layers in the Layer Palette.
Delete Layer 1 from the Layers Palette as it is not needed anymore. Go back to the Animation Menu and select Convert to Frame Animation or click the button in the bottom-right corner.
Next select Make Frames from Layers in the Animation Menu.
Next I want to change the Looping Options and Frame Delay. The Looping Options, located at the bottom-left corner of the animation window, is currently set at Once. Click on it to changed it to Forever so it loops indefinitely. To change the Frame Delay on all the frames, select the first frame. While holding the SHIFT key select the last frame. All the frames are now selected. Click on the 0 sec. and change it to slow down the frame rate. I chose 0.1 second.
V. Editing the Animation
At this particular time I decide I want to auto-align the layers. This sometimes helps to align the layers better and it sometimes makes it easier if I'm trying to mask out the background, but it really depends on the animation. I select all layers (Cmd+Opt+A). Go to Edit > Auto-Align Layers and a dialog will open. I choose Reposition (other times I use Auto). Depending on the size and number of frames it could take anywhere from a few seconds to a few minutes to align.
Once it's done the canvas will become slightly larger and there are transparent edges around it. I edit the canvas size (Image > Canvas Size). Now my canvas is 600x600.
Decreasing the canvas size has cut off the subject. I select all layers (Cmd+Opt+A) in the Layer Palette and select all the frames in the Animation window so I can move them all at the same time and the layers will stay aligned. Selecting the Move Tool I move the layers to a position I like.
Happy with the positioning, I resize (Image > Image Size) to 100x100.
You can edit the colors/brightness of the animation after this. I tend to use adjustment layers like Curves, Vibrance, Gradient Map, Color Balance and Brightness/Contrast. Textures are also great. During this time I also decide to change the Frame Delay on Frame 1 to 0.2 seconds.
VI. Saving the Animation
Go to File > Save for Web & Devices and a dialogue box will pop up. Choose GIF for the File Format. I usually keep the Color Reduction Algorithm set to Selective. Colors set to 256. I usually play with the Dither Algorithm. For this I chose Diffusion. Check Transparency. Check Interlaced (optional). The final product will be 33KB in size when saved, well under the 40KB limit for LiveJournal.
And here is the finished GIF:
- This guide is very image heavy.
- Click on the screen caps to see them in full resolution.
- Questions/comments are more than welcome!
- Photoshop CS5 Extended (CS3+ should work)
- QuickTime X (OS X 10.6+ only) or QuickTime Pro
- Perian (allows QuickTime to play various video formats)
I. Preface
Instead of screen capping a scene from a movie or television show to make GIFs, I personally like to use video because of its accuracy in capturing a moment and I find it to be less time consuming. I mainly use 720p or 1080p MKV video files when I make GIFs because of their image quality. Unfortunately MKV files will not open in Photoshop so they will need to be converted to MOV/MP4/M4V/etc. If the file is already Photoshop-ready, you can skip to the next part if you wish or you can trim your MOV/MP4/M4V/etc. file as well.
II. Trimming & Converting
Open the video file in QuickTime X. It will take awhile to load depending on how big the file is. Once it is loaded select Trim (Edit > Trim) to trim the file to a particular scene. The trim does not need to be exact. It will be fixed up in Photoshop later.
For this guide I'm going to use a scene from Justified.
After the file is trimmed, save it by selecting File > Export. Now I have a video file that is compatible with Photoshop.
Caveats: If the video file has subtitles enabled I use MKVToolNix to remove them. On QuickTime Pro subtitles can be turned off through Window > Show Movie Properties. Find "Text Subtitle" under the Format column. Uncheck its box.
If the MKV file does not load, I will open it in QuickTime Pro and follow the same process. If that doesn't work, my last option is to use a screen recorder (Screenflick) to record the scene and save it. Unfortunately neither of these applications is freeware.
III. Introduction of Animation Window
Now it's time to open the file in Photoshop (File > Open). Go to Window > Animation if the Animation window is not open.
If you haven't used Animation Timeline before here is a little guide to help you figure out where everything is.
When a video file is opened the Animation Window should automatically be in Timeline Animation. If it's in Frame Animation, click on the animation button in the bottom-right corner to switch it to Timeline.
Click on the Animation Menu, which is located in the top-right corner of the Animation window and select Panel Options. Under Timeline Units select 'Frame Number'. I prefer this because it helps me narrow down the frame number which is important to the size of the animation. Press OK.
IV. Clean Up
At the moment the animation has 116 frames. That is way too big! It's time to clean up the scene I had previously trimmed. In this particular case, I want to gif the part where Tim Gutterson is shooting his gun.
I click and hold on the Current Time Indicator and move the indicator to the right until I get to the start of the scene. I then move the Work Area Start indicator to where the Current Time Indicator is. I again move the Current Time Indicator to the right until I get to the end of the scene. I move the Work Area End indicator to where the Current Time Indicator is.
To trim this area go to the Animation Menu and select Trim Document Duration to Work Area. Now it's down to 9 frames. After trimming the scene I usually play the animation to see how it looks.
For LiveJournal icons I try to keep the animation down to 3-8 frames for a 100x100 icon. For Tumblr it's anywhere between 13-24 frames for a 500x250 gif.
I still need to get rid of a couple of frames. I could trim the animation again, but instead I decide to edit with Document Settings (Animation Menu > Document Settings). A dialogue box will appear.
I usually play around with the fps number to get the number of frames down. I put in a lower number, press OK, and if it's too many or too little I undo the changes (Command+Z) and try again. In this case I change the 24 fps to 15 fps. The Current Time Indicator will move so move the Work Area End to the same place and Trim Document Duration to Work Area. It's now down to 6 frames! (Tip: If the Duration in the Document Settings is left blank it will automatically trim the animation.)
Note: You can edit the colors/brightness/sharpness of the animation while still in Animation Timeline. Usually when I'm making GIFs for Tumblr I will edit now. What I usually do is hold down the Option key and select Layer 1 in the Layer Palette and move the cursor above Layer 1. Release and a new copy of Layer 1 will appear. Set it to Screen to lighten up the animation. I do the same thing again and set the copied Layers to different blending mode settings. I also add adjustment layers to play with the colors. However, when I make icons I usually wait until the end to edit.
Go to the Animation Menu and select Flatten Frames to Layers. The frames from the animation become layers in the Layer Palette.
Delete Layer 1 from the Layers Palette as it is not needed anymore. Go back to the Animation Menu and select Convert to Frame Animation or click the button in the bottom-right corner.
Next select Make Frames from Layers in the Animation Menu.
Next I want to change the Looping Options and Frame Delay. The Looping Options, located at the bottom-left corner of the animation window, is currently set at Once. Click on it to changed it to Forever so it loops indefinitely. To change the Frame Delay on all the frames, select the first frame. While holding the SHIFT key select the last frame. All the frames are now selected. Click on the 0 sec. and change it to slow down the frame rate. I chose 0.1 second.
V. Editing the Animation
At this particular time I decide I want to auto-align the layers. This sometimes helps to align the layers better and it sometimes makes it easier if I'm trying to mask out the background, but it really depends on the animation. I select all layers (Cmd+Opt+A). Go to Edit > Auto-Align Layers and a dialog will open. I choose Reposition (other times I use Auto). Depending on the size and number of frames it could take anywhere from a few seconds to a few minutes to align.
Once it's done the canvas will become slightly larger and there are transparent edges around it. I edit the canvas size (Image > Canvas Size). Now my canvas is 600x600.
Decreasing the canvas size has cut off the subject. I select all layers (Cmd+Opt+A) in the Layer Palette and select all the frames in the Animation window so I can move them all at the same time and the layers will stay aligned. Selecting the Move Tool I move the layers to a position I like.
Happy with the positioning, I resize (Image > Image Size) to 100x100.
You can edit the colors/brightness of the animation after this. I tend to use adjustment layers like Curves, Vibrance, Gradient Map, Color Balance and Brightness/Contrast. Textures are also great. During this time I also decide to change the Frame Delay on Frame 1 to 0.2 seconds.
VI. Saving the Animation
Go to File > Save for Web & Devices and a dialogue box will pop up. Choose GIF for the File Format. I usually keep the Color Reduction Algorithm set to Selective. Colors set to 256. I usually play with the Dither Algorithm. For this I chose Diffusion. Check Transparency. Check Interlaced (optional). The final product will be 33KB in size when saved, well under the 40KB limit for LiveJournal.
And here is the finished GIF:
- This guide is very image heavy.
- Click on the screen caps to see them in full resolution.
- Questions/comments are more than welcome!