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Making Gifs with ULead Gif Animator 5...
I get a fair few people asking me what software I use to make gifs and wanting to do the same and I always send them on this tutorial. So I may as well post it here for all to see. :)
I use ULead Gif Animator 5. There's a trial version on their website you can check out before committing to it, and I'm sure there's other places you can find it if you're that way inclined. Please don't discuss any of those kind of links in this thread though. ;)
These posts aren't really in order, but if you read through them and download the video tutorial at the bottom I think they give you at least a good starting point, You'll soon get the hang of it...
Once you have it up and running:
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Couple of things I changed to begin with:
1. File > Preferences > General > bring the delay down to '4' - this makes it quicker to check how the gif looks while you work on it.
2. If you use a different browser than Internet Explorer, go File > Preferences > Preview, and in the other browsers box find the Firefox.exe or whatever browser you use from your program files. (This will open your previews for your gifs in that browser, allowing you to check out how they're looking.)
OK, getting started. It only seems to work for .avi files, so you'll need to convert anything else before you begin.
Simply drag the video file you're going to use into the program, and you'll get a dialogue box where you cut out the section of the clip you want to use. I generally look to keep these clips under 10 seconds to begin with, and the finished product will be a lot less than that.
After you've picked that, all the frames will show up on the bottom of the program. I press the play button on the bottom left and try to pick out the bit I'm looking to gif. This will usually be around 40 to 50 frames of action.
So now there'll only be 40 or so frames left. To make this even less, I pick every fourth frame (4-8-12 etc.) by holding down ctrl while selecting them and then delete them.
If there's still around 30 frames left, I'd go back and pick every fourth frame again this starting at number 2-6-10 etc., and delete them as well.
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I resize most of the gifs as well. In 'Edit > Resize Image, I usually go with width 400 to start with and it automatically does the height for you if you keep aspect ratio.
Highlighting all the frames and right-clicking, press frame properties, and bring the delay up to 10 or 12. You can change this again later to get the best results.
Time now to check the 'optimize' tab in the upper left corner beside 'edit' and 'preview'.
The image on the right tells you the 'compressed size' of the file you are saving. For ones I'm uploading to Facial Forum, this number has to be below 1mb.
Luckily, there's a really easy way to do this. On the bar above the preview images that starts on the left with 'preset Photo 256', the icon with the little yellow box brings up the 'compress by size option'. Click on this and in the 'desired file size' box, put in 990 and the box beside in as 'kb'. The program will automatically reduce the quality so it gets smaller.
It's always good to preview how the gif will look in a browser, so up at the top bar you'll have a 'preview in custom browser' button. Press this and it will open the gif in the browser and you can change it if you notice any problems.
When you're happy with it, go File > Save As, and save it to wherever, and it's ready to be uploaded.
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As soon as you get the hang of it, you'll be giffing everything like a mad man
Most gifs I do tend to be even less than 100 frames, usually they'd be less than 50, so you're really only capturing a couple of seconds of the video.
It's a good thing that the forum has the 1mb limit for gifs I think, otherwise I'd probably end up with huge files with hundreds of frames. It makes sure you only keep the best for each gif.
* The video tutorial is posted below *:
I just went through the process as normal, might have been a bit quick (when frame 36 is selected, I just drag the bar back to the first frame and holding down shift click frame 1 - this highlights all frames between 36 and 1, and then I delete them).
And when I'm selecting frames 4, 8 etc. I'm holding down ctrl when I'm selecting them.
If you have any questions about it, let me know what time in the vid you're talking about and I'll try and help.
Good luck.:D
*Mod Edit*
Because of the subject matter, (this being a tutorial video), this clip has been given special dispensation to be uploaded in the free section.
May I remind members that "no vids" are allowed in the free section without first receiving this.
-alkie
