How I Make Animated Gifs
NOTE: Thanks to the webmaster of Otaku Anime Gifs, I've learned that using JASC Animation Shop is another method of making gifs. However, to do that, you must have the ".avi" file or another file that has a compatable extension. I'm still a novice at this method...as soon as I feel confident enough, a guide will be written for you.
Gifs are great, aren't they? They're like a little motion picture or a tiny cartoon. Making them is kind of like putting a cartoon together. You have several pictures shown in sequence to produce some movement. Now I'm not saying this is the best way to make them, it's just the only way that I know how. There may be easier methods that I don't know about. Anyway, here's what I do step by step:
First of all, I use WinTVGo to make my images, Adobe Photoshop to crop and size the images, and Adobe ImageReady 3.0 to actually put the gif together. There are other tools you can use....this is what I have.
- 1. (Probably the most time consuming). Obtaining your images. Using
WinTVGo, I try to find a scene that would make a good gif. Then I try to capture screen shots with
just a bit of movement in between...such as an arm rising.
(NOTE: Remember, the more images you use, the larger the gif, the larger the gif the more time it takes to load and the more bandwidth it uses. I learned this the hard way as some of my gifs are quite large.)
2. Determine what size you want your gif (I make mine pretty small, usually 105w by 80h.) Then crop
and resize your images. I use Adobe Photoshop to do this. IMPORTANT: Make sure your images are named
in the sequence you want them to display....such as gifpic1.jpg, gifpic2.jpg, etc.
3. Once all of the images are sized and ready, move them to a directory all their own. In other words,
no other files should be in the directory you use. This directory is also considered your FOLDER.
4. Get into Adobe ImageReady, click on "FILE" come down and click on "IMPORT" then "FOLDER AS FRAMES".
Open the directory (FOLDER) where you stored your images. You'll notice each image will display in sequence
on what's called your animation palette.
5. On the right side of your animation palette is a black button pointing to the right, click on it.
Select "Flatten Frames into Layers". Once that selection has completed, select "Optimize animation".
Optimization reduces the file size while still retaining the image quality. In the optimize box, I have
both "Bounding Box" and "Redundant Pixel Removal" checked.
6. Now you are ready to put your delay time in between each frame. (You'll notice if you run your
gif now, it is very fast.) On the bottom of each frame is "Sec" with a small button pointing
down...click on that. Give it a delay that will work best. Personally, I use .2 sec with 2.0 sec on the
last frame so it stops briefly at the end. Just keep running and stopping the animation until you like
what you see.
7. Finally, you are ready to save your gif!! Click on "FILE" and choose "SAVE OPTIMIZED AS".
Determine the directory you want to save it in and give it a catchy name. You'll notice it will now have
the file extension of ".gif". YEAH...YOU DID IT! It's a moving picture.
Well, I hope you weren't totally lost. Can you see why I can't take particular requests? Making them is very time consuming. If this has helped anyone make their own personal gifs, then I am happy...no make that ecstatic! Good for you!
To see most of the gifs that I have made check out the link below:
