Sunday, May 1, 2016

Turn a Video into an Animated Gif.

Programs you must have:
GIMP- GNU Image Manipulation Program
GAP- Gimp Animation Package
Additional programs you may want:
DVD Ripping software of your choice. (I prefer DVD Shrink.)
Freemake Video Convertor.
Export Layers plugin for GIMP
A GIF making program you like. Gimp does the job, but I like JASC Animation Shop better.
 
I have been working on the self inflicted wound that is Anime Mine for a couple of years now. I've grown fond of making animated GIFs instead of just posting stills. (They sometimes get a like.) For an upcoming post I want to show case a moving image of Tamami from Angel Tales.

 
Normally I would use VLC and take snapshots every frame. This is exceptionally tedious. Unfortunately I have yet to find a program that can easily make an animated GIF from video, or just extract the frames I need. I have found a process that is long, almost as tedious as VLC, in fact can be very frustrating, but does work.
 
I already have the DVDs ripped. Now to import the episode to Freemake Video Converter to isolate the exact scene that I want. You only want to deal with the frames you need, not the tens of thousands that will be made if you don't edit it down.
Drag and drop the episode into Freemake and click the scissors to the left.
 
 
Now we have the video editor. For expediency I won't go through all the controls. In fact I'll skip to the scene.
 
 
Now to import to GIMP.
Click on Video and then Split Video into Frames. Next click on Extract Videorange.
 
 
 
That will pop out and extended view. Take the slider marked in red and slide it all the way to the right. Then don't touch anything else on the right side. It's buggy and will mess up if you do. Under the slider is a number. That is how many frames are in this clip. You need to input that number in the "To Frame" box. Next check "Create only one multilayer Image." Then click okay.
 
I don't really like the way animated GIFs look when made with GIMP, so I'll export all the layers as separate images. Go to File and Export Layers, click the button oddly named “Export Layers,” take the slider for Compression level to zero and hit export.
 
(Looks like a bad frame, now is a good time to take it out.)
 
Now I will fire up JASC Animation Shop to make the animated GIF, but this has gone on long enough and I'll save that tutorial for another time.

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