Forums / Media / Moving Images

Okay, seriously. I spent 3 hours trying to make a gif that didn't lose quality with a respectable filesize. I tried five different programs. First attempt that worked resulted in a 48Mb gif. The source video is 4.5Mb. And even then I can't reduce the file size below 10Mb without losing the quality. So I said fvck it and decided to make a Webm.

It took me 5 minutes, the time I find this line:
ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -c:v libvpx -b:v 1M -an output.webm
Result: not even 1Mb, almost same quality as source.

Now the problem is that I can't post it here because KYM still doesn't accept Webms, which means I'm still stuck. So how the hell do you guys make gifs that look amazing without losing quality and keep it under 3Mb. Seriously, I want to know.

For reference, here's the Webm: http://i.4cdn.org/sp/1405097908564.webm

My method may be a tad roundabout, but it gets the job done.

I save the video, export into Sony Vegas Pro 10, "Render As" into a bunch of .png frames, and then "Open as layers" into GIMP. Save as a .gif and choose the framerate. Boom. Magic.

I have no clue how other people do it.

http://gfycat.com

This works pretty great

Gonna try this. Right now I have VideoStudio Pro X6 and it doesn't have that option. Gotta get Vegas first.

VLC has the option to save frames. I tried that the last time I needed a frame by frame extraction. Took a couple of tries, but then it got it right. I used GIMP after that.

VLC as in the media player? Really? 'Cause that's the player I always use and I've never noticed such an option. Can you change the fps you get for it, too? Because I always use Vegas to reduce the framerate to 10-20 fps, otherwise the gif becomes too large.

Yeah. I can't remember what all you have to set exactly, but it's under:

Tools→Preferences→(click all at bottom right)→Video

There was something more I think, but that's the gist of it.

Okay, so I tried this. Except GIMP kept giving me a gif for ants. So I told myself "I'll just try it in photoshop". So while you can't do the open as layers in PS, what you can do is Import Video as Layers. This is literally the same result while skipping the need for Vegas. In the end, it worked, but it's still 5Mb. I can't go lower without either losing too much quality or having the image being just too small to watch clearly. It still managed to upload though.

But that was WAY too much work for just a freaking gif. Come on, let's bring WebM. That was so easy to make.

ProTip: In GIMP you can "optimize for gif" which gives you the option to "replace" or "difference".

The difference option will subtract pixels from the previous frame that are the same, so you can reduce the file size by around 50% usually. It occasionally takes out some of the quality, but often the loss is negligible.

There might be an option for this in PS, but I'm not sure.

The option is there in PS as Save for Web, yes. And I did use it. I probably could've cut about a second of the gif to make it smaller.

I think it would be a good idea to sticky this thread as a resource. Maybe in Site Related, maybe here.

Not a bad idea, but maybe we should create a full step by step guide while we're at it. I know we're not in the business of creating memes, but helping others learn to do it feels like it follows the purpose of the site.

We could do two separate guides, one for making video ripped gifs and one for making frame by frame hand-drawn gifs.

>inb4 people complain about an outdated format
>inb4 "why not make a webm guide?"

>inb4 “why not make a webm guide?”
Because as I said in my OP, the WebM guide is exactly 2 lines long.
1. Get FFMpeg
2. Write: ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -c:v libvpx -b:v 1M -an output.webm

But otherwise, yes, until every site passes to WebM, I'm fully on board with the two guides idea.

I honestly haven't kept up with this thread. I'll just throw in my 2 cents.

The original was 200+ frames and over 9mb. Now in less than 2 minutes using half-assed work I dropped it under 100 frames and kept it around 3mb.

That was purely an example. Now, with true work I could get it under 50 frames and under 1mb all while keeping the original quality.

When it comes to gifs(which I will always love, webm or not) there are 3 aspects to take into consideration: frame count, size, and resolution. Resolution and frame count directly affect size. By lowering both you can lower the over-all size of the gif. I find that effective gifs for even the slowest connections are around 300px and under 3mbs. There are hundreds of ways to achieve high quality gifs that have many frames, all while still being small. I cannot go over all of them, but I'll be glad to offer any help I can. Don't be afraid to ask me anything regarding animation. You're in my ball park now.

My files indicate 147 frames at 4.9Mb. I have no idea where you're getting these numbers from. Also, you removed half the frames but you didn't adjust the speed of the animation, so now your result is at 2x speed, which is exactly what I was trying to avoid. And I didn't go with a lower resolution because I felt it was just getting hard to see clearly (which is something I mentioned).

alright, I admit, I hastily pulled some shit out my ass on that one. Like I said, it was purely an example. Yes, normally I'd taken more thought into frame removal and adjusted timing more accurately. I was just trying to point out that any gif over 200 frames is unnecessary. Obviously, you have a much better grasp on this than I first believed. That was poor judgment on my part, my bad. Still though, I'd like to offer any help I can on the matter. This is something I truly enjoy.

https://imgflip.com/gifgenerator
Not to best in the world, but it gets the job done if you just need text for a gif

Say, as a newcomer to making gifs I'd like some help….

Technically I'm not making a gif from scratch, rather making an edit of a pre-existing one. (using gimp.)
The gif in question:

As for the edit in particular, I'd like to add the caption "[RAGE INTENSIFIES]" on the bottom.

And I have already done this…however the end result tells me I obviously needs some fine tuning and adjustments.

As the text I added is continuity flashing from white to black (which I assume is the background and foreground of the text) and the frame rate of the gif is significantly lowered. Now I believe that this is the result of the text I added being counted as an additional layer, now would anyone be able to help me fix this?

What I'd want is for the gif to keep it's current frame rate while having the unchanging text below it.(and I'd prefer to have the text with an outline, that way it both looks better and is more legible.)

If someone were to help, I'd greatly appreciate it, thank you.

Just a suggestion, have you tried using the website 'LunaPic'? It'll let you add the text without altering the gif speed, so it should cover everything you need. It'll also let you add varying text depending on the frame selected. It's my preferred choice for simple gif edits.

Wow, thanks.

Much appreciated! Say, does it also work with images?

(Say, you don't mind if I upload this to "Reaction Faces" would you? Might be a silly question, but asking nonetheless.)

Yeah it also works with just images. Not too sure about using multiple images to make gifs though.

And yeah go ahead. Upload it wherever you want.

Edit: While I'm here I might as well link some useful gif editing sites I like.
 

http://www160.lunapic.com/editor/ (Lets you add text frame-by-frame etc.)

http://ezgif.com/optimize (Lets you compress gif file sizes, speed/slow them, or remove frames)

http://gifmaker.me/resizer/ (Lets you shrink/expand gifs to exact pixel amounts)