THINGS YOU WILL NEED FOR THIS TUTORIAL:
- Photoshop CS4
- CS5 will also work
- CamStudio recorder
- The video, film, etc that you wish to gif
Now the first thing you need to do is to download CamStudio. CamStudio is a free screen recording program that does a great job in recording in high quality, which is essential if you wish to make high quality gifs.
You can download CamStudio HERE.
The next step of course is opening the scene you wish to gif.
In this case I am giffing a scene from my Order of the Phoenix DVD.
Then, open CamStudio.
Once you are at the beginning of the scene you wish to gif, you will want to begin recording on CamStudio.
To do this you must first go to CamStudio/Region and make sure that "region" is selected on the menu that appears once you click on the "Region" menu.
To do this you must first go to CamStudio/Region and make sure that "region" is selected on the menu that appears once you click on the "Region" menu.
The next step can be a bit tricky the first few times, but with practicing with this screen recording program it can become relatively easy.
You want to first start the clip slightly before the desired scene of your choice so that once you start recording you won't have CamStudio or the loading bar of the video in the way.
To begin record your screen using CamStudio press the red button.
Then, begin to select which area you wish to record. It is crucial that the video clip is directly behind CamStudio because once you have clicked the record button you will have to click on the video itself in case CamStudio is in the way of the recording.
The area you are recording should be indicated by flashing green corners.
You then want to press the "play" button on your video and commence to recording the scene you wish to record.
Note: be sure not to move your mouse anywhere into the recording area or it will be picked up on the screen recording, which isn't ideal if you want to make a gif.
Once you are finished with the scene, it is a good idea to pause the video first before ending the screen recording.
To stop the screen recording, go to your taskbar and reopen CamStudio and click on the blue stop button.
Once you stop the recording, CamStudio will then ask you to save the recording.
I usually save mine on my desktop because I always delete the screen recordings after I'm finished making the gif in order to save space on my computer. It's usually a good thing to do considering you probably won't need it ever again.
Save it as something you will remember or of course you can save it as the classic "kdjfalsdkfjsaldf"
Now you can open Photoshop and begin making the gif.
Once Photoshop is open click File/Import/Video Frames to Layers...
Once you click on "Video Frames to Layers..." open your video in the window that appears.
You will then notice another window in Photoshop will open once you select your video.
This tool aids you in selecting which piece of the video you wish to gif.
Make sure that you select "Selected Ranger Only"
As it says under "Selected Range Only" hold down the Shift key in order to select the portion of the video you wish to use by using the slider arrows
The darkened portioned that is circled in red in the screencap below is showing the portion of the video that is selected
Click "OK" when you are finished.
You will then notice that each frame of the video has been made into an individual layer and each layer is on one frame of the "ANIMATION" bar below.
It is best to delete unwanted frames now so that you don't have to deal with them later.
To do this select all of the unwanted frames by holding down the Shift key while click from the first unwanted frame to the last unwanted frame, holding down the Ctrl key while individually clicking each unwanted frame, or by deleting them one by one.
Once you select them click on the trashcan icon.
If there is any unwanted parts of your screen visible in your video, or if you want to crop your gif in any way it is best to do that now as well.
This step of course is optional.
Click on the crop tool.
Select the range you wish to crop.
Then, click enter.
Now is a good time to preview your gif in motion.
To do this click the play button on the animation timeline.
If your gif is moving too fast or too slow for your liking it's a good idea to change the frame delay speed.
To do this, you must select all of the frames and then click on the small downward-facing arrow on any of your gifs and select the speed of your choice.
Note: Usually a good frame delay is 0.1sec. for most gifs.
Once you have ajusted the frame delay accordingly it is time to make the gif shorter.
Unless you are planning on making a small gif, it is a good idea to have the gif at least less than 16 frames in order for the finished gif to be under 500kb in size. I'll explain why later on.
If you are satisfied and have not yet done so, now is a good time to do File/Save As and save your Photoshop file somewhere.
Once you feel ready to save your gif click on File/Save for Web & Devices...
For many gif makers this next part can be frustrating.
When you click on "Save for Web & Devices..." a window will pop up that looks like this.
Before you click the "Save" button there are several things you need to check in order for your gif to move on tumblr.
First, make sure that you are saving it as a gif. You can check this by making sure "Gif" is selected under "Preset"
Next make sure that it is 500 or less in pixel size which can be located under the color table.
Finally, make sure the gif is under 500kb (not at 500 under) in file size, which can be located under the gif preview.
If it is NOT under 500kb you can remove some colors from the color table, go back and crop it to be shorter in height, change pixel size, or delete some of the frames.
Play your gif a few times by click on the play button to make sure that it is moving properly and to your liking.
The play button can be located here:
Now click "Save" and save it to your computer.
THE RESULT:
I hope this was helpful! If you have any questions leave them in my ask box
