Phoenix

Member

• Sep 21, 2008

• #1

Every time we have one of our nice gif threads, there are lots of Mac people out there who feel left out because they don't know how to make it work so I figured I would give a heads up.

The free way:

1) Get a copy of Gimp
2) Get a copy of MPEG Streamclip
3) Open your video in MPEG Streamclip
4) Narrow to the video section that you want
5) Export the video as an Image Sequence (Export Other Formats)
6) Import the Image Sequence in Gimp
7) Edit the sequence
8) Export as gif


The more Professional (more options) way:

1) Get a copy of Photoshop
2) Get a copy of MPEG Streamclip
3) Open your video in MPEG Streamclip
4) Narrow to the video section that you want
5) Export as a Quicktime movie
6) In Photoshop Import > Video Frames To Layers
7) Edit each layer with your text
8) Save for Web and Devices (select GIF Dithered)

Enjoy!

 

P

-PXG-

Member

• Sep 21, 2008

• #2

You are a gentlemen and a scholar.

 

I

itxaka

Defeatist

• Sep 21, 2008

• #3

Bookmarked for my future MAC!!

Also, MPEG Streamclip is on windows too!

 

Benjamin_MFF

Member

• Sep 21, 2008

• #4

Thanks for the directions. I'll work on this when I'm a bit more awake.

 

M

McBacon

SHOOTY McRAD DICK

• Sep 21, 2008

• #5

I just export a movie as a GIF (not the whole thing :lol ) from Adobe After Effects.

I always have a little trouble with size. Should this one be nearly 4MB?

 

Phoenix

Member

• Sep 21, 2008

• #6

McBacon said:

I just export a movie as a GIF (not the whole thing :lol ) from Adobe After Effects.

I always have a little trouble with size. Should this one be nearly 4MB?

Click to expand...

Export fewer frames. You'll be surprised how fluid the animation can be even if you drop frames. I think my segment is about as long as your but it is only 117k as opposed to 30 times that size I exported that clip from the incredibles at 10FPS and could probably come down further still. It really just depends on how much action is going on. The less "quick" action that is going on, the fewer FPS you really need.

 

Schrade

Member

• Sep 21, 2008

• #7

If you're going to give examples, at least make them the correct aspect ratio!

Don't propagate improper aspect ratios!

I would recommend using Avidemux to do your video clip extraction though.

 

G

gprime

Member

• Sep 21, 2008

• #8

McBacon said:

Click to expand...

Link to video? :>

 

D

Danielsan

Member

• Sep 21, 2008

• #9

McBacon said:

I just export a movie as a GIF (not the whole thing :lol ) from Adobe After Effects.

I always have a little trouble with size. Should this one be nearly 4MB?

Click to expand...

Shaolin Soccer.

 

T

Tedesco!

Member

• Sep 21, 2008

• #10

So what might you suggest when streamclip doesn't work with .avi? I only get black when I load the .avi.

 

C

Cornballer

Member

• Apr 20, 2009

• #11

Thanks for this thread - it was a big help this weekend when I was trying to make a gif for the first time. A couple of questions on the off chance that someone can help me out...

1. Does anyone have problems with trimming on MPEG Streamclip? For some reason when I mark the in and out locations, then use the trim command, it didn't work properly. Looks like it just repeats frame #20 for the first 20 frames, then it starts running them properly in order after that. Not sure what the problem is. Can I just mark the in and out locations, then export with trimming, or will that create an image sequence with all of the clips from the entire movie?

2. What's the best image format to use when I output the image sequence from Streamclip? It defaults to PNGs, but I had some problems with the colors when I put it together in GIMP. JPEGs seemed to work better, but it was still a little muddy.

3. Is there a way to avoid having a GIF limited to 256 colors? There were some weird color banding issues when I output it.

Thanks!

 

E

Echoes of Pink

Member

• Apr 20, 2009

• #12

Dude, you're my hero right now. I was using some free program in windows to export my image sequences until I switched to ubuntu. Now I can use MPEG Steamclip + Photoshop on my mac. Thanks a bunch dude.

 

MisterHero

Super Member

• Apr 20, 2009

• #13

McBacon said:

I just export a movie as a GIF (not the whole thing :lol ) from Adobe After Effects.

I always have a little trouble with size. Should this one be nearly 4MB?

Click to expand...

I'd remove frames and slow the play speed in Imageready or PS-CS

using Firefox though it's hard for me to judge (I use IE7 :lol)

 

S

sixteen-bit

Member

• Apr 20, 2009

• #14

Cornballer said:

3. Is there a way to avoid having a GIF limited to 256 colors? There were some weird color banding issues when I output it.

Click to expand...

make an animated .PNG

 

C

Cornballer

Member

• Apr 20, 2009

• #15

_dementia said:

make an animated .PNG

Click to expand...

Thanks, I'll give that a shot tonight and see if I can work it out on GIMP.

 

J

joelseph

Member

• Apr 20, 2009

• #16

itxaka said:

Bookmarked for my future MAC!!

Click to expand...

Paging Lou Pang Pie

 

E

Echoes of Pink

Member

• Apr 21, 2009

• #17

Phoenix said:

Every time we have one of our nice gif threads, there are lots of Mac people out there who feel left out because they don't know how to make it work so I figured I would give a heads up.

The free way:

1) Get a copy of Gimp
2) Get a copy of MPEG Streamclip
3) Open your video in MPEG Streamclip
4) Narrow to the video section that you want
5) Export the video as an Image Sequence (Export Other Formats)
6) Import the Image Sequence in Gimp
7) Edit the sequence
8) Export as gif

The more Professional (more options) way:

1) Get a copy of Photoshop
2) Get a copy of MPEG Streamclip
3) Open your video in MPEG Streamclip
4) Narrow to the video section that you want
5) Export as a Quicktime movie
6) In Photoshop Import > Video Frames To Layers
7) Edit each layer with your text
8) Save for Web and Devices (select GIF Dithered)

Enjoy!

Click to expand...

 

N

neptunes

Member

• Apr 21, 2009

• #18

what have you unleashed upon GAF?