This thread is for the best of the best in Video Game GIFs. **Also WebM's
For viewing WebM's in chrome, use this extension
For Firefox, use this add on
They should be great quality, with great colors and smooth frame rates.
Bandwidth be damned, expect large file sizes.
Think before you post a gif. and also webm If it's long, can it be shortened? If it's huge, can it be shrunk down? Is it something we've all seen before or not very interesting? We've all seen wicked headsh0tz, bring something interesting to the table.
- Only 1 embedded gif or also webm per post, or if the total is smaller than 15mb, 2 or 3 gifs or also webms, but you can link to as many gifs or webms as you'd like.
- Name the games
- No stretching. If a game is 4:3, capture it in 4:3. Don't stretch it to 16:9.
- WebM videos should be either 720p or smaller
File size: Remember, smaller the better. Try to keep it at 15 or under. I'm not saying above that isn't allowed, but have a good reason for it.
Resolution: Aim for under 720p. For most GIFs, 640x480 is more than enough.
A 1080p gif is going to be prohibitively large, try to cut the size to at least 50%. And hey, you'll clear out some aliasing with the downsampling as well!
Programs for capturing footage
- Fraps
- Dxtory (Be sure to grab Lagarith Lossless Video Codec to use with Dxtory for great performance and lossless video)
- Action!
- MSI Afterburner
Programs for creating GIFs from footage
- VirtualDub
- Photoshop (Tutorial)
Tips
Tip: GIF frame times compared to framerates.
- 50fps is 0.02 second frames
- 33fps is 0.03 second frames
- 25fps is 0.04 second frames
How to best create GIFs of older 8 and 16bit games.
When creating GIFs, my typical work flow is
- Record with Fraps or DXtory so I have lossless source footage
- Cut down and resize with VirtualDub and export an AVI file
- Import AVI file and final edit the GIF in Photoshop
- Save For Web as GIF
Hosts
Sta.sh (2GB of storage, any size images allowed - option to pay for more storage)
Flickr (1TB storage, any size images allowed)
Abload (10mb limit on images)
Copy (15GB Storage, any size images allowed)
Imgur Pro (a paid option. 10MB file max, but very good loading speeds. $24 a year)
pomf.se (For them hot WebM's. If anyone finds a faster, better host - let me know.)
Crysis 3
(legacyzero)
(Mr. Roderick)
Project Cars
(Mr. Roderick)
Snow
(Radio)
Xenoblade Chronicles
(Me!)
2013 Thread
If anyone feels something should be added to the rules, let me know and it'll be considered.
Also, if you submitted something in last years thread that you think is worth of being in the OP, send it my way and if it's up to snuff against everything else I'll toss it in.
