GIF Production Guide: From Newbie to GIF Expert

Since Compuserve's launch in 1987, Graphic Exchange Format (GIF) has become popular all over the world. From your mother to your social media, even politicians can’t put it down, who doesn’t need these little fun? If you think you can't create a viral GIF masterpiece, you're a big mistake! This article will introduce several simple and easy-to-use methods to help you become a GIF master easily.

Method 1: Screenshot production

No matter how you pronounce it, there are many apps on the market that can record clips of your favorite videos—like taking a series of screenshots—to create the lossless compressed graphics of your dreams. My two personal favorite apps, Facebook and Twitter, belong to the GIF world, not only allow you to make your own graphics, but also save your works in their image gallery for permanent storage for the Internet.

Giphy Capture

Giphy—the multimedia company that has made GIF famous all over the world—has grown and grown in recent years and is no longer just a GIF hosting platform. Today, it includes a suite of desktop and mobile apps to make GIF production easy and convenient. The company relaunched Giphy Capture early last year after acquiring the popular Apple app Gifgrabber. This app is a low-bar option for making high-quality GIFs, but it is currently only available for Macs.

After downloading and opening the app, you will see a green overlay window similar to the standard screenshot window on your Mac. You can place this window on any video player, whether it is a YouTube video in your browser or a file on your computer. After selecting the perfect clip, click to record; click again to complete the recording. Pro tip: Shoot multiple "screenshots" of your favorite clips so you can use versions of different lengths. The next steps will be explained clearly.

After recording is finished, a convenient control panel will open below your overlay window, allowing you to edit each clip – and launch GIF magic.

After selecting the ideal clip, click it to open the editing window as shown below:

Here, you can give the final touch of your masterpiece:

• Resize the GIF, which is especially important for sharing on social media. Pro tip: The maximum size of the GIF of Twitter is 3MB, while Tumblr recommends that the GIF size should not exceed 1MB.
• Use slider to adjust the length
• Change loop mode
• Adjust the frame rate (keep it at standard or low resolution if you want to post a GIF on social media)
• Add a title or subtitle

When satisfied, click "Done" and you can decide where the artwork will be stored—on social media, on Giphy, or on your computer for later sharing. Pro tip: If you create a Giphy account, you can obtain the attribution rights of all works, and others will not steal your works.

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GIF Brewery

Giphy Capture is very easy to use, but for years, GIF Brewery has been an advanced option for those who want to "snapshot" videos into GIFs. Late last year, Giphy's main rival Gfycat (pronounced soft "g" here) acquired the app. Now, GIF Brewery has the option to host your work on Gfycat's platform ( Full disclosure:

Popular Science is a partner of Gfycat).

All in all, Giphy Capture and GIF Brewery let you "screenshot" videos into GIFs in a very (I mean very) similar way. But there are two things that really separate the two apps: you can import the actual URL (from YouTube, etc.) and video files into GIF Brewery, and GIF Brewery provides more advanced controls to adjust speed, size, and frames rate.

Suppose you have mastered the Giphy Capture method, let's move to the more advanced GIF Brewery method to convert your video files into GIFs.

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The first time you open the application, you will see a dialog window showing different ways to create GIFs using GIF Brewery. In this demo, select Import Video and select the video file you like.

Next, you will enter this editing window. Don't be afraid, you can do it!

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In this editing window, you can do a lot to prepare your video to become a GIF star.

From the top bar, you can crop or resize the GIF and add subtitles. Pro tip: If you want to upload to Tumblr or Twitter, you need to keep the size smaller.

Pro tip: If you want to insert subtitles, you can also locate subtitles by clicking the "Overall" button in the upper right corner of the editing window and adjust the location where the subtitles appear in the completed GIF.

In GIF Brewery, your timeline window is also more advanced. You can set the Start and End points, and you can even copy the clip by pressing Add Clip - to create a more seamless loop.

Have you kept up with the pace? OK After placing subtitles, resize the GIF and setting the Start and End points, it's time to make the final touches. Click the "Settings" button in the upper right corner to start the next stage of GIF education.

In this panel, you can do the following:

• Adjust the number of frames in the GIF. Pro tip: Adding more frames will give your GIF a higher definition.
• Fine-tune frame delay.
• Accelerate (or slow down) your GIF.
• Select the type of GIF loop and the number of loops you want (i.e. normal, reverse, or palindrome).
• Change the chromatogram of the GIF.

When you are satisfied with the result, click "Create" to watch your video frame magically compress it into GIF. (Great!)

Method 2: Cloud conversion

Now you have become a screenshot GIF creator. But what if you're too lazy and would rather let the machine do all the work? Then meet CloudConvert - your new best friend. CloudConvert is a free value-added service—you can do a certain amount of file conversion for free, after which you need to create a paid account—it allows you to convert any file type to a completely different file type. This means you can convert your favorite video files into GIFs in just a few seconds.

The operation method is as follows. First, click on the first "Any Content" at the top of the page and select .mp4 or .mov from the video drop-down menu; repeat the process for the second "Any Content" and select .gif from the image drop-down menu.

After selecting the preset, click "Select File" to upload your video, and then click the "Start Convert" button at the bottom of the page. Look! You made a GIF in just a few seconds. Download it now and share it with the world.

Method 3: Mobile phone production

You (hopefully) have mastered the basics of making GIFs on your computer. Now it’s time to bring your work on the way and bring GIF production to your smartphone. Here are two of the best apps to download for this purpose.

GIPHY CAM

GIPHY CAM was created by the aforementioned company Giphy, which compresses all the benefits of Giphy Capture into an easy-to-use smartphone application. But it has two notable differences: It can be used in the Google Play Store (Cheer it!) and you can use existing and instant material to create your small masterpiece.

The first time you open GIPHY CAM, a camera window will appear, allowing you to record videos using the front or rear camera. For instant photography, press the record button and your video will magically convert to editable GIFs.

Alternatively, you can access your camera roll by clicking the preview button on the left edge of the screen. If you want to import a video, your editing window will look like this:

Lastly—after you press the “right arrow”—both methods will take you to the last site before starting the fun. Here you can add Instagram-style filters and stickers to your work before sharing with the world. Pro tip: can become weirder.

After being satisfied, click the blue "Next" button and a hot GIF will appear!

Boomerang

All the internet roads today lead to Facebook (or many of the apps they have). This brings us to my personal favorite way to make GIFs on your phone: Boomerang. Boomerang, together with Hyperlapse and Layout, perfects Instagram’s truly wonderful suite of visual applications. In fact, the app is now very popular and was integrated into Instagram Stories late last year. So, what is Boomerang? While technically it's not a GIF, Boomerang is a short looping video file that looks and behaves like a GIF. Making them is very easy.

Are you ready? Wait for a moment. Let's get started: Download the app. Open the application. Switch between front and rear cameras. Turn the flash on or off (in the upper right corner). Press Record. BOOM(erang).

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Okay, friends. Now, start making your GIF!

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