Tutorial GIF #3 using PowerDVD; HQ gif tutorial

First of all, you need PowerDVD, you can download a trial version HERE.

Now, open your file. I suggest you to download a 720p video, the format is .mkv (matroska) and is usually 1GB or something. If you use a Hdtv video (350mb big) it won’t come out in HQ, of course. So download the 720p or 1080p file, or a web dl video.

Press pause and right click on the vid and click on ‘settings’ > player > advanced > capture and set like the picture:

http://img580.imageshack.us/img580/8629/40357910.png

I suggest you to put .png as the format of the caps, because .jpeg isn’t really HQ although the video you have is in High Definition. Set the folder where your files will be saved, and the size. My default size is always 1280x800.

After you clicked on OK, press play and find the part you want to gif. Since PowerDVD isn’t really cool in finding the point of the video I want to start my gifs, so try to find a close point and then press T on your keyboard (that’s the ‘next frame’ shortcut) until you find the exact seconds/minutes.

When you find where you want to start your gif you have to do this.

Click C (that’s for capture) on your keyboard and then T. Repeat this, so press C then T until you see that the video has progressed to the point you want your gif to end.

When you’re done with it, go open the folder and check how many caps you’ve made. I suggest you to use max 12 caps per gif, unless you plan on making a black/white gif or a smaller gif on a solid color background (it helps making the gif < 500KB).

I will use 6 caps just because I choose a short scene.

Do File > Scripts > Load files into stack > find the folder and choose your caps.

When they’ve opened, click on the menu of the Animation palette (if you don’t have it, do Window > Animation and it will appear), and click on Make frames from Layers, then reverse frames. Then do Image > Image size and choose 500 as your width.

You’ll need to use Sharpen on every picture to have it in HQ, so on every cap do Filter > Sharpen.

If you used a 720p video I’m sure you’ll see it’s already good.

Now select all frames and set the velocity (by right-clicking on the number under the frame on the animation palette) and choose 0,12 as a standard velocity. If it’s too fast, I suggest you to change it into 0,18 or 0,22, or 0,28. I chose 0,28 this time because my gif had 6 frames only and it would’ve been too fast. Press play and try.

It’s saving time. File > Save for web and devices and set this on the window that will open:

http://img824.imageshack.us/img824/7420/84955659.png

Under ‘Adaptive’ I chose ‘Pattern’, but I suggest you to choose something like ‘Diffusion’ too. Always preview the gif in your browser before saving, I noticed they both make the gif look HQ.

We need it < 500KB for tumblr, so next to [Unnamed] click on the menu and choose ‘optimize for file size’ and put 499 in the box, then wait till PS will choose the best setting for the gif.

On this gif without any coloring I got a 169 colors, that’s already good so I don’t need to use a black/white gradient to get a smaller size.

You can either save now, or use a coloring on the gif to lessen the color so that you’ll have an even more HQ gif. I suggest you to use a gradient map (Layer > New adjustment layer > Gradient map), a black/white one set on Color.

If you want a colored gif and not a two tone one, then you need to make it darker so that you’ll have less colors. You can use another type of gradient that you’ll find in Layer > New fill layer > Gradient and choose the first one (white with transparent bg) and change the white into black, with these settings:

http://img805.imageshack.us/img805/5891/52537218.png

The add Curves or Brightness/Contrast and Selective Coloring, or use a pre-made psd. I created a .psd with the basics I explained here for you to download…

And here’s my result: http://i.imgur.com/vsJDz.gif HQ and clear, and < 500KB.

If you want to save colors, you can also duplicate the first layer, use a mask on it and delete everything of the background but the part you want to move. It will save KB.

If you want the .psd of this, download it HERE.

You can also find this tutorial in .pdf HERE.

Footnote: If you don’t have PowerDVD and don’t plan in download it, you can also use VLC player or KMPlayer to make caps from an HD video and do the same steps.
If you need other tutorials by me, they’re HERE.