A little problem with making a GIF file, can anyone help me?

[LilyMarie]

Hi guys, I thought I'd post this here, maybe someone is tech-savvy and can help me.

I made a preview gif for my new video today, using the software AniMake. I used that program before, to make a preview gif for my 1st video and it worked well. It lets you change the size of the individual pictures in the gif, change how long each picture is displayed, etc.

So I made a gif for my new video today, and this is the result: click.
What's up with the weird stripes on my legs and the bad quality? :|
My first gif turned out alright.

I ended up using a website to make a gif for my new video now, but that's just a temporary solution. I'd really prefer using AniMake again, so that I can set the correct size and milliseconds like I did with my 1st gif.

What did I do wrong, why did the stripes appear in the gif?

 

[Shaun__]

Re: A little problem with making a GIF file, can anyone help

I see the stripes in your first gif.

 

[LilyMarie]

Re: A little problem with making a GIF file, can anyone help

Hm, I don't really see them :/ They're probably tolerable.

 

[MyCamgirl]

Re: A little problem with making a GIF file, can anyone help

GIF files can handle only 256 colors. If your original image has 256 colors or less, the GIF will look the same. If it has more than 256, some colors will be lost. The "stripes" appear when you lose these colors. It is easily noticed on gradients. In your case, the shadow on your leg. GIF uses a 8 bit palette, but you can pick colors from a 24 bit palette. If you play with the pallete, you can manage to make it tolerable.

You can try an animated PNG, which allows more colors. I honestly never tried it and I'm not sure if it is supported by all browsers. I only heard about this format when I was in college. If you wanna try it: http://www.instantfundas.com/2009/07/4-free-tools-to-create-animated-png.html

IMO, that gif is fine. It is enough to give an idea of what people will get buying the video.

 

[LilyMarie]

Re: A little problem with making a GIF file, can anyone help

Thanks for your reply.

GIF files can handle only 256 colors. If your original image has 256 colors or less, the GIF will look the same. If it has more than 256, some colors will be lost. The "stripes" appear when you lose these colors. It is easily noticed on gradients. In your case, the shadow on your leg.

It's just so strange because I did the exact same thing with the stills from my first video, and the stripes in the resulting GIF are not nearly as bad... it's a mystery

GIF uses a 8 bit palette, but you can pick colors from a 24 bit palette. If you play with the pallete, you can manage to make it tolerable.

:shock: How do I do this??

You can try an animated PNG, which allows more colors. I honestly never tried it and I'm not sure if it is supported by all browsers. I only heard about this format when I was in college. If you wanna try it: http://www.instantfundas.com/2009/07/4-free-tools-to-create-animated-png.html

I downloaded 'APNG Anime Maker' from that page, made an animated PNG with it, uploaded it somewhere and looked at it - it's not animated and only includes the very first frame. :/
Maybe animated PNGs aren't supported with my browser.

IMO, that gif is fine. It is enough to give an idea of what people will get buying the video.

But, but... I don't want people to see the stripes in the gif and think that there are stripes in the video, too. :-|

 

[MyCamgirl]

Re: A little problem with making a GIF file, can anyone help

It's just so strange because I did the exact same thing with the stills from my first video, and the stripes in the resulting GIF are not nearly as bad... it's a mystery

:shock: How do I do this??

It is all because of the palette.

I doubt you can do this with an online gif maker. You would need a software. Maybe AniMake can do this. But I couldn't install it, so I can't tell. It would look like this:



Have you tried VirtualDub? If the video isn't WMV, you can load it there, cut/edit it and export as animated GIF. If it is WMV, load the 4 snapshots you want to use and export as GIF. You can't edit the palette, but it might create a different result.

I downloaded 'APNG Anime Maker' from that page, made an animated PNG with it, uploaded it somewhere and looked at it - it's not animated and only includes the very first frame. :/
Maybe animated PNGs aren't supported with my browser.

Yeah... I tried an animated PNG. It didn't work on Internet Explorer, Chrome and Safari, and it worked not so good on Firefox. Sorry to point you on that direction.

 

[LilyMarie]

Re: A little problem with making a GIF file, can anyone help

It is all because of the palette.

I doubt you can do this with an online gif maker. You would need a software. Maybe AniMake can do this. But I couldn't install it, so I can't tell. It would look like this:

Can't I just use a picture editing software to edit the still pictures I'm using so that they're in the right colors? :/

I use http://picasion.com/ and it works for what I need. I just take different photos/screen caps I like from the videos and string them together.

Yup, that's the site I used as a temporary solution. But I need to work with a program that lets me change the frame size to 210 and the milliseconds to 750, so that it's exactly like the gif for my other video, you know...... I'm a control freak.

 

[MadisonLeigh]

Re: A little problem with making a GIF file, can anyone help

Do you have Photoshop or know how to get it? Photoshop gives you a LOT more control over the gif settings.

 

[Jupiter551]

Re: A little problem with making a GIF file, can anyone help

The biggest problem I can see is that black square block

 

[MyCamgirl]

Re: A little problem with making a GIF file, can anyone help

What MadisonLeigh said. If you have Photoshop, it is perfect.

Menu: Image > Mode > Indexed color... Then you have a handful of palettes and can create a custom one.

To see how a palette can change the image, here is an example using Amber's avatar:

Frame 1: System (Mac OS)
Frame 2: System (Windows)
Frame 3: Web
Frame 4: Local (Perceptual)

All frames using dither (Diffusion) and amount 75%

 

[LilyMarie]

Re: A little problem with making a GIF file, can anyone help

Thanks a lot for your effort & help, MyCamgirl.

I think I found a solution -
I went to picasion.com again and you actually can customize the size and speed there, I just didn't see it before. Sorry.
I made my new preview gif on picasion and also remade the older one... I think the stripes are bearable (you can see the gifs on my profile if you scroll down a little). Now I just have to hope that the site doesn't delete the gifs. (What would be an NSFW-friendly image host that hosts gif files? ^^')

 

[MyCamgirl]

Re: A little problem with making a GIF file, can anyone help

I think I found a solution

Great

Well, there is nothing on picasion saying what you can or can not upload. Let's hope they don't bother you.

 

[Nordling]

Re: A little problem with making a GIF file, can anyone help

Thanks a lot for your effort & help, MyCamgirl.

I think I found a solution -
I went to picasion.com again and you actually can customize the size and speed there, I just didn't see it before. Sorry.
I made my new preview gif on picasion and also remade the older one... I think the stripes are bearable (you can see the gifs on my profile if you scroll down a little). Now I just have to hope that the site doesn't delete the gifs. (What would be an NSFW-friendly image host that hosts gif files? ^^')

imgur hosts GIFs.

 

[Shaun__]

Re: A little problem with making a GIF file, can anyone help

You can even use imgur after you have downloaded the gif to your computer, but I notice that imgur has not been working right.

I think someone on the forums said imgur does not link being used for sites like MFC. They may be better if the images are going to be used on a personal website or blog.

 

[GreatDane]

Re: A little problem with making a GIF file, can anyone help

Thanks a lot for your effort & help, MyCamgirl.

I think I found a solution -
I went to picasion.com again and you actually can customize the size and speed there, I just didn't see it before. Sorry.
I made my new preview gif on picasion and also remade the older one... I think the stripes are bearable (you can see the gifs on my profile if you scroll down a little). Now I just have to hope that the site doesn't delete the gifs. (What would be an NSFW-friendly image host that hosts gif files? ^^')

You can host gif files at imgur.com and if it's going to be used on your profile, save it there and not specify a directory to save it in

 

[LilyMarie]

Re: A little problem with making a GIF file, can anyone help

Thanks a lot for your effort & help, MyCamgirl.

I think I found a solution -
I went to picasion.com again and you actually can customize the size and speed there, I just didn't see it before. Sorry.
I made my new preview gif on picasion and also remade the older one... I think the stripes are bearable (you can see the gifs on my profile if you scroll down a little). Now I just have to hope that the site doesn't delete the gifs. (What would be an NSFW-friendly image host that hosts gif files? ^^')

You can host gif files at imgur.com and if it's going to be used on your profile, save it there and not specify a directory to save it in

Right, I haven't even thought of that.
I'm going to keep using the picasion URLs for the moment... If they stop working, I'll just put the gifs into the "Unassigned" gallery in the model admin thingy...
- I remember you uploaded my 1st gif on your server for me, that was really nice Thanks again!! I'm glad I apparently don't need to bother you again with this because picasion works