You’re stuck with me for life.

here is a folder of all the resources from this tutorial. all of them will also be linked individually below, along with any other websites and software that i recommend!

Video Downloaders/Resources

The first step of gif-making is to get your hands on a video file for the content you want to gif. The reality is that the most reliable way to access high quality versions of movies & tv shows is through t*rrenting, and in order to t*rrent, you need a paid VPN. I will recommend free alternatives for everything where at all possible, but a couple of investments will save you a lot of effort and give you access to waaaaay more stuff.

VPN (paid) - I use Surfshark, any paid VPN should work, find whichever has the best deal

T*rrent client - i use qBitt*rrent

Magnet link sites: Eztv, ThePirateBay, uIndex, 1337x, LimeT*rrents, T*rrentLeech

Video Guidelines: I usually use files that are 1080p quality. I used to use 2160p quality files almost exclusively, but it takes way longer, and with a good quality 1080p file, the result is basically just as good. In order to find a good file, check the file size before you download it. For a 1 hour tv show episode, you want a file around 3 or 4 GB. Anything under 1 GB won't give you a good result.

More options for downloading other kinds of videos:

Video DownloadHelper (paid) - download directly from video platforms! you get a couple downloads for free, but the paid version is worth it for me. Pros: works instantly so you dont have to wait for the t*rrent file to be posted, works on lots of sites, pay once/no subscription. Cons: no embedded subtitles.

Dropout-dl (free) - Command line downloader for Dropout.tv. Pros: free, works instantly, embedded subtitles, and always creates a separate searchable subtitle file. Cons: very technical setup. For this one, you will also need Docker.

VideoProc Converter (free version) - good for downloading YouTube, and extracting embedded subtitles from video files (5 minute limit on the subtitle thing)

Screencaps

The next step is to convert your video to screencap images.

mpv

sample mpv.conf file

I use mpv to make my screencaps because it's the most efficient, in my opinion. In order to set it up, you have to edit the settings in the "mpv.conf" file. Mine is located here: C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Roaming\mpv. I've linked a sample of the settings I use above. I recommend changing the screenshot-directory to a different folder for your screencaps. I organize my screencaps in numbered folders to keep track of them.

Image Software

I use Photoshop CS6 version, from this link:

birdyresources photoshop

more (free) photoshop links

The other software you can use is Photopea. There's lots of tutorials for that on photopeablr!

Importing Screencaps to Photoshop

In Photoshop, go to File -> Scripts -> Load Multiple DICOM Files. Then, paste the file path of one of your screencap folders into the pop-up.

Creating Gif Smart Object

First off: if your screencaps have a black border anywhere, crop it out, making sure that "Delete Cropped Pixels" is selected.

Next, there are a bunch of steps to be able to work with your screencaps in Photoshop. I have all of those steps saved as Actions.

download all my photoshop actions

how to use my actions

For a full description of how my actions work, how to use them, and a description of every action, I created a separate post just for that! It was a little too long to include here lol. It's not necessary to read the whole thing; feel free to just start using the first action and figure it out with trial and error if you want!

Coloring Layers

It's kind of hard to describe the coloring process, so I've provided several PSDs of gif colorings that you are free to use!

coloring PSD folder

Here's a list of the adjustment layers I usually use, in the order I add them: Exposure, Levels, Curves, Brightness, Vibrance, (then i make a new folder for just the coloring layers) Channel Mixer, Color Balance, Hue/Saturation x many, Selective Color x many

If you take a look at the Louis file in the PSD folder, than you can see all the layers I used to go achieve this coloring:

Add captions

Next, add captions and anything else you want on your gif. This is the font I use for captions:

Arial Rounded MT Bold

Here are the text settings I use. In order to add Layer Styles, right-click on your text layer and click 'Blending Options'.

Export and fix gif speed

Now that the gif is ready with all of the right layers, export it by going to File -> Save for Web. (This takes a while to load as photoshop is putting everything together.) These are the export settings I use:

When the window pops-up, make sure to change the looping option to forever, and then you can save your gif. I also highlighted the area where it shows the final file size of the gif. This needs to be under 10MB, or else tumblr won't allow you to upload it.

This result is good, but when you first export it, the speed of the frames is wrong.

In order to fix the speed: open the .gif file in Photoshop, select all the frames, and change the speed to 0.05 seconds. Repeat the Save for Web step, and overwrite your previous .gif file when you save it. (You can also double check that the gif loops 'Forever' at the very bottom.)

And here's our final gif!

Repeat these steps as needed for the rest of the gifs in the scene. Remember to check out my action pack to save a lot of time on repeated steps!

Here's some additional tips and tricks for giffing to make your life easier:

Tips for skin tone

I often spend a lot of time ensuring that the skin tones of the people in my gifs look natural. It's very important to represent people's skin tones accurately, and it's not acceptable to whitewash or colorwash people of color's skin tones.

Here are some tutorials I've found very helpful:

fix orange-washed characters

channel mixer tutorial

A lot of shows these days have really pale and muted palettes, so Vibrance really helps to add saturation and dimension. If the subject looks too pale/whitewashed, increase the saturation and deepness of the Yellow and Red colors using Selective Color layers.

this is the before/after impact of two layers, Vibrance and Red Selective Color:

If the subject looks too yellow or orange, neutralize these tones using Selective Color and Hue/Saturation layers:

before/after:

Tips for recoloring

I recently posted a small tutorial that goes over my recoloring process, such as in the example below of changing the background from neutral yellow to blue. It also goes over some more complicated gif effects.

coloring + moving film strip tutorial

Other tips and tutorials

For Curves layers, I don't use the eyedropper method. I just click on the line to adjust it myself, making the darks darker and lights lighter. This gives the gif a lot more dimension and contrast.

Selective Color tutorial - change the color of shadows

Text effects tutorial

Usergif tutorial directory - tutorials for basically anything you want to learn!

Every gif is different - sometimes, even two shots of the same person in the same scene can have drastically different lighting and color-grading from each other. I recommend playing around with the values in the adjustment layers a lot to fit your gifs as needed. You can also reduce the opacity of layers to lessen their effect, or duplicate layers to increase their effect. (I often reuse coloring layers and make these changes, so it's a real method!)