#danhalen

screen recording:

i’m going to focus on obs studio, as it’s what i use more often, and as far as i know, anyone can download it, but i have no idea what’s up with the xbox software i use, lmao.

this is what it looks like when i open it. currently, i use the display capture setting as my source, and i will show you how to add that, along with some other settings i use and shortcuts.

alright so at the bottom of the window, there’s the source panel, it looks like this:

i already have a source added, the display capture. this means that it will record whatever i’m displaying on my screen currently, which is how i like it, as it makes it easy to know what i’m recording. i’ve never messed around with it much, to see what the other options do, because i’m lazy and this does what i need.

to add the source, click on the little plus icon at the bottom of the sources panel. a menu will pop up, and you can select any capture option, and as you can see above, i use display capture.

moving to the right, there’s the audio panel:

my personal preference is to keep the desktop audio on, and turn the mic/aux audio off. this way if i need the clip later, especially if it’s a video of something especially cute or whatever, i’ll have it and be able to use it. if you have the mic/aux on, it will record whatever sounds you’re making on top of the desktop audio, leading to weird noises mixed in with the video audio.

and finally, moving to the right again, there’s the controls panel:

this is pretty self explanatory, here is where you can start/stop a recording, access the settings, or exit the program. i don’t use these start/stop buttons, but that’s because of a shortcut i will show in a second.

this is pretty much everything i deal with on the main page. there’s a ton of other options/information/things, but i haven’t messed around with them too much, so i’m not sure what a lot of them do.

next i’ll show the setting i change/use. this is what the setting page looks like when you open it using the button on the control panel:

now i ignore most of the tabs on the left, because i’m only using obs for screenrecording, and not for livestreaming. i do change things under ‘output’ and ‘hotkeys’.

output:

here i’ve changed the recording path to go to a specific folder rather than the general one it will send it to. during the hockey season, when i’m possibly making gifs for 3 games at a time i change that folder to one for whatever the date is. during baseball season, i’m less likely to be doing as much so i put it in a general folder that i sort out later.

i don’t remember what the automatic settings are for recording format, but i believe i had to change it to mp4, which is what i need/use for my method of making gifs.

hotkeys:

this is just a little short cut, but i added these hotkeys so i can start and stop recordings without needing to flip to the software, as long as it’s going in the background. i chose this key because it’s one i don’t need in my everyday life, thus minimizing the risk that i’ll ever accidentally record anything i don’t need, which isn’t a big deal, but can be annoying.

advanced:

this isn’t really a setting change, but this is how i have my filenames formatted, at least until i manually change this if i want to, but i believe its the default and it’s honestly really helpful to keep the videos straight when you’re a disorganized mess like me.

i think that’s everything for the screenrecording part of the process. if you have any questions, just ask!

photoshop:

alright so i use the import frames to layers method to make gifs, it’s just how i learned initially, so i’m pretty stuck in my ways.

opening ps:

this is what my screen looks like when i open photoshop. i have mine set to the lighter setting bc i like how it looks brighter, but its just a personal preference.

importing clips:

select import and then video frames to layers. it will open your files.

selecting video:

alright, so you can see the mess of videos i have, unsorted right now, lmao. anyway navigate to and select the video you want, and hit open.

selecting frames:

this window will pop up after it loads, and here is where you select the frames you want to include in the gif. in order to do so, you slide the two sliders to frame either side of the clip. as far as the limit to every ___ frames, i try to not use it, or i use every 2 frames, just depending on the clip.

now i have the clip i want, so i hit ok, and let ps do its thing.

process:

alright so after the frames are loaded, there’s multiple things i do to prepare my gifs. i have to crop them, remove extra frames (delete with the little trash can at the bottom left), change the time delay, and then do the actual editing of the gif. also, i use the motion preset layout, which can be found on the drop down menu in the top right corner.

cropping:

these are the dimensions i use for most of my gifs. i range between 250-300 depending on the video, but 540 is almost always there, due to tumblr’s dimensions for photos/gifs. 268 x 268 is what i use for square gifs.

the cropping button is found on the left side menu, and it looks like that little symbol on the far left of the picture above.

once i have the area i want selected, i doubleclick and it crops the frames.

time delay:

to change the time delay, click the little symbol you can kind of see in the photo above, with the four or so lines. it’s above the frames along the bottom of the screen, at the right. when the menu pops up, click select all frames, so you can change the timing for all the frames. once all the frames are selected, click one of the little carrots next to the numbers at the bottom of the frames, as seen in the picture below.

now you choose the time delay you want. when im not skipping any frames, i  run between 0.05 to 0.06. if i am skipping, it’s between 0.08 to 0.1. just kind of play with it, til you find what works for you.

editing:

i always sharpen my gifs, it’s the best way to make your gifs look as nice as possible. to do so i use a sharpening action, found here. there is also a tutorial here for loading and using the action, which is much better than anything i could say, so use that!! i literally ALWAYS use this action/method, i love it so much. also, that blog is a goldmine for gif/edit help.

coloring:

alright, honestly im not going to be any help here, im so bad at coloring. at this point i have the same kind of things i do depending on where the game im makes gifs for is, since 81 and 41 games(ish) are in the same place for my teams during their seasons and then i just kind of make it up as i go. for actual help, i recommend the blog w the tutorial from above, just looking around there, or messing around in photoshop itself.

exporting:

follow these steps to save for tumblr. once the window opens and is ready, change the width to 540 for the best results for tumblr.