record your gameplay using geforce experience. another free option is obs studio. if you use reshade/gshade, then you'll need one of these programs to capture the game as you see it.

next, upload your video to ezgif and trim the it down to roughly 10 seconds (or less). this is the start time and end time you see just below the video preview. you can use the video controls to see where you want to start and stop in real-time.

then, change the image size to original (up to 800px) and frame rate to 10 (max 30 seconds). you can push the frame rate higher for shorter gifs, but i've found it's unnecessary and this frame rate keeps the file size down.

method should automatically load up as ffmpeg and doesn't need to be touched. directly below that, check the option to optimize for static background.

your settings should look like this once you've uploaded the video and made the adjustments listed above:

now convert to gif! it may take a few seconds, but your gif will appear below this button. notice the file size, width, height, and frame total? we need to keep the file size under 10mb for tumblr. i generally try to keep it under 9.5mb because tumblr can be finnicky about it and sometimes rejects anything close to 10mb.

if you're already under 10mb (9.5) and like the current aspect ratio, then you can right-click and save your gif as-is. if you're still over the maximum file size or want to change the image ratio, let's continue!

optimization under your new gif, you'll see the crop feature. click through so we can change the aspect ratio. this is up to your preferences, honestly. you can select from the automatic ratios (a lot of folks like 1:1) and then center the box freely. personally, i prefer a 5:4 ratio that isn't listed on the site. since i know the ratio in pixels to fit tumblr's dashboard width, i type my custom dimensions into the fields. (width: 540, height: 430) but you can input whatever you like.

convert your gif again for the cropped dimensions. this should hopefully have you around the 9.5mb file size.

if not, click the optimize link below your gif. from the drop down list under optimization method, select remove every 4th frame, then convert one last time for the smallest file size without losing quality.

if you're still over because you have a lot of shifting colors or you're using a gif longer than 10 seconds, then you can either keep dropping frames off or resize the gif to smaller dimensions.

when you're done, right-click and save your gif so you can then upload it to tumblr. never, ever direct-link from ezgif. these previews you see on their site self-destruct after a few minutes and i can't guarantee that tumblr will publish them. always save and upload.

note: a lot of shifting colors in your original video may create unwanted pixelation. the image is having to move colors around in an attempt to stay smooth. even with that pixelation, i've found this method maintains an overall smoother texture than photoshop.

that's it! i hope this helps making gifs easier and faster for everyone since you don't really need any fancy or paid programs. if you have any questions or find errors in this tutorial, send me an ask!

in a room 8 x 14 (with no windows or doors), i set up my lighting and teleporter first as you see spaced here. lights 1 & 2 are each 1 square away diagonally from the teleporter and turned a quarter inward using the < or > keys. light 3 is 4 squares directly in front of the teleporter. i usually alternate one light red and another blue for contrast, but the front light is always neutral. you can do any other color combination for the side lights, but i recommend doing contrasting colors like red and blue or purple and cyan. doing orange and pink, for example, will probably just blend together.

then i pop in the backdrop i'll be using (or paint the walls and lay down flooring), and resize my lights so they're not in the way.

if you'd like to use the exact items i use, here they are:

base game "outdoor ground light"

tuds ema 30° ceiling lamp

kewai-duo umbrella light short

teleport any sim

andrew's pose player

helgatisha's backdrop