#mtut

Hey hey! Apologies for the late response. I suppose this question prompts a mini-tutorial!

Software I use:

Greenshot to take screenshots

Adobe Photoshop CC (latest version) to edit images

Note: this tutorial requires basic knowledge of the standard Adobe Photoshop tools. I will however provide links to Adobe help pages throughout this tutorial.

1. Take a screenshot

First things first: take a screenshot of a build you'd like to edit. I use Greenshot instead of in-game screenshot capture because I use ReShade to adjust the exposure levels.

I try to mimic the isometric projection when I take the screenshots.

This is the original screenshot:

2. Create a new Adobe Photoshop file

Create a new file in Adobe Photoshop. Don't forget to save the file as .psd so that you can save your progress. For this tutorial, my preset settings are as follows:

3. Add the screenshot as a Smart Object layer

Drag & drop the screenshot into the file you created. This adds the screenshot as a Smart Object layer. This means that you can apply different adjustments to the layer with the ability to reverse any changes.

Resize the layer according to your preference.

4. Remove the background

I use gradient or solid backgrounds in my build edits. This means that I need to isolate the build from its original background. To do that, I use the Polygonal Lasso tool. The edges of the build in my screenshot are mostly straight, so this tool is sufficient.

Once the selection is complete, press the "Select and Mask..." button which should be visible in the top toolbar.

In this workspace, you can play around with selection settings to refine the edges. In my case, I don't need to do a lot of adjustments (I only increased the "Contrast" property).

In the same Properties toolbar, under "Output Settings", select "Layer Mask" as the Output To option. Press "Ok" to exit the Select and Mask workspace.

5. Ta-daa!

The background is now not visible. In the "Layers" tab, you can see that your screenshot layer now has a mask applied to it. It's always better to "cut out" parts of images using masks - this way you can re-adjust visible parts of the image and reverse any previous actions.

6. Create a new background

Now for the fun part - creating a new background for your edit. You can do it via the top toolbar by selecting Layer -> New Fill Layer -> Solid Color or Gradient. For this tutorial, I selected "Gradient" and picked some lovely pink shades.

7. Adjust brightness, contrast, etc.

Finally, I add some layer adjustments to the screenshot layer. I typically adjust brightness/contrast, color balance and saturation settings.

And that's it?? Hope this was useful!

A couple of notes:

Make sure that the in-game lighting matches the overall vibe you're going for with your edit. I found that harsh sunlight doesn't work too well as some areas of the light-colored objects become overexposed. I like to take my screenshots in cloudy weather conditions :)

I taught myself and just messed around and tried to pattern from old video game menus

Use frames and not timeline so you could set the delay. Find an arrow or triangle or whatever you want to use to point at the selection then move it after every frame like this:

First frame would point to the first selection then so on. Delay could be up to you. After you’ve gone through the selection, the “selecting” effect is just turning the triangle layer on and off with a shorter delay

Frames 9 and 11 have the triangle layer off

End result would look like this:

So tumblr made shit worse and now when you’re trying to do gif replies your post is taken over by a giant stretched out gif. Lemme show you the quick way to fix this (making this for anyone who might not know already how to fix it!):

As requested, here is how I download torrents for footage to make gifs! 

What you'll need:

Vuze 

A website with torrents! (kickass, rarbg, or any others you prefer)