There have been a lot of threads over the ages regarding how to create gifs from videos, well, I figured I'd make a thread to end any confusion. You don't HAVE to use this method, but this is what I find to be the easiest ways to do it. You can use ripped DVD's, downloaded matches, youtube video's whatever you want.
The first method is to use Microsoft's excellent GIF animator, which can be downloaded here. Once you have downloaded and installed it, simply follow these steps:
1. Open the program.
2. Click the "Open" icon (the folder with an arrow) and browse to the video you want (must be in AVI format) and click "Open". The program will now read the individual frames from the video. This may take a while if you have a large video. If you are attempting to take a small part from a large video, I strongly suggest cutting the video to only that part before opening it in MS GIF Animator. You can do this with the excellent and free VirtualDubMod, which can be downloaded
here.
2. After the video has opened, you will see a list of images along the side. These will show you the different frames of your video, as you will see if you scroll down. If you click the "Play" button (with the arrow) your "video" should play. It may not be the speed you'd like yet, but you don't have to worry about that yet.
3. Now, select all frames by clicking the "Select All" button (the one with three squares on it). If you want your video to loop, click the "Animation" tab, select, looping, and set how many times you want it to loop, or select "forever" if you want it to loop continuously (in most cases, you should select this).
4. Now click the "Image" tab. Set the duration of each frame using the slider. Every time you change the duration, play it again and see what it looks like. Generally, 2-6 works well, but depending on the framerate of your video, you may need more or even less. After you have the desired effect, click the "Save As" button (the one with multiple floppy disks) and save your GIF wherever you like.
The second method is slightly more complicated, but it can give better results. First, you must download VirtualDubMod from here. Second, download unFREEz from here. Finally, download Easy Graphics Converter from here. All of these programs are free. Then follow these steps:
1. Open your video in VirtualDubMod (must be in AVI, OGM, MKV, or MPG format). Then choose File -> Save image sequence.
2. Choose a folder, make sure that "Output Format" is set to PNG, choose a filename, and click OK. VirtualDubMod will create the images for you. When it is done, close the program.
3. Now, open up Easy Graphic Converter. Click the "Settings" button and set to GIF and make sure the "24" radio button is selected under "Bits per pixel". Also, make sure "No resize" is checked, and then set an output folder (the easiest is to make a subfolder of the folder that you saved the images in from virtualDubMod). when you're done, click OK.
4. Now click Add, and choose "Add files". Navigate to the folder/directory you saved the images in from VirtualDubMod, and select all the output images. Click OK, and then click "Start".
5. Easy Graphic Converter will convert the files and ask if you want to save a log. Click no unless you want it for future reference.
6. Now, browse to the folder you selected in Easy Graphic Converter. VirtualDubMod outputs an enormous amount of frames. Normally, half that number is fine. to get half, the easiest way is to set the folder view to large icons, and then using the Ctrl button and mouse selection, select every second row. Now, keeping the Ctrl button held, select every second column. you should now have selected every second image. If so, delete the ones that are selected.
WARNING: If the first frame does not show up as the first file in the folder, rename the files so that all the frames appear in order.
7. Now, open unFREEz. since all the files in your folder should be in order, go to your folder and select all the files. Now, drag them to the unFREEz taskbar button and hold it there until the unFREEz window pops up. Still holding the mouse button, drag the files into the white area of the unFREEz window and let go of the mouse button. All the frames should appear in order in a list.
8. Now set the frame delay and click "Make Animated GIF". Don't close unFREEz yet. Open the resulting file in your browser and preview it. If it is too fast, go back to unFREEz, increase the frame delay, and Make the GIF file again. If it is too slow, decrease the frame delay and make it again. Once you have the right speed and you're happy with the result, close unFREEz and delete the folder with the original images in it. Make sure you keep the final GIF image, though.
There are other ways to do it, but those two methods are what I find easiest when I make gifs.
How to create a gif from a video file
How to create a gif from a video file
