Mac Gimp Help Request

Discussion in 'Science and Technology' started by John Picard, May 19, 2010.

  1. John Picard

    John Picard Vice Admiral Admiral

    Would someone here be kind enough to tutor me in the making of GIFs using GIMP on my Mac? We can keep it confined to PMs and e-mail unless the Mods feel that a thread devoted to such tutelage would benefit many people.

    I'd like to be able to make animated avatars.
     
  2. spinnerlys

    spinnerlys Commander Red Shirt

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  3. Robert Maxwell

    Robert Maxwell memelord Premium Member

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    Personally, I'm curious about making GIFs with the GIMP. I know it involves using layers and transparency and stuff. Thanks for the tutorials, spinnerlys!
     
  4. John Picard

    John Picard Vice Admiral Admiral

    Thanks, spinnerlys. I'm going to give those a whirl.

    Now here's another question -- how do people capture video (ie a few seconds) in order to animate it?
     
    Last edited: May 19, 2010
  5. Robert Maxwell

    Robert Maxwell memelord Premium Member

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    Actually, that's a bit easier, but you'll need video editing software.

    Use the video software to trim down to the segment you want, then convert it to an AVI. There are a bunch of tools out there that convert AVIs into GIFs. This utility supports multiple formats for converting videos into GIFs.
     
  6. spinnerlys

    spinnerlys Commander Red Shirt

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    It depends what you want to capture.

    Your Mac most likely has an iSight camera built into it, that you can use to capture yourself or something else via QuickTime Player or Photo Booth.
    The resulting video should be easily importable into iMovie.

    Then you can also capture video from an external source, like a DV/HDV camera via Firewire and iMovie.
    To capture analog video (VHS for example) you need something like this.

    And you can also capture online video (YouTube, Vimeo) via the Firefox Video Download Helper add-on or the Safari Activity Window or even ClickToFlash.

    And QuickTime X (comes with Mac OS X 10.6 - Snow Leopard) can also capture your screen, like ScreenFlow can too.
     
  7. Robert Maxwell

    Robert Maxwell memelord Premium Member

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    I could just facepalm myself for linking to a Windows program in a Mac thread. Sorry, JP. :)
     
  8. trekkiedane

    trekkiedane Admiral Admiral

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    I don't know anything about Macs, but I swear by the GIMP when it comes to making avatars -and as this thread demonstrates; there are loads of good tutorials just a simple googeling away.

    Good luck getting to know your GIMP :bolian:
     
  9. John Picard

    John Picard Vice Admiral Admiral

    GAH! I tried some manipulation last night and couldn't get it to work. I was trying to fade from one image to another, and GIMP kept complaining about needing different layers, a background, etc. I'm more of a visual and hands-on type person where it helps to have someone show me.