Gifs in Ya Sig Tutorial

[STYLE]

one, i'm not one to withhold info, two, i didn't invent the animated gif so feel free to run with it.

I'll just start by outlining my procedure then i'll get into some detail on the trickier parts.

How to make a gif from Youtube...

1. download a youtube vid using firefoxes downloadhelper and convert it to mp4 using Visualhub. or you can use Vixy and it will download and convert for you but it takes longer.

2. open it in QuicktimePro and trim it down to a few seconds

3. import video frames as layers in PS , usually select "limit to every 2-3 frames"


now you have your animated gif right? right.

okay now the fun part....

Making a sig from a gif.

1. moving a gif around once you have started designing is a BAD IDEA. when you have 40-70 layers......headache to match layer to frame.

so...decide left right middle...where your animation will be. then increase the canvas size to reflect that choice. anchor the direction you want the anim to be in. if u want it top left, click the topleft arrow.

make the canvas big like 700x400 so you have room to work. you can crop later.


so you have a big transparent psd with a gif. ok

2. select all the gif layers and Apple-G/cmd-G to group them in a set/folder. this is how you can edit the gif all at once.

3 start designing your sig DO NOT MOVE THE GIF! IT WILL FUCK UP.
sometimes it may help to just turn the gif set visability off. till ur ready to fuck with it.

so now you have a beautiful sig but you have the gif which doesn't blend or anything. what to do?


1. select the gif set and click the layer mask...WOOOHOO!
now you can cut trim fade BUT DON'T MOVE your gif. just treat it like a normal layer using brushes/fills/gradients on the layer set mask.

2. you can also use adjustment layers to tweak the whole gif. just open the layer set and slide an adj layer at the top of the gif layers.

3. you can add brush effects by making a new layer that is above/ below the gif set.



the way i cut the shapes out....


i use the technique i just explained but i use huge text then select the text, select the layer i want to cut, then click the layer mask. now you have an image/gif/brushes the shape of ur text.

then all u have to do is option drag the text mask to whatever other layers you want to cut. and it will copy the mask there.





well thats it.

if you have ?s feel free to ask.

[Sean]

Thanks for the tut.

So all the gifs you use in your sigs, you made them yourself? How would I use a gif I got from the internet in a sig? I ask because downloading and converting videos practically kills my computer, it's a really painful process

[STYLE]

if you use cs2 just open a gif. if you use cs3.....fuckin adobe.....you gotta open it up in quicktime pro save it as a mov file then import it.

the fuckers took the "open gif" funtion out of ps and put it in fireworks....why? the answer to 9-10 questions......money.


if you use mac i have a quicktime pro activation code:
QTpro 7.3
Name: Pablo/nop
SN: SMH2-6F4K-8SK9-ST5W-QKU3

[Sean]

Yeah I got CS3, I'll have to convert it. Thanks again