Tumgik
#also i changed my sharpening method i'm pretty sure no one will notice except me but well
kimsuyeon · 2 months
Note
hi if its alright with you can I please ask your stage gif process 🩵 (I don't mind if its not too detailed but if you use vapoursynth or topaz or anything)
hiii! omg thank u for wanting to know 🥺🥺 i actually use two methods, depending on the source file (and how lazy i feel). either vapoursynth or mpv. i'll show u both!
long, the example gif has a flashy background, somewhat clear. i hope.
i source from .ts files on k24hr or twitter, fancams, and then the youtube version (which i then run through handbrake before vs or mpv) if there's absolutely no other choice. i try to avoid show music core because its backgrounds make sharpening hard, but i'm using one from there for this tutorial :) i will also use beyond live / blu-ray files when available (i.e. 4th world tour gifs i did of twice)
vapoursynth:
-> only use the deinterlace (60 slow) when it's 1080i 30fps! i use this on files from k24hrs. if the file is already 60 fps (i.e. those from srghkqud on twitter), i don't deinterlace or preprocess. i use finesharp on .7 any time i use vs!
Tumblr media
this gif is 268 x 520 px! i leave the delay at .02 and set frame rate to 60fps. on the left, it is just changed to 60fps and run through vs with the above settings. the gif on the right is sharpened!
i change my sharpening settings on every stage (and most other sets as well)! i use an action, and then adjust by the background and quality of the source! this is using my stage sharpening - but i have removed a smart sharpen and reduced opacity of other filters i use on different (clearer) files!
show music core has these really visible leds in their background, so sharpening it tends to be harder! i avoid using my 500px smart sharpens when it looks like this, and use high pass and bigger radius smaller amount smart sharpens!
Tumblr media Tumblr media
sharpening settings for above: 8.0 high pass on soft light blending (40% opacity), 241 .2 smart sharpen (60% opacity), 15 15 smart sharpen (50% opacity) i should also note that on really really pale stages, i use camera raw filter to fix whites / highlights before i add the other sharpening! this does really slow down export time and can be frustrating, so i reserve it for then!
then i color! sometimes i use ezgif (which hasn't lowered quality that i've noticed) to adjust the speed, if i feel it needs it! this gif has a fine speed so i've left it as is, but i normally speed up gifs by 120% on their speed feature to make the choreo look a little faster!
Tumblr media Tumblr media
left: unsharpened except vs finesharp, colored right: sharpened, colored
my coloring focus is always restoring skin, everything else is pretty much purely stylistic. i try to leave colors in the background the same! i do really like making blonde hair pinker or more toned (since they're often yellow, i always make a point of essentially toning their hair for them - i.e. tsuki in dang! set)
when i color the rest of the set, i keep the first gif open next to it to make sure everything matches! i normally copy and paste the coloring group and adjust as needed :D
also, i check how it looks in tumblr on desktop + mobile, since web safe colors adjust the look of your gifs a lot (the ones with the little dots in the middle are web safe, everything else isn't) and try to fix what doesn't look quite right. i also ask my friends if something is wrong but i'm not sure what (mainly nini (@withyouth) so shout out to her for putting up w/ me, a big part of the stage gif process)!
mpv: -> i press 'd' and make sure it is deinterlacing (again, only 1080i ones get deinterlaced)! and then i screencap. i followed this guide on setting up mpv, and always use minimal compression settings for everything i screencap.
-> i turn my files into dicom files (you can just rename them on mac, on windows it is multistep) and then scipt->load multiple dicom files (faster than loading image into stack and, in my opinion, clearer too)!
for windows: -> alt+d in your screencap folder, cmd. enter. type ren *.* *.dcm into the window. enter. close the command window!
i make my frame animation + frames to layers. once it is on the timeline, i go ahead and crop before i do anything else. i tried to make the cropping like the vs gif, but it's not identical!
sharpening: since i didn't use finesharp, i can add more in ps. this is my normal stage sharpening with nothing added or removed!
Tumblr media Tumblr media
left: deinterlaced, screencapped, cropped right: deinterlaced, screencapped, cropped, sharpened -> 8.0 high pass (soft light, 65%), 500 .3 smart sharpen, 241 .2 smart sharpen (60% opacity), 15 15 smart sharpen (50% opacity)
coloring: same one as the vs gifs!
Tumblr media Tumblr media
comparison:
Tumblr media Tumblr media
left: vapoursynth, fully complete right: dicom, fully complete
i normally use mpv, but sometimes i don't feel like waiting on the screencaps, or i think finesharp will add texture + depth that the original doesn't have (too smooth of a filter, whatever) so i use vs! my taeyeon mr. mr. and le sserafim rock ver. sets were both done via vapoursynth, though the sharpenings are different from each other and what it shown here (i change sharpening a lot, and sometimes by set... sorry.. KJHDFGJKH)!
anyways i hope this was helpful!!! thank u for asking it means a lot u want to know!! if u want more stuff answered or shown, u can always ask :D and i hope it's clear 😭😭 i know i ramble a lot
19 notes · View notes
rizahawkais · 3 years
Note
Hi Nia! You're gifs are so pretty! Is it possible for you to show how you get your WandaVision gifs too look so clear and hd? And how do you do your colorings too? (specifically the wanda maximoff in episode 3 gifset ITS GORGEOUS) I'm new to giffing and all the tutorials are kind of old. It's okay if you don't want to though! I understand it may be time consuming.
omg no! never feel intimidated to ask!! i don’t mind at all!
so, i’m going to show you how i made and coloured this gif
Tumblr media
mostly bc it’s the only gif in that set w text and i’m going to share my text settings too!
tutorial is below :)
WHAT KIND OF VIDEOS ARE BEST?
.mkv files (the bigger the better BUT i usually think anything above 5 gb is excessive and unnecessary for an episode of television BUT for a movie worth it) itunes downloads (logolesspro on twitter, hd-source on tumblr, live-action-raws on tumblr have some DEPENDING on what you’re looking for) (also, there’s a chance that if you search "show/movie hd download tumblr” you’ll find a tumblr with its itunes download available)
THAT IS IT NO OTHER TYPE OF FILES MAKE YOUR GIFS LOOK GOOD
- my suggestion is always if its new (like just came out the past month) t*rrent it! it’ll be downloaded quickly and .mkv files look the best! BUT if not check the sources above see who has the BIGGEST file if they even have what you’re looking for and then if not then you look to t*rrenting!!
here are the wandavision files i use so you can see!!
Tumblr media
SCREENCAPPING
-if you have windows use potplayer! i have a mac so i can’t show you how to use it and it’s not available for me :( HOWEVER back when i had a windows potplayer was the best method in screencapping!!
-I HAVE A MAC! so i use mpv!! (go to mpv.io and follow the directions) BUT DON’T DOWNLOAD THE LATEST ONE (it has a bug that skips frames) try each before the latest one bc from what i heard different ones work differently for everyone!! and i don’t know which one i use (yikes!) THERE ISN’T THAT MANY I PROMISE AND IT’S WORTH IT BC MPV IS THE BEST (i used to use adapter but they didn’t take impressive screencaps in my opinion and it was evident in my gifs you can see it too! )
create a folder for your screencaps! and make sure to rmb the directory order! now we want to create a text file on our built in textedit app on mac! type up all this down below (i like jpg but you can replace jpg w png if you want) AND SAVE THE FILE AS mpv.conf THIS IS IMPORTANT SO DON’T FORGET IT! save it somewhere you’ll find easily and NEVER delete it until you don’t use mpv anymore
Tumblr media
just in case you don’t know what to insert after, go to your screencaps folder
Tumblr media
now you want to open mpv and go to the corner towards mpv -> preferences and they’ll tell you that there is no .conf file SO GO LOOK FOR THE TEXT FILE WE JUST MADE AND DRAG IT TO THE FOLDER THEY OPENED FOR US AFTER SAYING THERE IS NO .CONF FILE
(i learned all this from @kylos tutorial!! so if any of what i just said about setting up mpv makes NO SENSE to you check out their tutorial at kylos(.)tumblr(.)com/post/178497909311)
now we can screencap!
so let’s find the scene we want RIGHT BEFORE and MAKE SURE SUBTITLES ARE OFF
Tumblr media
i pause and then press (option/alt + s) and then SCREENCAPS ARE BEING TAKEN!! and to end the screencaps being taken you once again press (option/alt + s)!!
Tumblr media
now we want to delete the excess frames! and put it all into one folder!! DO NOT DELETE FRAMES IN THE MIDDLE OF WHAT YOU WANT TO GIF!! WHEN YOU SKIP FRAMES IT WILL BE NOTICEABLE!!
Tumblr media Tumblr media
MAKING THE GIF
this method isn’t used that much BUT I LOVE IT so this is how i put my frames in! first i check to see the size of my frames: 1920 x 1080
Tumblr media
so i create a NEW file on photoshop with those dimensions w these settings
Tumblr media
now i set my tool on photoshop to path selection tool bc if you have it set on smth like move tool or crop tool at the end you might end up moving or cropping frames you don’t want to!
Tumblr media
ok so now we select ALL our frames and drag it on top of our new file on photoshop and the MOMENT we see our first frame in photoshop JUST KEEP CLICKING ENTER until all the frames are loaded!!
Tumblr media
you can do file -> scripts -> load files into stack but it is WAYYY slower in my opinion!
now i crop out the excess BUT i don’t resize the gif yet! the dimensions wandavision is filmed in is 4:3 so i go to crop and set the settings to this:
Tumblr media
MAKE SURE IT’S ON RATIO SO WE’RE PRESERVING THE ORIGINAL SIZE JUST CUTTING OFF THE BLACK EDGES!! We are going from 1920 x 1080 to 1440 x 1080 this is the dimensions after i cropped
Tumblr media
WE ARE KEEPING THE QUALITY BY NOT CHANGING THE DIMENSIONS OF ANYTHING INSIDE !!
now we want to go to actions and create an action!! open up actions w one of these two depending on what your dash looks like!!
Tumblr media Tumblr media
so we create an action with this button on the bottom of actions and we’re gonna title it making a gif and hit record!!
Tumblr media Tumblr media
NOW LET’S GOOOOO!!
1. make sure you have timeline on your dash!
Tumblr media
2. create frame animation (if you see create video timeline just click the arrow next to the button to see your other option which is frame animation!!)
Tumblr media
3. now let’s meet our best friend!! the little bar in the top right corner that has all the commands for making our gifs and MAKE FRAMES FROM LAYERS
Tumblr media
4. WE HAVE TO SHARPEN OUR GIFS NOW BUT TO DO THAT WE NEED TO CONVERT TO A SMART OBJECT SO NOW WE ARE GOING TO CONVERT TO VIDEO TIMELINE there are two ways: the button in the bottom left corner or the button in the top right corner w all the other commands!
Tumblr media Tumblr media
5. select -> all layers DON’T MANUALLY SELECT THEM ALL BC THE ACTION WILL ONLY SELECT THAT SAME NUMBER OF FRAMES SO IF THERE ARE MORE FRAMES YOU WON’T GET THEM IN THE SMART OBJECT!!
Tumblr media
6. filter -> convert for smart filters
Tumblr media
7. NOW WE SHARPEN!! (filter -> sharpen -> smart sharpen) i sharpen twice!! first, make sure we are on legacy w more accurate and remove gaussian blue! the first sharpening will be 500% with 0.4 px radius. NOW SHARPEN AGAIN (filter -> sharpen -> smart sharpen) also w legacy, more accurate and remove gaussian blur BUT this time 10% with a 10.0 px radius!
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
8. it’s hd now!! so let’s flatten frames into clips!! go to the top right magic button again!! and you should see a pop up saying layers are being made
Tumblr media Tumblr media
9. now we convert back to frame animation w either the bottom left button or our magic top right command center!
Tumblr media Tumblr media
10. make frames from layers
Tumblr media
11. select all frames w our magic command button
Tumblr media
12. set the animation delay to 0.05 THAT IS THE BEST ONE ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS only use 0.06 when the character is moving really fast in the video itself and it makes the gif itself look awkward BUT NEVER GO ABOVE 0.06 it’ll look slow and laggy and we don’t want that and don’t go below 0.05 bc then it’ll be tooo fast and we don’t want that either!
Tumblr media Tumblr media
13. now delete the very first frame on the timeline bc it is an oversharpened duplicate of the second frame! end the recording w this button!
Tumblr media
this is what your action should look like expanded! if you made mistakes on the way and it shows up you can just click the specific step and press the trash can on the action tab to delete in from the order!!
Tumblr media
NOW AFTER LOADING YOUR FRAMES AND CROPPING THE EDGES OF YOUR FRAMES IF YOU NEED TO JUST PLAY THE ACTION AND THEN YOUR GIF WILL BE MADE FOR YOU!!!!
now i delete some unnecessary frames in the beginning and end and this is what my gif looks like (the size was 46 mb and the limit is 10 mb so the dimensions of the gif are 540 x 405 to get it to 5 mb BUT I HAVEN’T CROPPED IT YET SO THIS IS ME CROPPING JUST TO SHOW YOU WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE)
Tumblr media
CROPPING THE GIF
in my opinion if you want your gif to look hd you shouldn’t crop before you sharpen!! i believe that if you crop before you sharpen you don’t allow photoshop to sharpen all the pixels whereas if you crop beforehand there is less to work with!!
dimensions is all up to you!! just make sure to go by tumblr rules!! 540 is the max width and if you want to make two gifs per row then my suggested width is 268 and for three gifs per row my suggested is 177 px! Just have the right width and the length can be whatever you want!!
now i’m going to crop my gif to 540 by 590!!
Tumblr media Tumblr media
NOW THIS IS WHAT MY GIF LOOKS LIKE!
Tumblr media
COLOURING BASICS
let me show you the best adjustment tools in my opinion and a brief explanation for what they do!!
brightness/contrast: pretty simple increase/decrease the brightness/contrast BUT one of my techniques for when i first start colouring a gif is i select all my frames and do nothing to the settings of the adjustment but i set the layer to screen LIKE THIS
Tumblr media
curves: ik others use curves to change brightness/contrast w the squiggly thing BUT i like it to set a white point and black point, this is also a technique i use when i first start colouring a gif when screen doesn’t look good for me SO you use white point to select a pixel on the gif to set as the lightest color on the gif (setting the white point) and you use black point to select a pixel on the gif to set as the darkest colour on the gif (setting the black point) usually the white point makes it TOO bright and that’s why we use the black point to counter it and same goes for when i use screen with brightness/contrast, it gets too bright so i use black point to counter it below is the button for white point and the button for black point, respectively they are shaped as color picker tools
Tumblr media Tumblr media
vibrance: generally, i never use this except for color p*rn sets but they work really well in making colors seem more strong
hue/saturation: like vibrance, i never use this except for color p*rn sets but this adjustment is to help change the colors or hue of a color for example: turn blue into purple or turn a blue into a little lighter shade of blue
color balance: I ALWAYS USE THIS!! except for in black and white gifs BUT THIS IS MY GO TO AND IF I DON’T USE IT MY GIFS ARE JUST BLAND i feel like color balance is what essentially balances the colors on your gif and adds dimension to it, it makes your gif go from looking way too yellow to a more golden neutral look and it is an essential adjustment in my opinion
channel mixer: i rarely use channel mixer BUT it is so so useful when you are working w a dark scene just play w the settings and all of a sudden all the blue in a dark scene will be a little more yellow and red and your scene will kind of just look brighter and more visible
selective color: THIS IS ALSO AN ESSENTIAL this helps SPECIFIC colors pop you’re working on a scene where there is too much red on someones face you use this tool to remove the magentaness from the yellow section OR when you feel someones face is TOO yellow and needs more blush you add more magenta in the yellow section of selective color
gradiant map: gradiant map is perfect when you’re lazy if you feel like your gif looks more neutral and you want some red in it but you don’t want to mess with any other adjustments just set a red to black gradiant on soft overlay with a very low opacity and BOOM slightly red but not too much red added!
NOW TO COLOR THE GIF!
today i have decided to start with a brightness layer set on screen
Tumblr media
and this is what we got!
Tumblr media
now that’s a little to bright and washed out in my opinion SOOOO to counteract it, i’m going to use my black point tool in curves and i’m going to select this point on the gif (it’s better to choose smth in the background and not smth that’s paid attention to such as monica’s hair or either of their eyelashes)
Tumblr media
now my gif looks like this! the base color is complete!
Tumblr media
now i think i need to balance all this yellow and red! SOOOO WE GONNA USE COLOR BALANCE!!
i think the best way to use color balance is to keep swinging the balancer until you see what you like and then keep going midtones i think i want more red and i don’t want a cyan midtone and then for shadows i think i want more cyan to counter the redness of the gif but highlights i don’t touch that much NOW HERE ARE MY SETTINGS SO YOU CAN SEE
Tumblr media
and this is what my gif looks like
Tumblr media
now you can stop here if you want but in my opinion i think the gif looks a lil too dead still SO IMMA USE SELECTIVE COLOR
i think there needs to be a lot lot more RED so i amp up the yellow magenta and black in the red! but i also think the yellows need to be LESS RED so i remove magenta from the yellow! and bc there’s some cyan and blue bc of monica and the flowers in the background im going to make the cyans more cyan and the blues a lil more black! i’m going to remove some yellows from the magenta!! and i add more black to the neutrals and black!! i think it’s always important to add more black to neutral and black bc it adds more depth to the gif by not just making it a bunch of bright colors and having dark colors to contrast to!! my settings are below!
Tumblr media
and the result!
Tumblr media
now let’s see everything together!
Tumblr media
and the before and after!
Tumblr media
I HOPE MY COLOURING EXPLANATION MADE SENSE!! if not you can always ask me more questions i don’t mind!!
ADDING SUBTITLES
we want to grab the text tool!
Tumblr media
make a text box from anywhere in the middle from the left to right edge. this is so we can make sure our text is centered and will be in the same place for when we have sets w more than one gif w text!
Tumblr media
type your text out and make sure you highlight the whole text so that all the settings apply to EACH character! you can find the alignments (for center) in the paragraph tab!
Tumblr media Tumblr media
now lets right click on the text layer and go to blending options! add stroke and drop shadow!
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
now drag it to the desired height you would like and make sure to keep it in mind for when you have more than one subtitled gif in a set!
Tumblr media
NOW TO MAKE SURE THE TEXT STAYS IN PLACE AND THE BLENDING STAYS YOU HAVE TO CONVERT TO SMART OBJECT!!
Tumblr media
if you want to only have the text applied to certain frames instead of all frames, select the frames you don’t want by clicking the first frame in ur don’t want section ON THE TIMELINE and WHILST HOLDING SHIFT click the last frame of ur don’t want section and then toggle the eye switch next to the text layer
now you see the text
Tumblr media
now you don’t
Tumblr media
tip: use opacity to fade the text in and out!
the text is going to be on all my frames so i don’t need to toggle the eye but i just wanted to show you just in case!!
now here’s my FINAL RESULT
Tumblr media
save for web (file -> export -> save for web) 
your gifs have to always be under 10 mb! so, if your WAYYY overboard YOU HAVE TO DELETE FRAMES! or you can divide the gif in two and have two gifs instead of one! however, if you plan on going the deleting frames route MAKE SURE YOU DELETE FROM THE BEGINNING OR END OF YOUR SELECTION i promise you that most of us won’t notice that your characters dialogue is being cut off BUT WE WILL NOTICE IF FRAMES ARE BEING SKIPPED so, don’t delete frames in the middle of ur gif!! idc how little you do it IT WILL RUIN YOUR GIF AND I SAY THIS FROM EXPERIENCE i would delete every fifth frame to cut down my gifs and that may seem like not that big of a deal BUT IT IS my gif looked choppy and poor so it is way better to cut from the end/beginning of the gif
ANOTHER LAST PIECE OF ADVICE in the bottom left of when the save for web menu shows up THERE’S A PREVIEW BUTTON click on it! it’ll show you your gif on your default browser and show you what it’ll look like once uploaded! this is perfect to check the speed of ur gif and the colouring and to notice if there’s a problem with your subtitles or maybe there’s an obvious jump in frames you never noticed before!! i always use preview bc the built-in photoshop viewer of ur gif shows the colors differently and the speed is NEVER ACURRATE!
I USED THESE SAVE SETTINGS!! many say to use selective pattern but i DISAGREE and i think these save settings are the ✨ best ✨
Tumblr media
OK NOW THAT IS THE END OF THIS VERY LONG GIF TUTORIAL!! I HOPE THIS IS WHAT YOU WANTED!! IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS DON’T BE AFRAID TO ASK I SINCERELY DON’T MIND!! JUST DON’T BE RUDE OR ANYTHING BC PPL HAVE BEEN RECENTLY :(
I WISH YOU ALL THE LUCK AND FUN IN YOUR GIFFING ADVENTURES !!
384 notes · View notes