Animated Skins >> Animated Gifs Tutourial

[eviL<3]

This Guide will teach you, how to make Animated Gifs from Animated Skins. I made this in Klasnics Falcon Animated Robot Skin - Thread.

Before we do anything, add theese to Binds to your User.ini

Insert=fixedfps 30|dumpframes start
Delete=dumpframes stop|fixedfps

Now go get UT Screenshot Convertor by Willhelms Soft

Set it up, something like This

Run it, and Start the Guide

1. Set all Settings to Full

[shot]http://img159.echo.cx/img159/1418/1settings2xv.jpg[/shot]


2. Select the Player Model

[shot]http://img159.echo.cx/img159/1927/2player4hg.jpg[/shot]


3. Select The Map / Mods / Mutators you would Like.

[shot]http://img168.echo.cx/img168/6962/31gametype7dd.jpg[/shot]

[shot]http://img168.echo.cx/img168/6266/32map5df.jpg[/shot]

[shot]http://img168.echo.cx/img168/7139/33mutators7xa.jpg[/shot]

Select 0 Bots and 0 Minuites Time Limit.

[shot]http://img168.echo.cx/img168/3387/34limit2vo.jpg[/shot]


4. Start the Game

The Map you chose will load up



Get the Weapons you want



Go to a cool looking Place. You can also use the Fly Command

[eviL<3]

Part 2

When you're there, use the Walk Command to stop flying.



Then type Freecamera 1 to cycle around the Player, as in Spectator Mode.



Now use Fov 30 to get a Zoom. Try different Values, untill you're happy.



Now use the ToggleScreenShotMode Command to remove the HUD



Now Rotate the Screen to what you want it to be like.



Now type WinMatch, so the Player doesn't move anymore.
Now Press the Button that you bound fixedfps 30|dumpframes start to. For me that would be Insert.

Now wait a Few Seconds ( about 10s ). Then Press the Button that dumpframes stop|fixedfps is bound to, Delete For me.

Now type theese: Fov 90, ToggleScreenShotMode, Quit


5. Converting the Screenshots

Now go to the Folder You Chose for Screenshot Converter.




Those are all your Ingame Screenshots. Move all Older Screenshots to another Folder, so only those, from the last run are there.

Now you need Jasc Animation Shop 3


Animation Shop Version:

Start up Animation Shop. Now click on the "Animation Wizard" Button / Go to File > Animation Wizard or use the Shift + A Hotkey.

In the Next Window
Width: 400
Height: 350



The Next Window doesn't matter, Enter what you like ^_^

Next Window, just make sure "Scale Frames to Fit" is checked



Next, "Repeat Indefiniteley" must be Activated and the Frame Display Time should be 3 ( in 1/100ths per Second )



Next Window, click on "Add Image..." and Select the Folder with the Converted Screenshots and Select all ( Ctrl + A ), add them, and Click on "Continue" and in the Next Window on "Complete".

Screenshot

Animation Shop will now add the Shots. When it's done, use a Crop Tool and Crop it to a good Size:

Screenshot

This is what it looks like after it's Cropped.

Now go to File > Save ( Ctrl + S )

Screenshots: One | Two | Three | Four | Five

This Is the Final Product. ( Reduced Quality a Bit )

And Here's another one that I made that Way: Click



I hope this Guide is Usefull, and Post your Own Versions of converting the Files to a Gif in this Thread. I may Edit this Post and Add them

[eviL<3]

Part 3

Klasnic's Version

In the "Game Settings" Tab, make sure the Bot Settings are Set to "Use Bot Roster"



Now go to the Bot Config Menu and Add the Animated Model:



Also add some others though.

Now Start the Game and spectate that Animated Model. Type ToggleScreenShotMode and Slomo 0.1. Now wait for a good Pose and type FreezeAll. Now Keep Pressing F9 ( wich is the Shot Command ) or use the DumpFrames Method Mentioned one or two Posts above.

Now Exit UT2004 and Load up Photoshop. Open up one of the just made Screenshots ( C:/UT2004/ScreenShots ) and Press [Ctrl + A] ( Select All ) and then [Ctrl + C] ( Copy ) and make a New Image ( Ctrl + N ).

The Settings should look something like this:



Just make sure the Preset is set to Clipboard.

Now Paste every Frame into a new Layer until you have all on a Seperate Layer. Now go to the Edit in ImageReady Button: ( or Press Shift + Ctrl + M ) and you'll be in ImageReady

In the botom Left you see the Animation Window with one little Picture inside. Press on the Arrow in the top right of that Window and select "Make Frames from Layers"



Now you'll see every Frame as a small Picture in the Animation Window. They will have 0 sec under every Thumbnail, so Select the first one, and scroll to the last one, Don't click. Now Hold Shift and click the last Thumbnail.
Click on the "0 Sec" and a small Menu will pop up. Change it to 0.5 and Click the Preview Button or Press Y.
If you don't like the Speed, change the 0.5, and try different Values untill you're happy.

In the Top Right there is a Window with three Tabs: Info, Optimize & Layer Comps



Click on the "Optimize" Tab, and select the Preset "GIF 128 Dithered" or anything, as long as it's GIF.



Now Click on File > Save Optimized as / or Click [Ctrl] + [Shift] + [Alt] + [S] (Complicated) And save it under whatever Name you like.


Addition by awaw

Thanks to awaw, who posted some more tipps and enhancements in the Atari Thread.

If you want to import your Frames directly, you can open up ImageReady. Put all the desired Frames (Converted Image Files) into one Folder. Then Inside ImageReady select File --> Import --> Folder as Frames. Select the Folder that you want to Import the Frames from.

Now the Frames will be imported. As the Images are quite big, it takes a while. To prevent having to wait too much in future, let's resize it. If we only want a special part of the screen, we can also crop it.

Crop the Video using Image --> Crop, after selecting the Part you want to crop with the Marquee (M) Tool.
To Resize, you use Image --> Image Size, select Percent in the Dropdown, and enter something like 25-50%. You have to experiment with this, as it depends on what you want the Product to look like.

After that, you can save it as a .GIF.

Thanks awaw!


Hope you like the Guide

eviL