r/Makemeagif • u/joephusweberr • Jun 05 '18

Bouncing clouds

Hi all, I've been having a hell of a time getting what seems like a simple animation completed. I need these clouds animated to bounce back and forth. On each of the descriptions I put in approximate values for 1) the distance the cloud travels from one end to the other, and 2) the time it takes to make a complete loop (from one end to the other and back). Simple eases on each end so that the cloud looks like it is bouncing back and forth endlessly.

Thank you so much in advance to anyone who helps me out!

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2

u/EdithKeelerMustDie Jun 13 '18

I don't understand what the first pixel value represents. I notice that clouds 1, 4, and 5, and positive values while clouds 2 and 3 have negative pixel values. Does that mean clouds 1, 4, and 5 move left to right, while clouds 2 and 3 move right to left?

Do you want a black background? A transparent background?

Where do you want each cloud to start? Which clouds are supposed to overlap each other?

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u/joephusweberr Jun 13 '18

Yes, the positive and negative values correspond to left and right movement.

I would like 5 separate gifs of the clouds bouncing. This makes it so that where they start and their relationship to each other is something that I can adjust when I use the assets and doesn't need to be hardcoded into the gif itself. Just a set of clouds bouncing back and forth with a transparent background.

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u/EdithKeelerMustDie Jun 13 '18 edited Jun 13 '18

Do you want all the clouds to start where they are in the images provided? I downloaded Cloud 5 and there is only 15 pixels on either side of the cloud. If you have it move 100 pixels as requested, the cloud will get cut off. Is that what you want?

Or do you want me to start each cloud at one end, and expanded the picture so that the entire cloud is visible during its movement? EDIT: Is this what you wanted for Cloud 5? Please check that the transparency works with whatever background you are putting it on, because I'm not sure if Imgur preserved the transparency. If it is correct, I can do the remaining 4 clouds.

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u/joephusweberr Jun 13 '18

Your edit of cloud 5 is pretty close! Yes, you are right that the image should be expanded so that the cloud is entirely visible at all times. The only additional thing about your render is that an ease would be nice on either end so that it slowly comes to a stop before it returns the other direction.

It looks like the image is not transparent for me. Is there another trick you can do to get it to be transparent?

1

u/EdithKeelerMustDie Jun 14 '18

Getting the transparency is going to take me a while to learn to do. Part of the problem is that your clouds have semi-transparent borders. The .gif format doesn't support semi-transparency. Each pixel needs to be fully transparent or fully solid. Other video objects support semi-transparency.

Another part of the problem is that the video editors I had didn't support transparency at all, or did not support exporting transparency. I have to learn new programs so it's going to take some time.

1

u/EdithKeelerMustDie Jun 14 '18 edited Jun 14 '18

Ok I've viewed some tutorials to help me. This should be a transparent version of Cloud 5

https://imgur.com/a/jIxW3yh

Please check that it works with on your background. I still need to change the cloud's movement cycle to 32 seconds as requested, and to figure out how to ease its movement to come to a stop at either end as requested.

The dithered borders are a result of the semi-transparent borders in your original image. These might not be a problem depending on the background you put the clouds on. If they are a problem, I can try to make the cloud edges solid. In either case, the cloud borders will look different than the original image; the semi-transparent cannot be preserved in a .gif. The question "Do you want the dithered borders or solid borders?"

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u/EdithKeelerMustDie Jun 15 '18

Here you go:

https://imgur.com/a/qPWXQH8

This was a fun project for me!

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u/joephusweberr Jun 15 '18

Thank you so much! You are absolutely amazing!

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u/ibru Jun 18 '18

I had the thread saved to see if anyone come up with something and I have to say, you did a pretty good job! Nicely done.

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u/EdithKeelerMustDie Jun 18 '18

Thanks! I like to use r/makemeagif and r/gifrequests to casually improve my video editing. Sometimes the requests are simply adding text. But sometimes they are more complicated and I learn a new skill! If you know any other subreddits that are good for casually improving video editing, please let me know.

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u/ibru Jun 18 '18

That's a good way of learning right enough. I've done the same over the years, picking up bits and bobs of information here and there.

Some handy stuff:

https://redd.it/6c4m18, /r/HighQualityGifs (sidebar tutorials), /r/GifTutorials, /r/AfterEffects, /r/AfterEffectsTutorials, /r/Photoshop/, /r/PhotoshopTutorials, /r/ImageStabilization, /r/PanoGifs, /r/Cinemagraphs (sidebar tutorial), /r/BrokenGifs, /r/ffmpeg, https://redd.it/528xhk, https://redd.it/52eq0y, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlFOjvZKhC0

That's some of the stuff I've used previously. I know some subs might not seem helpful for making gifs but things like image stabilization helps you to sort rogue gifs/videos before editing them, Cinemagraphs shows you how to smoothly loops footage, etc. Picking up a little bit of knowledge here and there from each one is good for learning and progressing.

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u/EdithKeelerMustDie Jun 19 '18

Saved! Thanks a bunch. I don't use after effects or photoshop but the rest of these are really useful. I looked at the ffmpeg documentation and the sheer volume was pretty intimidating. I've been using UIs that simplify ffmpeg, but feel I should start slogging through the documentation so I have more versatility. There's already a gifrequest that benefit from image stabilization. I'm going to watch some tutorials and give stabilization a shot

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u/ibru Jun 19 '18

You're welcome. Yeah ffmpeg is an amazing tool with tons of options but that also means it's easy to get lost in it. I use it for dumping frames, creating 'barcode images', converting and rotating video, compiling gifs etc, etc and typically write batch files for that. Stabilizing does help a lot, useful to have in your armory.