WHAT ARE GIFS?

Gif stands for Graphic Interchange Format and are picture files containing animation or low resolution video clips.

This is a tutorial to show you how to make a gif for your avatar, signature image or to post in the forums. It's not that difficult and with a bit of practice you'll be an expert in no time!

GETTING STARTED:

The first thing you'll need is the actual application used to make gifs which is called GIMP, a freeware, open-source, Photoshop-like application. Download it from here - http://www.gimp.org/downloads/ and install it.

STEP ONE:

Open up GIMP. Go to the menus at the top of the screen, choose the "XTNS" tab, scroll down to the "Split video into frames" option and scroll across to the "Extract video range" option.

STEP 2:

Click on the button next to the videofilename to browse through your hard drive and select the video file you wish to make a GIF from.

Once the video is selected go to the Audiotrack box five rows down from the filename and change the 1 to a 0 by clicking the down arrow. This simply removes any audio from the video as you won't be needing sound in your GIFS.

DONT CLICK OK JUST YET!

STEP 3:

First click the video range box in the top right corner which will expand the window and a new section will appear.

This window now allows you to play your video, find the section you wish to make a GIF from, isolate and loop the section using frame numbers as start / stop markers and save the section as a seperate file.

STEP 4:

Underneath the video image on the right of the screen are three unmarked narrow boxes (see pic below). The one on the left will play the clip, the one in the middle with pause the clip.

When you play the video watch how the frame number changes as the progress bar moves in the top right of the screen. Underneath it is a box also showing the current frame number. Pause the clip (using the button next to play) and drag the slider left and right in the progress bar to skip through your video clip or, in the box underneath the progress bar, type in the frame number you want to skip to.

STEP 5:

Once youve an idea of which section you want to gif, type in the approximate frame number you want it to start from in the "from frame" box and the frame number you want it to end in the "to frame" box. In this example i'm using a Crysis E3 trailer and i'm going to loop a bit at the end when the crysis logo is formed from shards of glass. I've typed in the approximate start and end points which are 1700 and 1950 respectively.

Tick the "loop," "play selection only" and "exact timing" boxes. Then press play to check your loop. In my case it isn't quite right and after a bit of trial and error i set the start to 1715 and the end to 1918. Once you have set the start and end points exactly as you want them and are happy with your selection, make a note of the start and end numbers and then press OK.

STEP 6:

Once GIMP has extracted the frames it should look something like this

Go the video menu on the right of the screen and choose the "frames to image" option. In the new window that opens type in the start and end frame in the "from frame" and "to frame" boxes at the top of the screen and press ok.

STEP 7:

In the new window that appears scroll along to the image option and select the scale image option to change the size of your gif. An avatar on gamespot for example should be 80 x 80. Ive changed mine to 210 x 119.

STEP 8:

When youve done this go the FILE menu and choose "save as." In the "name" box type the name of your gif and add ".gif" to the end of it. I have saved mine as crysis2logo.gif

In the box that appears tick the "save as animation" box.

Then, finally, in the "save as gif" box that appears, click save and voila! You have a saved gif file!

Here's my finished gif file..

Now, a couple of other points to note...

Ideally you're going to need a video converter application. The format that works flawlessly every time with GIMP is QuickTime MOV M-PEG4 DIVX format. GIMP will accept other file types such as .avi and .wma but they are not always guaranteed to work. To make gifs from your FRAPS recordings you will need to convert the massive files FRAPS creates to another format.

I recommend and use Amadis Video Converter and A-One FLV to AVI MPEG WMV 3GP MP4 iPod Converter but these are not freeware applications. Any freeware video converter should do, especially if it has the ability to convert from FLV format to QuickTime MOV M-PEG4 DIVX format, as this will allow you to convert video files you download from sites such as Gametrailers. If you are unable to locate one yourself my advice is to scour freeware resource sites such as Download.cnet.com or Majorgeeks.com.

Most converters look very similar and are extremely simple to use. Load in the original file, choose the format to convert to and press convert tends to be as complicated as the process gets.

Have fun giffing!!

Some amazing locations which look like they've influenced the locations and setting choices of many video games in recent years.... The resemblance to games such as Call of duty 4, STALKER, Fallout 3, Resident Evil and many others is quite uncanny... And there's plenty of potential for use in future games !!

10. Bodie State park, California, Unites States

Bodie is a ghost town which is now a National Historic Landmark. It began as a mining camp of little note following the discovery of gold in 1859. Now theres no gold and no people. Could make a great location for a game, especially with the ominous weather in the first photo..

9. Craco, Italy

Abandoned due to constant earthquakes... (could create some interesting possibilities in a game, both over and under ground !)

8. Balestrino, Italy

Like Craco, abandoned due to earthquakes (great for a survival horror game !)

7. Varosha, Cyprus

Varosha is an area in the city of Famagusta. Prior to the Turkish Invasion of Cyprus in 1974, it was the modern tourist area of the city of Famagusta. Now its a ghost town... (Could make some sort of pirate coastal stronghold !)

6. Agdam,Azerbaijan

Agdam was fully destroyed in 1993 in the Nagorno-Karabakh War. Before the war the city population was about 30000 residents. Not a place to be wandering around on your own, late at night... Game potential ahoy!!

5. Kolmanskuppe, Namibia

Kolmannskuppe is a ghost town in southern Namibia. Was originally a mining town famed for its diamonds but was abandoned and now, due to the extreme geological conditions of the nearby desert, finds itself knee deep in sand. A sort of Hills Have Eyes type location..!

4. Centralia, United States

Centralia is a ghost town in Pennsylvania, United States. Its population has dwindled from over 1,000 residents in 1981 to 12 in 2005 and none in 2008, as a result of a mine fire burning beneath the borough since 1962. Lots of possibilities as a setting in game - you're part of the team sent to extinguish the fire in the mines beneath but whilst there discover the town still harbours a terrifiying secret... and its not as deserted as it seemed!!!

3. Kadykchan, Russia

Kadykchan is a ghost town that was built during the World War II for the workers of the coal mines and their families. In 1996, 6 men died as a result of explosion in a coal mine and the mines were closed. 12000 inhabitants were evacuated to other places leaving the town empty and silent... looks perfect for a survival psychological horror type game !!

2. Pripyat, Ukraine

Pripyat is an abandoned city in the zone of alienation in northern Ukraine. The city was founded in 1970 to house the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant workers, and was abandoned in 1986 following the Chernobyl disaster. Its population had been around 50,000 prior to the accident. The city of was evacuated in two days. Features in pc game STALKER and may well have influenced one of the iconic locations in COD 4!

1. Gunkanjima, Japan

Former mining town off the coast of japan, now known as ghost island. Looks like its been lifted straight out of Washington DC in Fallout 3! Perfect video game setting!!

..GTA IV

I am now convinced that a fully patched GTA IV is the 2nd best looking game on the pc behind crysis (ok third if you include warhead). I am only running the game on medium to high settings and it just looks amazing, the level of detail in the game continues to amaze even now 3 months after purchasing. Seeing it in motion with the view distance and draw detail turned right up on max resolution is a sight to behold, and now with the 3rd patch improving performance even more the game no longer needs a Cray to run it. I can only imagine how good it will look maxed out (*drools).

Now for the evidence...

I rest my case!

Sure it could do with some Anti Aliasing to get rid of those jaggy edges, but still, in motion, it beats fallout 3, far cry 2, assassins creed, gears of war, bioshock, dead space, prince of persia, stalker, cod 4 / waw and mass effect. And having seen cryostasis running on high settings i can confirm it beats that too.

So to conclude, with the technical issues patched into the past, gta iv is a game that pc owners should no longer feel hesitant to buy. And beneath the gorgeous exterior, theres a pretty good game underneath too!