Black grain when exporting .gif

[Pavels Lavrinovics]

Hello,

I've been making some simple motion graphics for a presentation, all was going fine until I've decided to move the position of a layer underneath. As I have done that the colored part of my file has gotten a black grain on it (only after exporting). I have not changed any export setting, but when exported as an mp4 the problem is gone. I've tried everything I could think of within my composition but the problem remains.

First export: https://giphy.com/gifs/26xBrCwtMncY2ylDG?status=200

Second export (after moving away the black part of the wave from underneath): https://giphy.com/gifs/26xBRI9aj7sdpS7h6?status=200

I cant see the grain in preview and the only layer under the green wave is the background which is white. This could be a simple mistake, but please let me know.

Thank you!

[Pavels Lavrinovics]

Instead of exporting the Animated GIF through Media Encoder, I have exported it as H.264 and converted to a GIF afterwards in Photoshop.

This has fixed the problem but I have exported a few Animated GIFS trough Encoder before and this has never happened. Happy to fix the problem but I wish I could understand the root of it..

[Roei Tzoref · Accepted solution]

the GIF exporter in AME lacks many features (and unsupported for Mac users) and I haven't yet seen anyone use it professionally. I have seen professionals use Photoshop for exporting GIF files (Render the video from Ae, then drag to Photoshop). if you make a lot of GIF's, I heard this script is very nice: GifGun - aescripts + aeplugins - aescripts.com

for optimizing your GIFs I would recommend this article: https://design.tutsplus.com/tutorials/10-ways-to-optimize-an-animated-gif-file--psd-34649

[Pavels Lavrinovics]

Thank you for your help, I didn't realize AME still needs to be worked on.

To be fair exporting .GIF trough AME is very convenient, but Photoshop does have more features and a better end result.

Great tutorial by the way, thank you!

[Roei Tzoref]

I didn't realize AME still needs to be worked on.

I am not sure the AME team even considers investing in this feature. if you want this to happen, you should ask for it here: Feature Request/Bug Report Form

[Rick Gerard]

Here's a good and efficient workflow when creating animated gifs using After Effects.

1. Do not worry about timing - set up your comp so that each move or transition takes the appropriate number of frames but keep the At Rest or Hero frames limited to 1 frame in the AE comp. You will change the duration later
2. Use the Lossless with Alpha preset in the Output module to render your production master
3. Open the production master render in Photoshop - change to the video workflow - and set the timing of the video in the frame settings dialogue
4. Export your animated gif from Photoshop

Using this technique I have often created animated gifs for banner ads that feature 4 or 5 products. There would be a 8 frame animation between products, then 4 to 10 seconds of the product, then an animation to the next product. The end result using the recommended workflow gives you an gif that i is 45 frames long but lasts for about a minute (5 8 frame transitions and 5 hero frames) compared compared to an animation that would be three or four hundred frames long if you set the timing in After Effects.

[Roei Tzoref]

There would be a 8 frame animation between products, then 4 to 10 seconds of the product, then an animation to the next product. The end result using the recommended workflow gives you an gif that i is 45 frames long but lasts for about a minute (5 8 frame transitions and 5 hero frames) compared compared to an animation that would be three or four hundred frames long if you set the timing in After Effects.

Thanks for sharing Rick. I am curious how would the "Hold" take place if not through more frames in the actual banner? how does it not add frames? is it through some sort of scripting of the banner in html that tells it to hold at second 9 for 5 seconds for example?

[Rick Gerard]

You set frame duration right inside Photoshop. Each frame will have a time assigned to it. The ability to assign a duration to each frame in an animated gif has been there for as long as I have been doing animated gifs. In the latest version of Photoshop you'll need to make a cut, right click, then set the duration of that frame:

If you export an image sequence then it's even easier.

[Roei Tzoref]

The ability to assign a duration to each frame in an animated gif has been there for as long as I have been doing animated gifs.

thanks. I knew about setting a duration for a each frame in a frame animation timeline in PS, I did not think that this was also very useful for setting different duration for frames to get a "Hold". this is very cool and can reduce file size considerably.

In the latest version of Photoshop you'll need to make a cut, right click, then set the duration of that frame:

I have not seen it works differently in previous versions. "Frame Animation" and "Video timeline" appear to work the same. seems to me that if you want to Hold a frame, you should use the "Frame Animation" feature. this enables you to create different duration for different frames.

if I try to do this with a video timeline, when I set a cut to a part of a video in Ps, it only set the source duration to be more or less - it does not freeze the frame. it's as if I stretched the layer manually, it does not "Hold". is your experience any different?

[Rick Gerard]

I don't have time to go through my workflow step by step and check it using the latest version of Photoshop right now but I've been doing this since about 1994. Any animated gif can have the duration of any single frame set for however long it needs to be set. I have not made an animated gif for about 2 years so I'm not sure if the latest version changed anything.

Early on I converted Animation Codec QT movies directly to an animated gif, opened the animated gif in Photoshop and adjusted the duration of the frames that I wanted to hold. I'll have to check the workflow in the current version to see if there are any changes that need to be made in my workflow. If you find something and want to post step by step or build a tutorial that would be a great idea. I just don't bet much call for animated gifs anymore because there's not much money to be made on them for the time they take. There are just too many I'll build you an animated logo for $100 freelancers out there. One of my former clients recently got a whole identity package that he is very happy with including an animated header for his website and a new logo, a business card and letterhead design and a color scheme and design guide for $75.00. When he approached me for a bid I gave him my standard rate and he just coughed and said thanks. I just can't compete with that kind of pricing and don't want to.

[Roei Tzoref]

I mostly use animated GIF's in the Ae forums. I just drag my captured video to PS, it will open a Video Timeline, then I reduce the frame rate, reduce resolution, maybe edit just a little and then go to the save for web to make a GIF.

Video Timeline was available since CS6, before that it was called "Animation-Timeline" that looked similar - this was available since CS3. I think you are probably referring to Frame animation - it gives you a way to set a duration for each frame.

I do know that GIFs are popular at least here in Israel in design for Web and Mobile (what is now being refereed to as the "Digital" field) and I know designers use it a lot so it's good for me to stay informed of effective techniques to produce GIFs (I also teach Interactive design students so this becomes even more important)

I wish I had the patience and time to create another tutorial, maybe I will soon. here's me using Photoshop's frame animation for rotoscoping and a clean up frame by frame. (Warning, it's very tedious). for the time being I will write here a short clarification for video to GIF in PS:

• if you drag the video to PS, it will automatically create a Video timeline. if instead you use file import->video frames to layers, it gives you the option to create Frame animation from your video.

• if you have no video and want to start from scratch you can always create a new document and open the timeline panel and see an option right there to create Video Timeline or Frame Animation.

• you should decide beforehand if you need Frame Animation or Video Timeline for your video. there are ways to change between the two after the fact but they are not that straightforward unfortunately.

• as it appears, holding a frame in a video layer can only be achieved through duplication of that frame - not that convenient if you are creating some GIF's from a video/sequence. more importantly, this hold will translate to frames and defeat the purpose of doing this is Ps. so if you do want to create "Hold" for your frames to reduce the actual frames, you should go for Frame Animation.

[Rick Gerard]

Thank you for the update on the more modern technique.