Guide how to convert from PNG to GIF

[Guest Asaemon]

This guide will use the free software Paint.net which is available in the link below, to convert pictures from png to gif.

 

Paint.net

 

 

Plugins

 

The following plugins are needed.

 

AA's Assistant

Used to soften the edges of an object in order to blend it with a background. Object must be surrounded by transparent pixels to find the edges.

 

Outline object (BoltBait)

Outline the current selection with your choice of color and width.

 

Sharpen+

Sharpen photos with an unsharp mask. Yields finer results than the built-in sharpen effect.

 

 

 

1. Depending on what background color the render was rendered with you could use the AA's Assistant (Effect -> Objects) to soften the edges and avoid white cutting marks. Since i use a black background when i'm rendering i usually don't need to use the AA's Assistant on the majority of my renders. So we can go on to step 2.

 

If AA's Assistant is needed the standard setting usually works fine, otherwise repeat the standard setting until you are satisfied with the result.

 

 

2. Now we will use the Sharpen+ (Effect -> Photo) to give the render a sharpened look. Adjust the amount from 100 to 300 and press ok. Depending on the render you can set the amount between 500-100. 500 to 300 for good quality pictures, while 100 is ok for pictures of lower quality. 300 is setting that will work fine for most renders.

 

 

3. The next step is to outline the render to avoid hair and other details to be destroyed when converting to .gif. Select Outline Object (Effect -> Object). Set the outline color to black and adjust the strenght. 2-3 is ok for a normal render, while 4-5 should be used on more complex hair. On these renders i choosed 4 and pressed ok.

 

 

4. Now we will save as .gif. Before pressing ok, adjust the dithering level to 8 and the transparancy treshold to 255. Now press ok and the render will be saved in .gif.

 

 

 

Example 1

 

http://i1230.photobucket.com/albums/ee489/asaemon/Png%20to%20Gif/Example2.gifhttp://i1230.photobucket.com/albums/ee489/asaemon/Png%20to%20Gif/Example2a.gif

The left one is just saved as gif, while the right one used the method described in this guide.

 

 

 

Example 2

http://i1230.photobucket.com/albums/ee489/asaemon/Png%20to%20Gif/Example1.gifhttp://i1230.photobucket.com/albums/ee489/asaemon/Png%20to%20Gif/Example1a.gif

The left one is just saved as gif, while the right one used the method described in this guide.

[Blackman]

<p>Thanks for this comprehensive guide, Asaemon! For <span style="text-decoration:underline;">GIMP</span> it's more or less the same. You won't need any plugins.</p><p> </p><p>

To <strong>Sharpen:</strong></p><p> </p><p>

Filters > Enhance > Sharpen > set value 50</p><p> </p><p>

Tools > Paint tools > Blur/Sharpen (use the raindrop-tool to manually sharpen the image further if needed)</p><p> </p><p>

-------------------------------------------</p><p> </p><p>

To <strong>outline the imag</strong>e to get a result like the screens, I believe you have to follow these steps on a PNG-file: </p><p> </p><p>

1. Layer > Transparancy > Alpha to selection</p><p> </p><p>

2. Select > Border > selection by 1 or 2 (use Feather Border!)</p><p> </p><p>

3. Edit > Fill with foreground color (after setting this color to black)</p><p> </p><p>

I'm still kinda working the 3rd step out, if someone can offer help (for GIMP), it's appreciated. As you can see, the difference in outlining is minimal. I think it's better if you use the <strong>semi-flatten</strong> filter. (Filters > Web > Semi-flatten). You can see those results in the example to the right. Still not how it needs to be.</p><p> </p><p>

<a href="http://s1216.photobucket.com/user/Marginal0/media/ex1_zpsf5ac4d31.gif.html" rel="external nofollow"><span>http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/dd364/Marginal0/ex1_zpsf5ac4d31.gif</span></a><a href="http://s1216.photobucket.com/user/Marginal0/media/ex2_zpsfe5b84db.gif.html" rel="external nofollow"><span>http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/dd364/Marginal0/ex2_zpsfe5b84db.gif</span></a><a href="http://s1216.photobucket.com/user/Marginal0/media/ex4_zps5e97e9c3.gif.html" rel="external nofollow"><span>http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/dd364/Marginal0/ex4_zps5e97e9c3.gif</span></a></p>