GIFBooming A Quick Video

Create a looping short video or stop animation sequence that illustrates a process, captures a phenomena of the world, or just creatively tells a story– published as an animated GIF.

You can find no end of possible ways to created these kinds of short form video and you are more than welcome to use any tool you know of for this Challenge. The GIFBoom allows people to create and share short looping animated GIFs.

The GIFBoom iPad app allows you to record the sequence in a number of modes to capture motion or to do stop motion type animation. When you first launch the app, you will be prompted to create an account; you can use either twitter or Facebook to sign in.

A suggested first step is to create your profile, including a username under which your work will be saved (your twitter name would be good to use).

Setting Up Your “Shoot”

Before you start using the app, put it down, and sketch out on paper or some other planning device, what you might possibly animate. You could record a short video that gets converted to a GIF (capturing motion), or you can think of using objects to generate a stop frame animation. Give some thought how you can create a smooth looping GIF by planning the end of your sequence to match the opening.

Also try to figure out a way to place the iPad in a location where it will not be moved- you want all the motion to be in front of the camera. You might lean it against a pile of books, or even the open screen of a laptop (this allows you to adjust the angle). Or you can find a table edge to place the iPad so that the front camera (in an upper corner of the back of the device) looks clearly down at a clean surface.

Using the App

For full details on using the app, see Posting Your First GIF from the GIFBoom Support site.

When you are ready to record, open the GIFBoom app, and press the red camera icon in the bottom center. You have a few modes you can use to capture the imagery needed for your GIF (the white + button allows you to import video or images that already exist on your device or from the web). A green bar will move from left to right insdicatinh how much of the available room you have for content

• Auto mode works like other apps such as Instagram or Vine- it captures content as long as you press and hold the red button. Letting up pauses the capture. You can move or recompose the view, the green line will move showing you how much you have done. There is no undo!
• Burst mode lets you go from a high frame rate (fast motion) to very low (slow motion) by using the slider circle. Again it captures as you press and hold the red button. Note that you can record a segment at fast motion, pause, and then change the frame rate.
• Stop Motion will take a single frame when you press the button, so you can reposition your scene to generate an animation sequence. You can get up to 6 frames in a final GIF.
• Timer is handy if you need to put something in motion or get in the scene yourself. It delays the start of the recording 5 second.

After you have recorded your sequence, press the right arrow button in the top right. This shows a lost of all frames recorded. You can uncheck ones you want to remove (but you cannot change the order).

When you press the arrow again, you will have an option to set motion options. The most common is the middle icon, for infinite loop, but you can also choose to do a one time sequence from start to finish or finish yo start. You can also change the speed of the over all animation.

With one more press of the arrow you have an option apply filters for different photographic effects.

And with a last arrow button press, your GIF will be published.

Sharing Your GIF

You can find all of your GIFs when you click the Home button, they appear in a stream with the most recent one at the top. Below each one, the circulating arrow button offers a number of ways to share your GIF including Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. The button on the right with the three dots provides a link to download the GIF, export it as a video, or export it as a series of images to your Camera Roll on your iPad.

When You Are Done

Use the Twitter option to share your GIF and include the #UdGAgora Hashtag. Open your Twitter app, and click the Me icon which shows all of your own tweets. CLick the tweet with your shared GIF, then the 3 dot button on the right. Select Copy Link to Tweet. This saves the URL of your own tweet.

When you submit your response to this challenge, if you use the URL for that tweet, it will embed the contents in your writeup. Be sure to include as well some information on how you set up and captured your material, and any other thoughts as to what you might do with this kind of media now that you know how to create one.

If you want to try another GIF making app, take a look at 5SecondsAPP

Example for "GIFBooming A Quick Video":
http://gifboom.com/x/bc4e7ccb