Though popular, text messaging has its limitations. When you communicate via messages, there’s no touch or direct-eye contact established with the other party, which can become a hurdle in the way of expressing your thoughts and feelings. What’s more, writing long paragraphs on a small screen to put heavy and complex thoughts into exact words is quite cumbersome; for many, it’s not even feasible. Due to all these factors, text messages are often considered very restricted.
While technology like proxy servers is available to exchange longer messages, the whole concept might be a little too technical for most people. That’s where the need for an easy alternative arises, and GIFs emerge as the perfect solution!
With GIFs accompanying your instant messages, you don’t need anything else to send your exact thoughts and feelings to the receiver. Since they’re so simple to use and there’s such a huge variety of GIFs available out there, their usage has spiked drastically over the past few years. In fact, they’ve become so popular in today’s age that you’ll hardly find a social media story that doesn’t have an animated figure in it.
So, how about we go a little deeper into GIFs today? Let’s try to understand what they are, how they’re created, and why they’re used.
What is a GIF?
A GIF is something between an image and a video that offers the best of both worlds in one format. In technical language, it’s called Graphics Interchange Format, but in layman’s terms, it’s just an image file that supports animation as well.
GIFs are a series of images or soundless videos in a loop format that can be played without any human interaction. Usually found inbuilt within online messaging apps and websites, they’re known for mimicking expressions perfectly. While other elements complicate communication, they make the process interesting and easier at the same time.
What is a GIF Maker?
A GIF maker is a tool that allows you to combine separate image files as frames and create an animated file. The end product is of high quality and is free from any attribution or watermarks, making it ideal for content creators and developers. GIF makers are generally quite easy to use, and one can create an animated GIF by combining images in no time. However, you need a better understanding of animation to put images in a synchronised order and create an animated GIF that everyone will love.
Why is GIF software needed?
There are many reasons to create GIFs, but a major one is that our eyes are drawn to motion (it’s a scientific fact!). GIF software allows us to turn images, videos, and live content into GIFs within a snap! With such a tool, we can use our existing content or record new content and add funny captions, memes, and filters within the same file to make it look exciting. It gives us the ability to combine details and motion in a way that isn’t possible with static photos.
The most impressive thing about GIFs is that they are accepted on almost every platform. They’ve become essential tools, specifically on social media platforms and websites. Plus, there’s no restriction on what you can create, so overall it’s a great deal!
With that, let’s move on to discuss the different features you should consider when picking out a GIF maker tool for your needs.
Features to look for when Selecting GIF Software
1. Readymade templates
Templates provide a defined structure and give you something to build upon. Popular GIF maker platforms provide you with an extensive library of templates that allow you to add illustrations and icons that can be animated to create attractive GIFs.
2. Standard GIF building tools
Such software gives you a library of stock photos, call-to-action-buttons, color overlays tools, and many more tools needed to create stunning GIFs.
3. Customization options
There are several ready-made sources online that can be used to create GIFs, but though they’ll get the job done, they won’t offer something unique. If you want to create something different, you need customization tools that can help you manage every visual aspect of your end result. The customization options in GIF maker software allow you to customize colors, icons, fonts, and illustrations, and help you make a GIF that stands out in the crowd.
4. Easy to use interface
The process of creating GIFs is made easy thanks to a user-friendly interface. Leading GIF maker software provides easy-to-drag-and-drop design tools that help anyone create GIFs without any complications.
Now that you know the features to look for in GIF-making software, allow us to introduce you to the most popular GIF maker software you can use today.
Top 5 GIF Maker Software
There are several GIF maker software options on the market, some of which are standalone applications and some of which are cloud-based platforms. Here we have discussed the five top GIF-making software that will make your job much easier.
1. Photoscape
Photoscape is a full-fledged photo editor that comes with advanced GIF creation tools. It allows users to do more than just basic retouching of photos. The software comes with a variety of filters, a screen capture tool, and a batch editing function that can liven up any image. It also has a photo splitter function that allows you to split photos in many places and enhance your skills. The software is easy to use and the main tools are present right in front of you, which means no digging through menus.
Some of the key features of Photoscape are:
- RAW image editor
- Easy to navigate
- Impressive range of tools
- Large template library
2. SSuite GIF Animator
SSuite GIF Animator is an easy-to-use movie, slideshow creator, and GIF animator. Though it’s only available for Windows platforms, the GIFs created with it can run on any browser. The platform aims to take GIF creation to a new level and make it a tad easier. Just select the images you wish to add to your GIF, press create, and your animated file is ready. The software also gives you micro-control over the transition of images, and you can set time intervals from milliseconds to minutes. Its simple interface allows anyone with little or no knowledge of GIF creation to create amazing GIFs within a few minutes.
Some of the key features of this software are:
- Resizes and set all images to one size
- Add individual time intervals for each image
- Easy to use interface
- Creates GIFs faster
3. KickMyGraphics
KickMyGraphics is free GIF maker software that allows you to create, record, and edit animated GIFs faster. It enables you to import video and image files like MP4, ASF, MPG, AVU, JPG, PNG, and BMP, along with multiple other animated GIFs, into your project. The editor lets you reverse, trim, rotate, zoom, stretch, scale, skip frames, loopback, and cut selected frames while offering granular control over the GIF creation process. With this tool in hand, you can carry out several GIF-related tasks, like adding images to an existing animation, setting GIF background transparency, and moving frames inside a frame strip.
Some of the key features of this software are:
- Allows you to edit existing GIFs
- Support a wide range of video and image formats
- Supports frame extraction
- Can be used as a tool to record animated GIFs
4. Gifted Motion
Gifted Motion is an easy-to-use open-source GIF animator. If you want to animate an Avatar for a forum and don’t want to use complicated tools like Photoshop, Gifted Motion is what you need. It has no learning curve, and you can master GIF creation with it in no time. The whole process is simplified and completed in steps. Just select the images, arrange them in the right order, adjust the timing to your liking, and record the animation. That’s it!
Here are some key features of Gifted Motion:
- Platform independent; runs on any operating system
- Multi-language support
- Supports popular image formats like JPEG, PNG, BMP, and GIF.
- Easy to adjust the position of images within frames
5. GIFPal
GIFPal is the easiest tool you can find to make GIFs. You can use anything on this platform, be it your phone camera, webcam, or photos. After capturing images, you just have to upload them to the tool, arrange them in the desired order, add shapes, colors, change opacity, and your GIF is ready. The software displays a preview of your GIF while you add images to the frames, allowing you to make quick changes on the spot. You can set a time delay between frames to specify GIF quality – low, medium, and high.
Some of the key features of this software are:
- Apply various effects to images
- Offers varied drawing tools to customize image
- Option to select GIF quality
- Save GIF file online or download it to your computer
To wrap it up
Whether you’re reading a social feed or shopping online, GIFs can be found everywhere. These humble animations say a lot through moving images without any sound effects. They make the expression more candid and impactful. You can use them in personal messages or use them to attract a potential customer’s attention.
If you want to make a bigger visual impact, you should learn the art of using your images tactfully and create a story that delivers the message.
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