[Pellissier]

I've been asked for, plus I see it as a common trouble for the beginners.
Hence I thought to realize a quick and (hopefully) handy tutorial on how to realize a good loop on an animated gif.

Done with Adobe ImageReady CS2.

Let's start with something extremely simple.



She's Saber, from Fate/stay night. Cute, isn't she? ^^ Anyway, that's not how the original sequence was.
Please notice that the gif is already bordered because this guide isn't meant to explain that.

Step 1 : Starting Point

After having captured the frames and removed the double ones, I had something like this:

Spoiler for Step 1:

Note that they're not timed yet either.
As they're now, they'd look this way as animated gif:



It's not much likeable, is it?
You could download it (right click - save image as.. ) if you want to play with it throughout this guide.

Step 2: First frame and Last frame.

The solution is quite simple, just define and remember the first and the last frame of your sequence. Because those are very important, and also won't be touched for now.

Step 3: Middle Frames

The frames in the middle, instead, will need to be duplicated and then placed backwards.
Sounds difficult? It isn't. Just follow the samples:

Spoiler for Step 3:

Select the frame before the last

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Click on the indicated button. It will "duplicate the current frame"

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As result, we now have a new frame

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Now just move it after the last one. Left click on it and literally drag it there.

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This stage is completed

Step 4: Proceding along the road

Now just proceed with the same method with the frame remained, be careful not to duplicate frames you had already duplicated before.
Again, you'll need to duplicate them and to place them in the last position. Practically, you're placing the frames of your original sequence again, but backwards, that's why the order is so important.

Spoiler for Step 4:

^ Duplicate it



^ Move it on last position.

The same goes for the remaining, as final result you should have this:



As you can see, I've not duplicated the first frame. And that's how it has to be done, remember that due to the gif mechanism it will repeat anyway, after the last one

As for now, our gif look like this:



As you can see, now the loop is smooth, though the timing has definitely to be adjusted ^^

Step 5 : The Timing
Necessary to have a fancy gif.

Do you rememeber I told to define and remember a first and last frame for our sequence? Ok, now let's change their timing.
This is not a continuos loop hence put quite an high timing (I mean, not 0.1 seconds or alike).

Spoiler for Step 5:

How? Go with the mouse arrow to "0 sec" and right click. Then click on "other"



Here it goes at your pleasure. How long do you want her to stay still in the starting position? I'll go with 3 seconds, hence click 3, and then "ok".



Not mandatory, but I suggest to do same with the last frame. Repeat the operations above and set 3 seconds again.

Final result:



As for the transitional frames (the ones between the first and the last, and those that we have duplicated and replaced as well), it's your choice to either let them timed to 0 sec or slightly retime them.
With them being at 0 sec (or "no delay") the sequence will look a bit faster

Spoiler:

You can retime the transitional, I'd say.. up to 0.15 seconds each. Either way, the gif would become choppy.

I usually go with 0.12 each, and here it goes our final result, which was our starting point as well.



The difference is very subtle but still I prefere this way ^^

As for continuos loops:

Spoiler:

They're a bit different. By the way, the difference lives in the sequence itself, is it suitable to go ahead forever... like this?



Then more or less the same process will apply as for duplicating/replacing frames, the trouble usually raises in the timing (I spent like 2 hours to make that Karin gif ^^). I'd rather not talk about that in this guide or it will become too confusing. Maybe next time ^^

Done with this tutorial, hope I've been clear enough. ^^

Good gifmaking to all