Forum:Gifs Discussion, Re-opened

Where .gifs are concerned, there seems to be this prevailing belief that they are simply not allowed, because they are rarely seen here any more. This is despite there being set rules which specifically illustrate where and when the application of .gifs are allowed. Rules, some users here would rather bury, and ignore. I understand the fear of these bandwidth draining images being spammed, however that shouldn't result in an outright shunning of a valuable, and effective means of presentation.

That's why I'd like to re-open this discussion, to a certain degree. I myself recently learnt how to make quality .gif images, and have already updated several images as necessary. I also know of a couple other users (such as Croc), who also tried this new method and got a grasp at how to make them.

The point I'd like to present, is that I feel one of the problems with using .gifs is that we've (presumably) had to rely on alternative sources for our animated images. This would mean risking subtitles, watermarks and general low quality. What I'm trying to present is, with users who know how to make these images and have quality footage on file waiting to be used, why not make a collaborative effort in providing proper animations for articles that both deserve and need them?

If simple talk pages are insufficient, a page could even be made where requests for specific files could be made for the users who possess the skill required, to come and see to. This would allow for more efficient images to be made. I envision it as being something like;

''Hi! We need a short .gif of Blamenco pulling out his weapon from his chin. The image only needs to be 190px wide, as that's what we'll set the image as.''



Or something along those lines, this would maximise the effectiveness of the .gifs and not result in unnecessary file sizes. Knowing you guys though it'll probably be requested in a much less formal manner~. Basically that could work whenever a .gif is absolutely necessary, and any resizing wouldn't be an issue as the .gif creator should still have the footage required to make a new version of the file.

Well, that's my proposition and I'd be happy to be the 'go-between' guy for this process if it is accepted. It'll sure as hell be a lot easier to acquire proper .gifs then just searching Photobucket or the forums. 19:08, June 3, 2012 (UTC)

Gifs suck hairy donkey balls, tijuana style. The less we have of them the better.

They're really only needed on Devil Fruit pages. The ones we have only suck because the rules hugely limited them. SeaTerror 01:13, June 4, 2012 (UTC)

^ That's exactly right, Devil Fruit/Powers only, whenever a still image cannot show what's being illustrated. Like the above .gif, or Sanji's Blue Walk technique. 01:27, June 4, 2012 (UTC)

Magellan's powers is a big one too. SeaTerror 01:49, June 4, 2012 (UTC)

Yes, but I think we should have an additional rule: .gifs are not allowed to have fan-subtitles within them, as both File:Blue Walk 525.gif and File:Shambles.wmv.GIF do. 03:43, June 5, 2012 (UTC)

That was already the rule from the original forum. I see absolutely nothing wrong with subtitles anyway. SeaTerror 03:45, June 5, 2012 (UTC)

I don't mind either way, but fan subbers make it difficult to remove those specific subtitles as they are put directly onto the video, and aren't a separate subtitles file like the rest of dialogue. And as they are the source of high quality footage... So unless we crop them out (reducing visibility significantly) or search for RAWs (which are difficult enough to find recent episode, let alone older episodes), then technique names might need some leniency towards, unlike regular dialogue which can be removed without any complications. 05:00, June 5, 2012 (UTC)

Yonkou and Yibis use MKV so those are the only subbers you could get subless GIFs from. Like you said, it would be impossible for older ones. SeaTerror 06:46, June 5, 2012 (UTC)

If the gif has good quality and no subs, then its perfect. I agree on having them.

I'm ok to remove some restrictions to gifs, but I'm afraid that this will lead only to a mass upload of pointless gifs... I mean "Sanji's blue walk" technique? It's something that probably will never use ever again... who cares if there we haven't a gif of it. After said that, I'd like to know how to create/edit gifs, which software are you using?

Well, the rules already in place would allow for mass uploads. So really what's stopping it from being spammed is so many people simply do not know how to make them. I only made one of Sanji's Blue Walk because we had a manga image instead, so if that's the technique that's being illustrated why not put the gif there? As for the program I use, it's just through Photoshop which allows me to create gifs of any size up to the original video proportions, and edit them freely (such as cropping the black letterboxing).

I'm just suggesting that rather then rely on .gifs found on Photobucket or Google Images, we simply make use of the resources at our disposal, in an effective manner by making our own proper .gifs that show exactly what's needed, nothing more, and by determining the size of the .gif we will be optimising the file size as well. 07:12, June 14, 2012 (UTC)