Making a .gif from Youtube

[Blademaster]

So as much as I love Super Mario Galaxy, I think it's time for a new avatar. I'd like an animated one from a Youtube video, but I dunno how to crop out that little bit of the video that I want. Only other thing I can think of is trying to just replicate the .gif from scratch, which wouldn't be hard considering it's basically 8-bit sprites, but the former option is just much more convenient.

Anybody know a way to snip out the bit of Youtube video I need and how/where to upload it?

[mr_pikachu]

Step 1: Use a site like GIFSoup.com to extract the full video and turn it into a .gif file. (Sure, there are other ways to do it, but for your needs this sort of external service would probably be simplest.)

Step 2: Use some program to select the frames you want (in other words, if you want a three-second clip instead of a ten-minute film, scrap the stuff you don't want) and to crop out parts of the image you don't want. This may be the trickiest part, as a lot of these programs cost money. I use Animation Shop for things like this (free trial here); you might also be able to get by using an online service like Online Image Editor or freeware such as Irfanview.

Step 3: Upload it... somewhere. I use Imageshack for most things, even though their interface has become increasingly convoluted over the years. If you don't like that one, there are scores of other image hosts online, so just find one that suits you.

[ChobiChibi]

If you have Photoshop 7 or higher, a Adobe ImageReady comes with it. That's the program I use to animate stuff (although I haven't in ages).

If you're struggling, chuck the animation part my way and I'll have a go. From those instructions, the only thing I can think of that would be annoying is reducing it down to avatar size...

[Blademaster]

Yyyyyyyyyeah, OK, I'm totally lost...

Becki, I'm gonna have to ask you for help on this one. What I want is a little loop of this video at 0:26 in, of the 'Goomba' just laying on his side with his feet spinning around.

Is that doable?

[ChobiChibi]

I'll have a go, I have some time on my hands.

This should be a fun little project

[Blademaster]

I appreciate that, Bex. Thank you kindly.

[Drago]

Watch out Chobi, at this rate you'll become the resident .gif maker.
at which point i will also need ur help :3

[ChobiChibi]

Blade, apparently GIFsoup hates that video. I've tried it on other websites too and they don't seem to like it either. Can you find a different link somewhere?

GIFsoup wasn't working at all at one point. Thought it was me browser, but it must have been the website itself cos it works now. Hmmm, mysterious.

[Blademaster]

How about one of these two?

[mr_pikachu]

Chobi: Yeah, I saw GIFSoup's downtime, too. There may be other sites out there that do the same thing, but I didn't see them in my initial search, so I can't speak to the availability or quality thereof.

Another option is to use a program like the free version of Replay AV to download the actual video, then try to convert it to a .gif yourself -- I can't think of a program offhand that does the conversion, but I'm sure there are some out there.