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+#+TITLE: Creating a High Quality GIF with Transparency
+#+DATE: 2022-10-24T02:02:00-04:00
+#+DRAFT: false
+#+DESCRIPTION: My process for creating a high quality, optimized gif with transparency
+#+TAGS[]: gimp, kdenlive, ffmeg, gif
+#+KEYWORDS[]: gimp, kdenlive, ffmeg, gif
+#+SLUG:
+#+SUMMARY:
+
+I spent quite a bit of time trying to figure out the process to create
+the gif at the top of my [[{{< ref "how-bsd-authentication-works" >}}][How BSD Authentication Works]] blog post, so I
+thought I'd share it.
+
+Here's how to create a small, high quality gif with transparency using
+a video and an image as source material.
+
+I'd wanted to combine the image of puffy (the blowfish) and the
+spinning gears to represent the OpenBSD internals.
+
+Initially I went made several attempts using different software
+like =ffmpeg=, =shotcut=, and =obs=, but none of them were able to
+create what I was looking for.
+
+This is the process that I ended up with that worked for me.
+
+First I created the image I wanted for the overlay in GIMP. This was
+the OpenBSD mascot with a cutout in the center. I then found a gif of
+spinning gears. I opened the gif up in Kdenlive and used the colorize
+filter to get them all yellow so it would fit in with the puffer fish
+theme.
+
+Then I imported the overlay image (Puffy with the cutout) and
+placed it on top. I then rearranged and transformed things until it
+was how I wanted.
+
+From there I went to render the video in Kdenlive, and used the =Video
+with Alpha > Alpha MOV= preset. I'd tried using the =webm= preset
+first but =ffmpeg= seems to be more picky about that, plus this
+=mov= is lossless so it's better for this purpose anyways.
+
+I then took that video and split it up into frames using =ffmpeg=.
+
+#+begin_src sh
+mkdir movframes
+ffmpeg -i bsd\ auth.mov movframes/auth%03d.png
+#+end_src
+
+I then opened the first frame in GIMP. From there I opened the
+remaining frames as layers through =File > Open as Layers=, and
+selected the remaining frames using shift click.
+
+I then exported them as a =gif=, making sure to check =animated= in
+the export menu, and set the time delay between frames.
+
+The =gif= that's exported from GIMP was alright, but it wasn't very
+optimized and the timing seems to not work correctly all the time
+for some reason.
+
+To fix this I used =gifsicle= to both optimize the gif and set the
+framerate correctly.
+
+#+begin_src sh
+gifsicle -d 4 -O3 -o output.gif input.gif
+#+end_src