Back in the web’s Dark Ages, before anyone even dreamed of creating a logo for a markup language, and when messing around with default link colors was adventurous web design, the closest thing anyone had to online video was the animated GIF.
It was just a small series of still image files glued together, but when played in sequence they looked like movement. A million “UNDER CONSTRUCTION” animated signs bloomed across the early web.
Since then, the animated GIF has gone out of fashion. You don’t see them so much. But you might see more soon, and enjoy making your own, thanks to a new photo toy for iPhone called GIFvid.
This two-dollar app grabs a series of stills (by default, over a 5 second time period) and automagically converts them into a tiny animation. Like this:
The app has been beautifully made, with some thoughtful features. For example, you might wish to edit out one or two frames from your series. In preview mode, just tap on the individual frames you want to skip, and they’ll flip themselves over. They’ve not been deleted, so you can restore them if you wish.
It’s also possible to adjust the speed of the animation playback, and to change the direction of animation: forwards, backwards, or both.
After playing around to get the effect you want, it’s easy to export to an email message or directly to the web via image sharing service Imgur. For more examples, browse the GIFvid Tumblr.
Giles Turnbull is a freelance writer in England. He also writes for the Press Association and The Morning News. You can find out more at his website, and follow him on Twitter @gilest.
8 responses to “GIFVid, A Neat Animation App For iPhone [Review]”
How did u find the GPS? The killer feature that can enables a whole
eco-system of Location aware apps!!
In India, GPRS is the biggest bottle neck. Even the Airtel Mobile Office
plan sucks!! Lets hope the 3G launches soon.http://http://www.mobileinindia.in
BTW, The beautiful thing about Apple in general and iphone in particular:
Its a TopDown approach: user experience comes first, software is designed to
support it and hardware built to support software. Apple tries to control the
entire stack and hence delight users. Everything works(out of the box)
The competition doesn’t have this luxury(or take this path) They design
software for a given hardware and design user exp. over a given
software.(BottomUp approach)
Mercy..
PS: Is there some way through which i
can make the iphone beep when there is a unattended call or its on low battery?