What is it?
Burst GIFs are short movies that play in a continuous loop. They are sometimes referred to as boomerang GIFs when they play a sequence forwards and then backwards.
In this Guide
- Intros, Outros, Backgrounds and Overlays
- Filenames
- Selecting Output Type
- Hide Live View
- Countdown Text
- Overlay Blend Modes
- Frames to Capture
- Overlays per Photo
- Capture Interval
- Playback Interval
- Boomerang
- Confirmation Screen
- Sharpen Photos
- Filename Suffix
- Layout Editor
- GIF Width & Height
- Bounding Box
- Crop Bounding Box
h2(#overlays}. Intros, Outros, Backgrounds and Overlays
Filenames
| File Name | Description |
|---|---|
| gif_background.jpg | default background image |
| gif_background_n.jpg | background image for frame of the animation. This allows for animated backgrounds. You can add as many backgrounds as frames you have. |
| gif_overlay.png | default overlay image |
| gif_overlay_n.png | overlay image for frame of the animation. This allows for animated overlays. You can add as many overlays as frames you have. |
| gif_logo_overlay.png | Optional overlay that is added to every frame |
| gif_soundtrack.mp3 | MP3 audio file for burst GIFs |
| gif_title_1.jpg / gif_title_2.jpg etc | Optional title frames can be added to the start of burst GIFs |
| gif_credits_1.jpg / gif_credits_2.jpg | Optional credit frames can be added to the end of burst GIFs |
Selecting Output Type
You can save a Burst GIF as either a GIF or an MP4 (or both).
Animated GIFs
Have the advantage that they automatically play back in a continuous loop and can be embedded in an HTML formatted email in the same way as JPEG images. They have the disadvantage that they can only display 256 colors per frame and use lossless compression which can result in large file sizes. They cannot include an audio soundtrack.
MP4 movies
Have the advantage that they can represent the same number of colors as JPEG photos and use similar compression to reduce file size. The disadvantages are that they don’t automatically play in a loop and cannot be embedded in HTML emails. Instead, they must be attached as files.
Hide Live View
Normally live view images are displayed in the GIF ready screen but this can be disabled (e.g. for a menu screen) by selecting “Hide live view in ready screen”.
h2#(countdown). Countdown Text
The “Countdown text” specifies how the countdown text should be formatted before taking each photo. It can use the following token:
| Token | Description |
|---|---|
| gifCountdown | the number of seconds remaining in the countdown before capturing the GIF |
Use the “Countdown (secs)” setting to specify duration of the countdown.
Overlay Blend Modes
The overlay blend mode controls how overlay images (gif_overlay.png, gif_overlay_1.png, etc.) are blended with the GIF layout.
Options include:
- normal
- lighten
- overlay
- screen
- hard light
- soft light
- multiply
- difference
- exclusion
- color dodge
- color burn
- hue
- saturation
- color
- luminosity
Frames to Capture
The “Frames to capture” setting specifies how many frames to capture from the live view when creating the GIF. Typically this is set to at least 10 frames for smooth animation.
Overlays Per Photo
The “Overlays per photo” setting specifies how many overlay frames are created per photo. Example sequence when set to 2:
| Frame | Overlay |
|---|---|
| photo 1 | gif_overlay_1.png |
| photo 1 | gif_overlay_2.png |
| photo 2 | gif_overlay_3.png |
| photo 2 | gif_overlay_4.png |
| photo 3 | gif_overlay_5.png |
| photo 3 | gif_overlay_6.png |
Capture Interval
The “Capture interval (secs)” setting determines the capture sequence duration (duration = capture interval × number of frames). The minimum usable setting is ~0.05s, but performance depends on iPad model and exposure.
Playback Interval
The “Playback interval (secs)” setting specifies how long each frame is displayed. Set higher than the capture interval for slow motion, or lower for faster-than-normal playback.
Boomerang
Enable “Boomerang (forward/backward)” to create a sequence that plays forward then in reverse.
Example with 10 frames:
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2…
When disabled, frames play 1–10 in order and repeat.
Confirmation Screen
Enable “Display confirmation screen” to show the GIF after capture. Users can accept or reject it.
Timeout — number of seconds before auto-close.
“Accept GIF on timeout” — auto-accept if the timeout occurs, otherwise cancel and return to ready screen.
Sharpen Photos
Enable “Sharpen photos” to apply sharpening before adding them to the GIF.
Settings:
- Unsharp mask intensity
- Unsharp mask radius
(For more details, search “Unsharp mask”.)
Filename Suffix
The “Overlay/background filename suffix” allows dynamic selection of overlays and backgrounds for GIFs. Defaults: gif_background.jpg / gif_overlay.png.
The suffix can be based on time, survey responses, or random numbers, and is also applied to print overlays and backgrounds.
The suffix also applies to countdown and preview screens (e.g. when using surveys to select AI background removal options).
Layout Editor
GIF Width & Height
Set the “GIF width in pixels” and “GIF height in pixels” to define the animated GIF dimensions.
Bounding Box
- “Photo bounding box left” — X offset of photos from the GIF’s left edge.
- “Photo bounding box top” — Y offset of photos from the GIF’s top edge.
- “Photo bounding box width/height” — size of the bounding box in pixels.
Crop to Bounding Box
If enabled: The photo is resized to fill the bounding box and cropped to fit. Example: 900×600 photo cropped to fit 300×300 box → resized to 450×300, then cropped left/right.
If disabled: The photo is resized to fit within the box and centered. Example: 900×600 → 300×200, centered inside 300×300.
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