Slack GIF Creator

A toolkit providing utilities and knowledge for creating animated GIFs optimized for Slack.

Slack Requirements

Dimensions:

Emoji GIFs: 128x128 (recommended)
Message GIFs: 480x480

Parameters:

FPS: 10-30 (lower is smaller file size)
Colors: 48-128 (fewer = smaller file size)
Duration: Keep under 3 seconds for emoji GIFs

Core Workflow

from PIL import Image, ImageDraw

# 1. Create frames
frames = []
for i in range(12):
    frame = Image.new('RGB', (128, 128), (240, 248, 255))
    draw = ImageDraw.Draw(frame)
    # Draw your animation using PIL primitives
    frames.append(frame)

# 2. Save as GIF
frames[0].save(
    'output.gif',
    save_all=True,
    append_images=frames[1:],
    duration=100,  # ms per frame
    loop=0
)

Drawing Graphics

Drawing from Scratch

When drawing graphics from scratch, use PIL ImageDraw primitives:

from PIL import ImageDraw

draw = ImageDraw.Draw(frame)

# Circles/ovals
draw.ellipse([x1, y1, x2, y2], fill=(r, g, b), outline=(r, g, b), width=3)

# Stars, triangles, any polygon
points = [(x1, y1), (x2, y2), (x3, y3)]
draw.polygon(points, fill=(r, g, b), outline=(r, g, b), width=3)

# Lines
draw.line([(x1, y1), (x2, y2)], fill=(r, g, b), width=5)

# Rectangles
draw.rectangle([x1, y1, x2, y2], fill=(r, g, b), outline=(r, g, b), width=3)

Animation Concepts

Shake/Vibrate

Offset object position with oscillation using math.sin() or math.cos() with frame index.

Pulse/Heartbeat

Scale object size rhythmically using math.sin(t * frequency * 2 * math.pi) for smooth pulse.

Bounce

Object falls and bounces - use easing functions for landing.

Spin/Rotate

Rotate object around center: image.rotate(angle, resample=Image.BICUBIC)

Fade In/Out

Create RGBA image, adjust alpha channel, or use Image.blend(image1, image2, alpha).

Slide

Move object from off-screen to position with easing.

Zoom

Scale and position for zoom effect - zoom in: scale from 0.1 to 2.0, crop center.

Explode/Particle Burst

Create particles radiating outward with random angles and velocities.

Optimization Strategies

Fewer frames - Lower FPS (10 instead of 20) or shorter duration
Fewer colors - Use 48 colors instead of 128
Smaller dimensions - 128x128 instead of 480x480
Remove duplicates - Skip identical frames

Dependencies

pip install pillow imageio numpy

slack-gif-creator