After announcing back in November that it would begin allowing users to generate animated GIFs from YouTube video, the mammoth internet video company has reportedly begun rolling the feature out. ARS Technica points out that “intrepid YouTube user Andy Baio found the GIF menu hidden in the “share” portion of a PBS Idea Channel video.”
A quick look at the PBS Idea Channel reveals that is absolutely true. It is not, however, true for ANIMAL’s YouTube channel yet. Apparently users have to enable the ability to share GIFs individually on their channels, and since the function is still in beta testing, they first have to sign up on this form to make it available to their audiences.
The functionality is certainly faster and easier for anyone who finds the GIF making process too complicated. Users cannot cut multiple clips together, and it’s not possible to change the speed, but there is a text editor in the internet’s favorite meme font, Impact. When the GIF is done, direct links and embed codes are available.
While it will probably be a while until this is a widespread thing, the commonality of uploaders using Creative Commons licenses indicates that plenty of people will probably be generous enough to turn on GIF sharing.
