Screen to GIF

Tool Demo

screen-to-gif

Tool Introduction

A screen recording GIF tool developed using Cursor, capable of recording specified screen areas and generating GIF files for dynamic playback. All GIF images in subsequent tutorials are recorded using this tool.

To optimize file size, the image quality has been reduced.

Project Overview

This is a screen recording tool developed in Python that can record specified screen areas and generate GIF animations. Main features include:

  1. Visual area selection
  2. Real-time recording control
  3. Custom GIF generation parameters
  4. Smart frame difference detection
  5. Image quality optimization

Tech Stack

  • Python 3.x
  • PyQt6: GUI framework
  • mss: Screen capture
  • PIL: Image processing
  • imageio: GIF generation
  • numpy: Image data processing

Project Structure

The project consists of the following main modules:

  1. main.py: Main program entry, implements GUI interface
  2. screen_recorder.py: Core screen recording functionality
  3. gif_generator.py: GIF generation and optimization
  4. region_selector.py: Area selector
  5. requirements.txt: Dependency management

Implementation Steps

1. Project Initialization

# Create virtual environment and install dependencies
python -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate  # Windows use: venv\\Scripts\\activate
pip install -r requirements.txt

2. Region Selector Implementation

region_selector.py implements a transparent window that allows users to select the recording area through mouse drag. Main features:

  • Full-screen transparent overlay
  • Real-time display of selected area
  • Mouse event handling
  • Selection completion signal sending

3. Screen Recorder Implementation

screen_recorder.py handles the core recording functionality:

  • Screen capture using mss library
  • Frame difference detection algorithm implementation
  • Recording performance optimization
  • Memory management

Key optimization:

# Frame difference detection
diff = np.mean(np.abs(frame_array - self.last_frame_array)) / 255.0
if diff > self.diff_threshold:
    self.frames.append(frame)

4. GIF Generator Implementation

gif_generator.py handles recorded frame optimization and GIF generation:

  • Image preprocessing (sharpening, contrast enhancement)
  • Smart scaling
  • Palette optimization
  • Compression optimization

Key optimization:

# Image enhancement
enhancer = ImageEnhance.Sharpness(frame)
frame = enhancer.enhance(1.5)

# Two-step scaling for better results
frame = frame.resize((new_size[0]*2, new_size[1]*2), Image.Resampling.LANCZOS)
frame = frame.resize(new_size, Image.Resampling.BICUBIC)

5. Main Interface Implementation

main.py implements the user interface:

  • Recording control
  • Parameter settings
  • File saving
  • Status display

6. Performance Optimization

  1. Recording optimization:
    • Use frame difference detection to reduce duplicate frames
    • Optimize recording frame rate
    • Memory management
  2. GIF generation optimization:
    • Global palette
    • Smart scaling algorithm
    • Image quality enhancement
    • Compression parameter adjustment

Special Features

  1. Smart frame processing:
    • Only save changed frames
    • Automatic frame rate adjustment
    • Memory usage optimization
  2. Image quality optimization:
    • Multi-level image enhancement
    • Smart scaling
    • Sharpening processing
    • Palette optimization
  3. User-friendly interface:
    • Intuitive area selection
    • Real-time status display
    • Custom parameter adjustment