Looping gifs have always kinda mesmerised me, so when I came across this amazing video from Warped Perception I knew I just had to make a gif. Warped Perception are not the first in making videos of engines with transparent heads or windows, as previously Petri Ranki had done it with a two stroke, and many model engine builders had been incorporating glass cylinders into their creations over the years.

However, this latest is one of the best videos out there, perfectly showcasing the 4-strokes in the Otto Cycle in the classic ‘L-head’ layout. If you look closely you can even see the ‘wasted spark’ of simple engines. Mechanically interesting, chemical reaction and in a slow-mo seemless loop? I think it might be a /r/perfectloops, /r/mechanical_gifs, and /r/chemicalreactiongifs triple crown winner…

Anyways, less bullshit, here’s the full loop:

As to how it was made, there are many tutorials on slightly different work flows, and i will leave it to others to explain the details (I have lost the tutorial I used). As a basic premise:

1. Download source material, and colourgrade/modify lighting as needed in After Effects.
2. Cut source material around the beginning and the end of where you’d like to loop, but make sure to leave plenty before and plenty after.
3. Cut the draft clip in half, using the first half as the ‘end’, and the other half as the ‘beginning’ this will give you a crisp transition between start and end, since they are continuous.
4. Now move the two separate clips and overlap them, fine tuning the position and the transition fade from one to another until you are happy with the result.
5. trim and export the video.
6. Import into Photoshop as a series of pictures and then export as a Gif!

Credits

I wish i could find the original two tutorials I used but it was quite some time ago…