Convert a movie to a reasonably high quality GIF

convert_to_gif.sh

#!/bin/bash
################################################################################
#
# USAGE:
#    ./convert_to_gif.sh MOVIE_FILE [MOVIE_FILE_2]
#
# ARGS:
#    MOVIE_FILE - the name of the movie file
#
# ENV VAR SETTINGS:
#    FPS        - FPS of output         (DEFAULT: 15)
#    WIDTH      - width of output       (DEFAULT: -1 -- which means use aspect ratio)
#    HEIGHT     - height of output      (DEFAULT: 400)
#    DITHER     - ffmpeg dither method  (DEFAULT: none)
#
# EXAMPLES:
#    ./convert_to_gif.sh ~/Desktop/*.mov
#    WIDTH=200 HEIGHT=-1 FPS=20 ./convert_to_gif.sh ~/Desktop/*.mov
#
# GIST:
#    https://gist.github.com/KylePDavis/e5b4b0aae01b15fbd575b75c884ac027
#
################################################################################
set -o errexit -o pipefail

FPS=${FPS:=15}
WIDTH=${WIDTH:=-1}
HEIGHT=${HEIGHT:=400}
DITHER=${DITHER:=none} # or maybe try:  bayer:bayer_scale=2

FFMPEG_FILTERS="fps=${FPS},scale=${WIDTH}:${HEIGHT}:flags=lanczos"

for FILE in "$@"; do

	echo "# GENERATING TEMP PALLETE: $FILE ..."
	ffmpeg -i "$FILE" -vf "$FFMPEG_FILTERS,palettegen" "$FILE.palette.png"

	echo "# GENERATING GIF: $FILE ..."
	ffmpeg -i "$FILE" -i "$FILE.palette.png" -filter_complex "$FFMPEG_FILTERS [x]; [x][1:v] paletteuse=dither=none" "$FILE.gif"

	echo "# CLEANUP TEMP PALLETE: $FILE ..."
	rm "$FILE.palette.png"

done
echo "# DONE!"