How to make an animated gif player yourself

The animated gif player is a device which is able to play an animated gif. An animated gif is a digital file format where multiple images are being looped after each other, creating a short and small sized movie clip. The file type was first introduced in 1987 as a first online movie, but soon lost its function with the increasing speed of internet and the possibility to upload longer and bigger movies. The document type however has gained back some of its popularity and is even entering the field of Art today.

In 1832, Jozeph Plateau, a Belgian physicist invented the phenakistiscope. The first device which was able to show a moving image and which is considered to be the pre-runner of modern cinema. The only down part however was the fact that it could only show short movie clips in a loop. Coincidentally an animated gif is exactly that, and after some research on Plateau’s original design, I succeeded to build a device capable of playing animated gifs, incorporating led lights, microchips and magnetic sensors. The Gif player is a wooden box, much like a turntable, with a dimmer to adjust the speed of the animation and a small looking hole in the front. Scroll down if you want to make one, and if you’re interested in buying one,

→ order one here

What you will need to make one yourself:

First things first, build a box. My box has the dimension 350 x 400 mm, but this completely depends on your disc size and personal preference. Make sure you leave a hole in the top to mount the rotating disc, and in the cover there should be a hole on the exact place where a circle would be on the disc with the correct size, but the cover is for later, now lets focus on the box itself.

The circle in the middle is mounted on a bearing and has a smaller diameter in the center to hold the driving belt.

Now for the electronic part. We’ll divide it in 3 steps. First step is to get the motor rotating with a potentiometer to adjust the speed. I’m not great with drawing electrical scheme’s (or with electronics in general) so forgive me if something is a bit unclear. You can always pass by your local electro shop to ask for some advice, if you live in Berlin I can recommend you Segor, they are extremely helpful and patient.

Next step, the reed and LED. A reed is like a normal switch but instead of pressing a button it works with magnets, so every time a magnet passes the switch the LED will blink. I didn’t draw a scheme for this so I will explain, it is extremely simple. The + goes to the reed, the other end of the reed goes to the resistor, the resistor to the LED’s and thats it.

Now the most difficult part. The time the LED blinks has to be extremely short and accurate, for this we will use a NE555 micro controller (the 3rd image). I’ve also used a potentiometer here to be able to adjust the timing better. To figure out what the numbers on the image below mean you have to check the data sheet of the NE555.

Then connect the three parts.

Now you can mount all of this in your box, the position of the reed will determine where the animation is played, so take care about that. I’ve also included some on/ off switches to turn on the rotation and turn on the blinking LED. Next we have to make the baseplate which will have the magnets on the bottom. I did this with a laser cutter so to have an exact circle and know the exact position of the magnets.

Now we have our box ready, with a baseplate which rotates at an adjustable speed and some LED lights flashing accordingly. We can also make the cover of the box with the hole inside, which will be the frame of the animation. And off course make an animation!

I realize this ‘tutorial’ is quite vague but it’s not the idea to make an exact copy is this machine, you could off course, but it would be nice to see some different sizes, materials, techniques etc. The technique I used with the magnets works, but it’s not the best, so feel free to experiment with it! I’m curious to see some results, so please send some pictures if you decide to give it a go! And if you really want one and don’t want to go trough the trouble of making one or just don’t have time for it, drop us an email and I see if Fed Ex or DHL wants to pass by and bring one to you.

→ order one here

If you have any questions on the building process or so, ask us trough the comment form below!

Good luck!