Turn any GIF into clean, editable linework

01What is Giffact?

Giffact is a rotoscoping tool for line art. You open an animated GIF, draw vector lines over each frame and export only those lines. The result is a clean, transparent line layer for every frame, ready to color, redraw in another program or turn into a new animation.

Every line is a vector curve: you can move its points, change its weight, taper its ends and recolor it at any time, and export at 1×, 2×, 4× or any exact size without losing quality. Everything runs locally: your GIFs and projects never leave your computer.

02Download and install

Giffact 1.1.1 is available for 64-bit Windows and Linux. Pick the file for your system. All files are on the releases page, along with their SHA-256 checksums.

03A tour of the interface

This is the Giffact window with a GIF open. Hover over or tap the numbers to see what each area does.

12345678910111213

1. 1
   File buttonsOpen GIF, the Project menu (new, open, save) and Export.
2. 2
   Undo / redoHistory is kept per frame: Ctrl+Z / Ctrl+Y.
3. 3
   Preview and auto-tracePlay your lines as an animation (P) or create an automatic sketch.
4. 4
   Language, theme and helpLanguage 🌐, theme and animations, Help (F1) and About.
5. 5
   ToolbarAll drawing and editing tools. The small letter is the shortcut.
6. 6
   CanvasThe current GIF frame with your lines on top. The wheel zooms, Space+drag pans.
7. 7
   Status barFrame, size, tool, cursor position, zoom, fit and rotation.
8. 8
   Tool optionsSettings of the active tool: weight, color, stabilizer, tapers, eraser mode…
9. 9
   Selected strokesChange the selected strokes: weight, color, tapers, simplify, flip, delete.
10. 10
    Frame layersThe layers of the current frame: add, duplicate, reorder, hide, lock, opacity.
11. 11
    Frames: copy linesBring lines from the previous or next frame, or copy them to a range of frames.
12. 12
    Background (GIF) & onion skinGIF visibility, gray mode and opacity; onion skin frames, colors and opacity.
13. 13
    TimelineEvery frame of the GIF. A dot marks the frames that already have lines.

04Quick start: your first traced animation

Six steps take you from a GIF to a folder of transparent PNGs. The GIF in the screenshots is a 12-frame animation of a girl whose hair blows in the wind.

1. Open a GIF

   Click Open GIF, press Ctrl+O or drag the file into the window. PNG, JPG and WebP open too, as a single frame. All frames appear in the timeline at the bottom.

   

2. Organize with layers

   Every frame starts with a layer called “Lines”. Create more with + (Ctrl+Shift+N). + all creates the layer in every frame at once. A good start is one layer for the outline and another for hair strands. Double-click a layer to rename it.

   

3. Trace with the Curve

   Press C and click along the shape. The curve flows smoothly through the points, so place them where the line changes direction. Made a mistake? A right-click goes back one point and you keep drawing. Finish with Enter or a double-click.

   

4. Refine

   With Edit points (N), drag points until they fit the drawing. Use Pressure (per point) (U) to taper the ends and Weight (W) for thicker contours. Lower the GIF opacity to see your lines better.

   

5. Next frame: onion skin + copy lines

   Go to the next frame (→ or D), turn on the onion skin (O) and press Alt+←. The lines of the previous frame are copied to this one, so you only adjust what moved. That is usually much faster than tracing from scratch.

   

6. Export

   Press Ctrl+E, choose PNG, the frames and the size (2× turns a 480×480 GIF into 960×960) and export. Save the project with Ctrl+S to keep working later.

   

05The tools, one by one

Every tool has a one-key shortcut. The text marked “In the app” is the same tip the app shows in its options panel.

Curve

Shortcut C

In the appClick to place points — the curve passes smoothly through them. Right-click goes back to the previous point and keeps drawing; Enter or double-click finishes; clicking the 1st point closes it; Esc cancels.

Tips

• Fewer points make smoother curves. Put them at the extremes of each bend, not every few pixels.
• A right-click or Backspace removes the last point without losing the stroke. Esc cancels it.
• Click the first point or press Shift+Enter to close a shape (eyes, buttons).

Line (straight)

Shortcut L

In the appClick point by point for straight segments. Shift locks the angle in 15° steps. Right-click goes back to the previous point; Enter or double-click finishes.

Tips

• Ideal for shirt edges, buildings and other straight parts.
• Hold Shift to lock the angle in 15° steps.
• A Line stroke can still be edited later with Edit points.

Pen (freehand)

Shortcut B

In the appDraw freehand. The stabilizer makes the stroke smoother (the stroke “follows” the cursor). When you release, the stroke becomes an editable curve with control points.

Tips

• Raise the Stabilizer (Shift+]) for long, calm strokes like hair strands, and lower it for small details.
• With a pen tablet, pressure is recorded per point. Minimum pressure sets how thin the lightest touch gets.
• When you release, the stroke becomes an editable curve with control points.

Edit points

Shortcut N

In the appDrag a point to move it. Drag on the line to create a new point (or double-click). Ctrl+drag moves the whole stroke. Alt+click deletes a point.

Tips

• Turn on Show points of all strokes to see the points of every stroke.
• Drag the line itself to insert a new point there.
• Ctrl+drag moves the whole stroke. Alt+click deletes a point.

Weight

Shortcut W

In the appClick a stroke to apply the current weight. Drag sideways to thicken/thin the whole stroke.

Tips

• A thicker outer silhouette with thinner lines inside gives the drawing depth.
• [ and ] change the current weight of any drawing tool.

Pressure (per point)

Shortcut U

In the appDrag a point (or segment) up/down to change the thickness at that point — great for tapering ends. Alt+click resets it to 100%.

Tips

• Pull the end points down so the line fades out like a brush stroke.
• Thicken the middle of curves where shadows fall (under the chin, under the hair).
• Alt+click resets a point to 100%.

Stroke color

Shortcut K

In the appClick (or drag over) strokes to paint them with the current color. Alt+click or right-click picks a stroke’s color.

Tips

• Color-code your lines, for example hair strands in blue and outlines in black. They become easy to tell apart and to recolor later.
• Right-click a swatch to store the current color in it.

Vector eraser

Shortcut E

In the appWhole stroke: erases touched strokes. To intersection: erases only the piece between the nearest crossings (quick cleanup of overshoots). Area: erases the part under the brush.

Tips

• To intersection is the SAI-style eraser. Hover over a piece of line and the part to be erased turns red; click to cut exactly up to the crossings.
• Whole stroke deletes entire strokes. Area works like a normal eraser and splits the strokes it touches.

Selection / Transform

Shortcut V

In the appClick a stroke to select it (Shift/Ctrl adds). Drag on empty space for a box selection. Drag to move; corner handles scale (Shift = free, Alt = from center); the yellow handle rotates (Shift = 15° steps).

Tips

• Ctrl+A selects everything in the active layer, and the Selected strokes panel then edits all of them at once.
• Corner handles scale and the yellow handle rotates. Ctrl+C / Ctrl+V copy strokes to another frame.

06Frames, layers and onion skin

Layers

Each frame has its own layer stack. Using the same layers in every frame (+ all) keeps things organized, and copying lines works layer by layer.

• + New layer · + all: New layer in every frame
• Duplicate layer · Move up / Move down · Delete layer
• 👁 Hide / Show · 🔒 Lock: a locked layer can’t be edited, perfect for guide lines.
• Opacity: dim a layer to trace over it. Double-click to rename.

Copy lines between frames

Animation changes little from one frame to the next. Instead of tracing again, bring the lines over and adjust them:

• ⇐ From previous (Alt+←) and From next ⇒ (Alt+→) bring the active layer of the neighbor frame.
• Copy to frames… (Ctrl+Shift+V) copies the active layer or the selection to a range of frames, useful for parts that don’t move.
• Clear layer empties the active layer of the current frame.

Onion skin

With the onion skin on (O) you see the lines of the previous frames in red and of the next ones in blue. Set how many frames, the colors and the opacity in the Background (GIF) & onion skin panel. Hiding the GIF (F) makes it even clearer.

The GIF in the background

Show GIF (F), Gray (G) and Opacity control how the GIF appears under your lines. Gray and a low opacity make dark lines stand out. None of this changes the export unless you choose to include the GIF.

Timeline and preview

Click a thumbnail or use ← → (or A D) to change frames, and Home / End to jump to the ends. With “lines in thumbnails” the thumbnails show your lines too. Press P for the Animated preview: your lines play at the GIF timing or at a custom FPS, with or without the GIF behind them.

07Auto-trace (experimental)

Auto-trace detects the edges of the GIF frame and creates editable vector strokes in a new “Auto sketch” layer. It doesn’t replace your hand, but it gives you a quick sketch to start from on busy frames.

BeforeAfter

• Sensitivity: higher values find more (and weaker) edges.
• Smoothing: softens the image before detecting, ignoring texture and noise.
• Minimum size: discards strokes shorter than this.
• Weight: the weight of the strokes created.
• Frames: only the current frame or all of them (this can take a while).

08Exporting

Ctrl+E opens Export frames. These are the options:

Format

PNG (separate images) for painting programs and video. SVG (vector, per frame) keeps the lines as vectors for Illustrator, Inkscape or the web.

Frames

All, Current only, Range or Only frames with lines.

Size

Scale (1×, 2×, 4×…) or an exact Width × height, with “keep aspect ratio”. The dialog shows the final size.

Background

Transparent, White or a color. Check “include the GIF frame” to export the lines over the original image.

Layers

Choose which layers go into the files, for example only the outline.

File names

The prefix of the files: lines_001.png, lines_002.png…

09Projects (.giffact)

A .giffact file stores everything: the GIF itself (embedded), every layer and stroke of every frame, and the view settings. Copy that single file to another computer and continue exactly where you stopped.

• New project (Ctrl+N) · Open project… (Ctrl+Shift+O)
• Save project (Ctrl+S) · Save project as… (Ctrl+Shift+S)
• Projects from GIF Linework (.gifline / .json), the previous name of Giffact, open too.

10Theme, animations and language

In the moon/sun menu, choose Follow system, Dark or Light. The dark theme has subtle neon lavender streaks around the edges (never over the canvas), and you can turn them off with Neon animations. If your system asks for reduced motion, they stay off.

The 🌐 button switches instantly between the 10 languages: English, Português (Brasil), Español, Français, Deutsch, Italiano, 日本語, 中文（简体）, 한국어 and Русский. By default Giffact follows the language of your system.

11Keyboard shortcuts

The complete list, the same one the app shows with F1.

12Rotoscoping anime: workflow tips

13FAQ and troubleshooting