Quote:
...I’ve tried Avidemux, OBS, Camtasia in the Windows vein but none have proven reliable...
In Windows not too good, However Avidemux is an editor not for video screencapture and If you do start to use linux probably SimpleScreenRecorder (a front-end for ffmpeg) is a good starter.
For extracting a frame as an image VLC is very good and might suffice.
I would not give up on Avidemux. Same as Gimp there is a learning curve, but capturing a frame from a video is very straight forward. This an example with the exported png frame shown.
Attachment:
avidemux.jpg [ 184.21 KiB | Viewed 4838 times ]
Using Linux? Shown is the 'portable' Avidemux, an appimage.
Edit: Just remembered this
Quote:
...Also, how would I create an animated file (even a .GIF animated) in GIMP?..
See that line in Avidemux, Save Selection a JPEG. That renders between 'A' and 'B' as separate frames. Usually far too many for a gif but there are ways to easy reduce to a suitable number. Otherwise it is command line and ffmpeg (which you will hate)