Basic .Gif animation in PS CS4.

[Legacy Code]

Here is a quick tutorial to show some very basic animation using one image and some imagination.

I opened up a new document and i made it 800x1000 pix. I then filled it in black.
Then i opened up the image i wanted to animate and placed it on a new layer and named it Eggman 1. Then right clicked on the Eggman 1 layer and selected to duplicate the layer and named it Eggman 2


http://img12.imageshack.us/img12/3758/26295930.png (http://img12.imageshack.us/i/26295930.png/)
With the Eggman 2 layer selected i went to EDIT> TRANSFORM> FLIP VERTICAL.


http://img341.imageshack.us/img341/9320/52227296.png (http://img341.imageshack.us/i/52227296.png/)

Still with Eggman 2 , i went to EDIT>TRANSFORM> ROTATE 180.


http://img211.imageshack.us/img211/7720/22016470.png (http://img211.imageshack.us/i/22016470.png/)

Now i have a mirror image of Eggman, so i lined them both up the best i could , trying to match some body parts like the head and torso up.It varies from image to image so experiment and see what works ;)


http://img195.imageshack.us/img195/7861/4linedup.png (http://img195.imageshack.us/i/4linedup.png/)

Next i went to WINDOW > ANIMATION and opened up the animation palette making sure i had the animation frame palette selected. You have two types of animation palette but i wanted to use the frame animation as it is better for basic animated gifs.If the Timeline palette opens up , just click on the drop down menu icon in the top right hand corner of the palette and select convert to frame animation.


http://img683.imageshack.us/img683/3690/5animation.png (http://img683.imageshack.us/i/5animation.png/)

I turned off the Eggman 2 layer and made sure Eggman 1 was selected in the first frame of the anmation.


http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/782/6layer1.png (http://img23.imageshack.us/i/6layer1.png/)

I clicked on NEW FRAME in the animation palette (The small icon next to the rubbish bin in animation palette)And did exactly the same for Eggman 2 making sure i deselected Eggman 1.


http://img175.imageshack.us/img175/4015/7layer2selected.png (http://img175.imageshack.us/i/7layer2selected.png/)

Then i selected the frame rate , or the speed each frame would play at.I selected 0.5 seconds on both frames and made sure FOREVER was selected in the bottom left hand corner.


http://img197.imageshack.us/img197/3198/8selectspeed.png (http://img197.imageshack.us/i/8selectspeed.png/)

Press play and see how it works , If its cool you can maybe crop the image so it all fits nice.Add some text and effects ...its up to you. Once your happy save for web and devices as a .GIF and spam your way over teh interwebz lol. Just make sure you select the first frame when you edit your animation as it will apply to all frames ( but click through them all to make sure)

I hope this was easy to follow and if you have any questions or i didnt explain anything well enough please feel free to ask what you want either by a PM or here.

http://img17.imageshack.us/img17/3496/vc1.gif (http://img17.imageshack.us/i/vc1.gif/)

[Mr GRiM]

Nice Tutorial thanks :)

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[Legacy Code]

Woohoo someone read my tut lol Its always good to try and help people out in PS.

[Kira-chan]

wow thanks for the tut, i always wanted to know how to make gifs.
i will be using it to make gifs once i get my laptop back. xD

[lostiano]

Nice post and thanks.... can u post a nice tutorial about how to add animated effects to text like this >> http://virtualcustoms.net/download/file.php?id=2172

[armani077]

Cant wait to try this. Where can I find images (alien head) like your avatar?

[Species A.I.]

Cant wait to try this. Where can I find images (alien head) like your avatar?
You can either look for alienware renders for photoshop, or find a wallpaper that you like, that has the alien head that suits you, and make your own cutout/render in PS, or find a wall that you like and I would be glad to help you out with your project. :smile:

[SinSu]

Thank you very much.

[Unreality]

Thanks for this tutorial legacy code, Here's mine but I made it a little smaller


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