How to make an animated gif using photoshop

Today I'm going to tell you about how to make a basic animation using Adobe Photoshop. Here I will teach you step by step. So if you are a beginner there is no problem with that. As this is our first step about animations today I will tell you how to create a slideshow without effects. We can save this as animated gif file to add it to the web or anything you want. Unfortunately we cannot export animated files to SWF format using Photoshop. With this tutorial I'm starting animation lessons.

What is an animation

An animation is the production of images virtually enabled to perform as if they are moving. One of the main objectives of making an animation is to catch the eye of the viewer as they are better at doing it than still images. Not to mention, animated images can also add up liveliness too.

Making animation using Photoshop

Step 1

OK let's start.

• First open Photoshop and go to File--> New
• Set the Width, Height and resolution whatever you want and press OK.
• Save it as Animation 1

Step 2

I'm going to teach you how to animate two images that will be seen as flashing one after another continuously.

Open two images from your computer. (Go to File--> Open)

Let's name them Image 1 and Image 2.

Step 3

• Now we need to add the Image 1 and Image 2 to the Animation 1 canvas.
• To do that select the move tool and click on the Image 1 and drag  it ti the Animation 1 canvas and drop.

• Do the same to the Image 2.
• Now the both images are in Animation 1 canvas.
• Place them one over another using the move tool.

Layers palette will look like this.

Step 4

The rest is the animation part.

• Go to Window--> Animation

Click on the image to enlarge

• Select the 1st frame which has been already created. Then switch on the Image 1 visibility and switch off the Image 2 visibility.

•  Now click on the down arrow on the top right corner of the Animation window.
• Select New Frame.

Click on the image to enlarge

• Now select the second frame and switch on the Image 2 visibility and switch off the Image 1 visibility.

Now you are almost finished.

Step 5 - Setting the time delay

• To set the time delay between two images simply click the down arrow of each frame. This will tell how much time each frame will appear.

• Now you have successfully finished creating the animation

Step 6 - Saving the file

• Go to File--> Save for Web & Devices or press Alt+Shift+Ctrl+S

Click on the image to enlarge

• Pay your attention to the marked areas on the image.
• Press OK and select the folder to save.

• That's all you have to do.
• This is the final output

You can change the time delay as I told you before in this article.

Try new and different things with these...

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