You can also use Photoshop to create animated GIF files from video clips. Once you’ve selected this selected the Timeline option, the window will appear at the bottom of your screen. This is not open by default when creating an animated GIF in Photoshop, so navigate over to Window > Timeline and select the option to get started.
To do this, you’ll have to open the Timeline window. Step 2: Open the Timeline Windowīefore you can begin to animate anything, you’re going to need the ability to create keyframes. Make this a habit: it will make editing your files much easier when it comes time to save your GIF in Photoshop if you can figure out what every element is at a glance. Double-click the layers name in the layers palette and rename each one.
You’re on your way to creating a GIF in Photoshop! Once this step is completed by either method above, be sure to name each layer to help keep your workflow organized. To accomplish this, select either Layer > New > Layer or click the Layer button on the layer palette. If you intend to create additional frames with other images within this new document, you’ll need to create layers for each of these manually. Then, simply drag your image into the Photoshop project window or go to File > Open and select your image. A good rule of thumb is to keep files under 5MB, so they can be shared anywhere.If you have no image at all or a single image you intend to work from (as is often the case with animated banners), create a new document with File > New. Also, keep in mind the file size limitations of the social platforms you’re planning on sharing it to. Make sure the looping options are set to “Forever,” in both the timeline and on the export screen. When you’re happy with the speed of your animation, it’s time to save your GIF! Go to File -> Export -> Save for Web. You can adjust the speed of your animation by clicking on the 0.2 below the thumbnail, which will open up a menu of how long each frame will be shown on screen. Click the play button, or hit the spacebar to test out your animation.
Moving back to the timeline, click each frame and set it so that only one corresponding layer is visible at a time, by clicking on the eye icon. Once you have your five new layers drawn, go ahead and delete the original five layers to clean up your workspace. Lower the opacity for layer 1 so you can use it as a guide to draw another layer on top. In your layers panel, create a new layer and place it on top of layer 1. Opening up your GIF in Photoshop should open up the timeline panel, which will look like this: I chose to make my new GIF a breakdancing bear, to get a result like this: GIF by Dami Lee It’s a little bit like rotoscoping, a technique used by animators to trace over live-action footage, but instead, we’re just tracing over the general body outline in our original GIF. We’re going to use the individual frames of this GIF as a guide to draw a version of yourself breakdancing. But if you want to stand out from the crowd by making your own animated GIF in Photoshop, here’s how.įor the purposes of this demonstration, save this GIF to your computer and open it in Photoshop.
PHOTOSHOP CC ANIMATION GIF MAC
Giphy’s online GIF maker lets you pull short YouTube clips and add captions, and Giphy Capture is a great Mac app that lets you drag the part of the screen you want to record and turn it into a neat animation. GIFs are pretty much an inescapable form of internet communication now, and it’s never been easier to make your own.