Photoshop Animated GIF Tutorial

This tutorial will show how to take multiple images of pretty much any format and make them into an animated .gif file by using Photoshop.

Tutorial

Create the images

  1. We’re going to start this tutorial with a simple traffic signal. Create a new Photoshop document with the following settings:
    Width: 300px, Height: 900px, Res: 72px/in, Color Mode: RGB 8-bit, Background: Black
  2. Use the Ellipse tool while holding down the Shift key to get a round circle. Fill the circle with Red and put that circle at the top. Duplicate the shape layer twice and made the other two circles yellow and green. Move the circles to the appropriate location.
    PS-animated1.jpg
  3. You can skip this step if you like. Right Click each of the layers and click Rasterize Layer. You can now click on the little fx “Add a Layer Style” button under the layers. Select Pattern Overlay and choose a noisy pattern. Blend Mode: Normal, Opacity: 25%, Scale: 25%. Do the same texture on the other color circles.
  4. Put a Red Outer Glow on the Red Light circle. Technique: Softer, Spread: 25%, Size: 50px. Darken the other two lights by doing a Color Overlay at Black, 65% Opacity. You should now see:
    PS-animated3.jpg
  5. Save this as a GIF or a JPG or a PNG or whatever you want to save it as. Call it TrafficSignalRed.
  6. Turn off the outer glow on red and darken the red light by doing a Color Overlay at Black, 65% Opacity. Turn off the Color Overlay on the Yellow Light and put a Yellow Outer Glow on the Yellow Light circle. Technique: Softer, Spread: 25%, Size: 50px. Make sure the yellow light is at the top of the Layers stack.
  7. Save this as a GIF or a JPG or a PNG or whatever you want to save it as. Call it TrafficSignalYellow.
  8. Turn off the outer glow on green and darken the yellow light by doing a Color Overlay at Black, 65% Opacity. Turn off the Color Overlay on the Green Light and put a Green Outer Glow on the Green Light circle. Technique: Softer, Spread: 25%, Size: 50px. Make sure the green light is at the top of the Layers stack.
  9. Save this as a GIF or a JPG or a PNG or whatever you want to save it as. Call it TrafficSignalGreen. Close the Photoshop file without saving.

Create the Animation

  1. Open your 3 (or more if you are doing your own creation) files: TrafficSignalRed, TrafficSignalYellow, and TrafficSignalGreen in Photoshop.
  2. In the TrafficSignalGreen file, click Ctrl +a to select the entire image. Then click Ctrl +c to copy that image. Click Ctrl +n to open a new file with the same settings as your original.
  3. Hit Ctrl +v to paste the Green light file into the new file.
  4. In the TrafficSignalYellow file, click Ctrl +a to select the entire image. Then click Ctrl +c to copy that image. Then click Ctrl +v to paste the Yellow light file into the new file. It will appear as a new layer above the Green Light.
  5. In the TrafficSignalRedfile, click Ctrl +a to select the entire image. Then click Ctrl +c to copy that image. Then click Ctrl +v to paste the Redlight file into the new file. It will appear as a new layer above the Yellow Light.
  6. Delete the original background layer, if there is one.
  7. Go to Window > Animation to open the Animation Panel at the bottom of your screen. Click on the Options Tab at the top right corner of this panel then select “Make Frames From Layers”.
    PS-animated4.jpg
  8. Now hit the Play Button (>) to watch your animation. If it is going too fast, which it probably is, hit Ctrl or Shift to multiselect the items in the panel. Then click the “0 sec.” down arrow to change the time. I recommend 1 sec. Hit Play (>) again to watch your animation.
    PS-animated5.jpg
  9. By default, the animation will be on a continuous loop. To change that, click on the “Forever” down arrow to change the loop.
  10. Save the animation by going to File > Save for web and devices. I recommend leaving the defaults and hitting the save button. You will then have a Green-Yellow-Red-Green-Yellow-Red… traffic signal.

Extra Suggestions

In the Frames Animation Panel, you can move the frames around, copy and paste them, and even reverse order them. You can make your lights do crazy stuff like:
TrafficSignalAnimation2.gif

Have Fun!

Author: Steph

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