How To Save An Animated Gif In Photoshop

GIFs are a hot article these days, popping upwards absolutely everywhere online. Haven't mastered the fine art of GIFs notwithstanding? This is a must-take skill in today'southward competitive job market, and something much coveted by potential employers and freelance design clients akin, making information technology a great addition to your online blueprint portfolio.

If you're looking to larn how to brand a GIF in Photoshop, we're here to aid! This guide will get you producing chilly memes, animated banners, and promotional materials in no time at all!

Stride 1: Load Images Into Photoshop

Before you tin make an animated GIF in Photoshop, you'll need to get your images imported and fix to animate. There are different approaches here, and it will largely depend on how you wish to keep:

Have a Serial of Images Ready to Go?

So y'all've got a series of images that already have a catamenia that you can animate, or your client has provided y'all with the images yous'll demand? Awesome. You can get started easily by going to File > Scripts > Load Files Into Stack. This helpful option allows you to load an unabridged range of images simultaneously, rather than needing to elevate each one into your certificate individually.

You'll exist prompted to open files, so select the Browse option and locate each file you lot intend to place within the document. Once you printing OK, Photoshop volition automatically create a layer for each image you opted to include.

Have a Single Image? (Or No Image at All?)

If you take 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. And so, simply elevate your image into the Photoshop project window or get to File > Open and select your prototype.

If yous intend to create boosted frames with other images within this new certificate, you lot'll demand to create layers for each of these manually. To accomplish this, select either Layer > New > Layer or click the Layer push button on the layer palette.

Y'all're on your way to creating a GIF in Photoshop! One time this step is completed by either method to a higher place, be certain to name each layer to assist keep your workflow organized. Double-click the layers name in the layers palette and rename each one. Make this a addiction: it will make editing your files much easier when information technology comes time to save your GIF in Photoshop if you can figure out what every chemical element is at a glance.

Step two: Open the Timeline Window

Before y'all tin can begin to breathing anything, you're going to need the ability to create keyframes. To practice this, you lot'll take to open the Timeline window. This is non open by default when creating an animated GIF in Photoshop, so navigate over to Window > Timeline and select the option to get started.

In one case you've selected this selected the Timeline option, the window will appear at the bottom of your screen.

Don't be afraid to reach out to clients to observe out what they want earlier diving much deeper into the process. Y'all want them to exist happy, then yous'll demand to stay in bear upon!

Footstep 3: Create Frame Animation

This footstep couldn't be simpler. Click the Create Frame Animation push inside the timeline. Changing to this layout volition accommodate the Timeline mode to a frame-by-frame mode. Notice how your image is at present laid out as a frame in this timeline? These frames are where you can use your animation edits.

What'southward a Frame Animation (Keyframe)?

What exactly are frames in this context? Through Timeline Frames (keyframes) nosotros tin apply frame-by-frame edits to our images and create blithe furnishings such as tweening and blinking text via layers. The Timeline window allows you to adjust layers on and off, move elements in individual frames, rotate text, use filters, and adjust the length of fourth dimension certain frames persist for.

Step 4: Requite Each Frame a Layer

When you are creating an animated GIF in Photoshop, you'll need to be sure that each individual frame has its ain layer. This gives you the power to edit each frame even so you lot similar without impacting the others in your project—this is an essential function of designing a clean animation. To split your images into layers, choose Select > All Layers so locate the Timeline menu icon here at the summit right of the window:

From there, select Create New Layer For Each Frame:

Yous'll now have dissever layers for every single frame that currently exists in your document. (Want to larn some actress bells and whistles for your Photoshop work? Bank check out our mega-listing of Photoshop tutorials!)

Step 5: Make Frames from Layers

Next, in that same menu, go ahead and select Brand Frames From Layers as well. This will brand each split up layer into a frame in your Timeline.

After this, yous'll be able to select each individual frame in your Timeline and edit elements as you run across fit. This is where the majority of your work volition be done. The more complex your animation, the more frames you are going to crave to accomplish not bad transitions. Be certain to pick web-friendly fonts if using text in your creations!

Step half dozen: Frame Durations

You've almost learned all you demand to create a GIF in Photoshop. Just a few more bits to get! Now that you lot have the basic frames all setup, our next step is to determine how long each frame plays for. If you don't practise this, your blitheness will behave oddly—or perhaps not play at all.

This is a very unproblematic process: select the frame you wish to edit, and and so click the arrow and select the time from the dropdown that appears. By default, Photoshop has each frame gear up to 0 seconds, so y'all'll want to modify that, or your animation will non properly function. Endeavor selecting 0.2 or 0.five seconds to start. You can always edit this later.

Pace seven: Looping Options

At present that you lot have created the GIF in Photoshop, it'due south time to make sure that it's working well. Practice you need your image to repeat more than than in one case? Then you're going to need to fix up looping options. Below the timeline, you'll encounter several options. Select the Once selection and open up the dropdown.

You lot'll exist able to cull from a few pre-made options, equally well equally customize your own specifications. Select whichever suits your needs. The well-nigh usually selected option is "Forever" since the bulk of animated GIFs are intended to play over and over so long as they remain open.

Stride 8: Preview

For the adjacent pace of creating an blithe GIF in Photoshop, you'll need to preview your GIF to make sure information technology animates the way you like and that there are no surprises. Photoshop allows y'all to view it in the program without needing to salvage it into the file format first. To preview your blithe GIF, simply press the Play push on the Timeline.

Step 9: Save Your GIF in Photoshop, And so Export

Now it'south time to save your GIF in Photoshop. Annotation that you need to save information technology a bit differently than you are used to via the ordinary Save command. You'll need to navigate to File > Consign > Relieve for Web (Legacy) instead. Follow the prompts, name your file, and you're golden! Saving a GIF in Photoshop is just that piece of cake. In one case you are done exporting, be sure to view it outside of Photoshop too (and perhaps go feedback from other creatives), as sometimes y'all miss tiny inconsistencies that need to exist addressed. Be sure to as well save the document itself, equally you'll desire the PSD file later, should yous need to edit things.

Working with Video

Yous tin also use Photoshop to create blithe GIF files from video clips. To do this, navigate to File > Import >Video Frames To Layers.

This will load up a dialog box that asks for the desired video file. Select your video, and you'll exist given a myriad of other options.

The key here is to limit the total number of frames, especially if the video is longer than a couple of seconds. Otherwise, yous'll end upwards with thousands of frames, and that volition make things effectively impossible to fine-tune.

To limit the frames, you have several options bachelor. Yous can use the existing dialog to clip a specific department of the video (via the Selected Range Only radio push), or select the Limit To Ever Frames choice, and select the total number of frames to limit. For case, if you lot clicked the checkbox and entered "4", the program would import but every four frames of the video into Photoshop. This is important to remember, as most video typically uses betwixt 20 to thirty frames per second. Yous don't need every frame for a GIF, so keep it light and editable!

Share Your GIFs with the World

Blithe GIFs are a powerful form of media that volition likely exist around for a long time to come—and clients are wild for them. Once yous've learned how to brand a GIF in Photoshop, be sure to put your best creations on your online design portfolio and show off your craziest animations.

Don't have an online portfolio website? Y'all can apply a website builder to create one in minutes. Brand sure to pick an online portfolio that offers designer-friendly features, like absurd templates and smart typography, and client proofing galleries, so your customers can review proofs correct on your site. Here are some other amazing designer websites and animated GIF-filled portfolios to check out for inspiration.

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Now that you know how to make a GIF in Photoshop, it's time to get animating!

GIF courtesy of @legionxstudios

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Source: https://www.format.com/magazine/resources/photography/make-gif-in-photoshop

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