How to make animation in Photoshop. Creating animation in Adobe Photoshop How to make a GIF using Photoshop

In this article I will talk about what animation is in Photoshop. We'll see how animation works in Photoshop using the example of creating a New Year's banner.

I will be working in Adobe Photoshop CS6. My interface is Russian, since I am writing from work.

I have the English version at home, and I advise you to study with the English version, here's why:

  • You can easily navigate the program in any language (after English in Russian you can easily find tools, because this is your native language, and after Russian you may have problems with adaptation).
  • Most good lessons are written in English.
  • Program localizations often differ from each other, and the quality of interface translation sometimes leaves much to be desired. Incorrect translation of tools can confuse a person beginning to learn the program.

Let's start creating animation in Photoshop CS6

Let's launch Photoshop.

Create a new document File -New (Ctrl+N).

In the window that opens, set the banner dimensions: 600 x 120, let's call it “New Year banner” -> “Ok”.

Creating a background

I select in advance the materials that I will use in my work (backgrounds, fonts, etc.).

Open the prepared texture: Ctrl+O. You can download the texture I use.

Open the layers palette “Layers” – F7.

Select the window with the texture, drag the layer from the layers palette onto the layer with the banner.

If the texture turns out to be too small or very large compared to the banner, adjust its size using the “Ctrl+T” transformation.

Small square markers will appear in the corners of the image. Hold Shift to maintain the aspect ratio as you resize, and drag the corner handle diagonally to reduce or increase the size of the image until the background fills the entire surface of the banner.

After we have adjusted the texture to the size of the banner, we move on to its color correction.

Go to the menu “Image” - “Adjustsments” - “Hue / Saturation” (Image - Correction - Hue / Saturation).

I set the following settings to achieve a bright, saturated color:

We write the text

Create a new layer (Ctrl+Shift+N) or click on the new layer icon in the layers palette.

Select the Horizontal Type Tool (T).

Select a brush with any star, paint with white color #ffffff. To select a color, click on the small square at the bottom of the left panel.

On a new layer, draw stars in random places. To make the stars brighter, click several times in one place. Here's what I got:

Make a duplicate of the layer (Ctrl+J). Click on the eye icon in the layers palette to hide the visibility of the previous layer.

Select the top layer with a copy of the stars. From the left panel, select the Lasso Tool(L).

Select each star in turn, press “V” (Move Tool) and move it to any other place, this way we will have stars in different places in different frames, which will create a flickering effect.

After you move all the stars to another place, create a duplicate of the layer you worked on (Ctrl+J), hide the previous layer in the layers palette by clicking on the eye, and again repeat the operation of moving the stars to new places, you can also finish drawing several new stars.

Thus, we will have 3 layers with stars, in each of which the stars will be in different positions.

All is ready.

Let's move on to creating animation in Photoshop

Open the timeline. Go to the “Window” menu - “Timeline” (Window - Timeline).

In the timeline panel that appears, we find the button in the middle “Create Video Timeline” (Create a timeline for video).

After this, the scale will change appearance. Now click on the icon with three squares in the lower left corner of the window to create a frame-by-frame animation.

The frame-by-frame animation panel has opened. Now there is only one frame in it, in which all visible layers are shown (the contents of the selected frame are shown in the main window on the monitor).

Go to the layers palette - F7. We now need to turn off the top two star layers (click on the eye), leaving only one visible. This will be the first frame.

Go to the layers palette. Turn off the first layer with stars, turn on the second. Thus, in the second frame we will show stars in other places.

Click on the new frame icon again. Turn off the second layer with stars, turn on the third.

Pay attention to the time under each frame, this is the duration of the frame. 5 seconds, which are the default, is too much for us - the animation will slow down, click on the arrow and set the duration of each frame to 0.1 seconds.

In order for the frames to change smoothly, we need to create intermediate frames between the key frames. To do this, being on the first frame, click on the icon with several circles at the bottom of the temporary panel.

In the window that appears, indicate how many intermediate frames we want to create. I'll set it to 2. For all frames except the last one, set it to "Next frame".

Between the first and second keyframes you now have 2 intermediate ones.

Now we stand on the 2nd key frame (now it is the 4th in a row), again click on the icon with circles and create 2 more intermediate frames. Now we just need to close the last and first frames to get a smooth animation.

Select the last frame in the timeline. Click on the circles. In the window that appears, in the “Intermediate frames” line, select “First frame”, add the same 2 frames.

Now, under the frames at the bottom left, we indicate the number of repetitions of the animation “Constantly”.

Select the first frame, press the triangle to the right “Play” to see what happened.

Select the file format to save GIF, click “Save...”, select the directory where we will save, click “Save” again.

So, in this lesson we looked at how to make animation in Photoshop CS6.

I hope you learned something new and useful from this tutorial.

If you have accumulated an impressive collection of series of photographs with several frames of the same scene, you can make GIF animations from them for social networks, personal blog, favorite forums, and so on. The answer to the question of how to make a GIF from a photo in is not that complicated. However, these do not have to be photographs; you can use any images, for example, drawings. Having mastered this technique, you will be able to create unique “live” cards, collages and other interesting things. This activity is extremely exciting.

Step 1: select and prepare photos

It is better to choose photographs with the same background and with a composition where the main subject is approximately the same scale. The overall dimensions of the images should also not be too different, as this may affect the quality. It's better to take 3-5 photos. It is possible to work with a large number, but it is more difficult. For the first time, it is better to do the simplest option to practice.

We took three photographs of the girl with different sizes and scales, Fig. 1, so first we will do the preparatory work:

1. Crop the photos using the “Frame” tool so that the position of the model is approximately the same, Fig. 2.

2. Our photos are too big - more than 2 thousand pixels in width, it will be difficult to work with animation, so let's change the width of all three to 500 pixels, the height will be selected automatically. This can be done through the “Correction” menu, then “Image Size”. It turned out like this, Fig. 3, although their sizes are still different, but we will fix this later.

3. You can enhance your photos a bit using the Levels setting, or increase the saturation using the Hue/Saturation submenu. Both settings are found in the Image and Adjustments menus.

Step 2: combine all photos into one image

1. Open the “Layers” window.

2. Select a photo that will be the first frame of the animation. Using the “Move” tool, drag an image from another photo onto it, after which two layers appear, Fig. 4.

3. Open the “Edit” menu and select “Free Transform”. We adjust the size of the second layer to the first.

4. We transfer the third photo in the same way, now the main image consists of three layers, Fig. 5, it is better to close the remaining photos so that they do not interfere.

Step 3: Make a GIF Animation

1. Open the Window menu and select Animation. A window with a scale will appear, where the first frame will be added automatically. If instead of frames you have a timeline open, then click the icon in the lower right corner of the animation window.

2. Open the animation settings by clicking on the icon in the upper right corner of the same window (under the cross to close), select “Create frames from layers” - all your frames will appear on the scale, Fig. 6.

3. Now forget about the “Layers” window, we work only with the animation scale. Press SHIFT and, while holding the key, select all frames with the mouse. You can do this through the settings by clicking “Select all frames”. Change the playback time of frames, this option is located under the preview of each of them and looks like a number with an arrow. We set it to 0.5 seconds.

4. In the lower menu of the window, select “Constantly” or another playback method, if necessary.

5. Click Play and see what happens. If necessary, you can swap frames by dragging with the mouse.

Step 4: Save the GIF

After you have successfully made a gig animation in Photoshop, you need to save it correctly; this is done in a special way.

1. Select from the “File” menu not “Save As” as usual, but “Save for Web and Devices” just below.

2. A settings window will open. It is better to leave them as default, changing only the size of the animation at the bottom of the window. We set the width to 300, the height was determined automatically. You can simply specify a percentage of the original image size. Fig.7.

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To use the video import tool in Adobe Photoshop CS3, you must install Quick Time Player version 7.1 or higher.

To import frames from a video, click "File > Import > Video Frames to Layers..." and select the file on your computer.

If you receive a message during import that the format is not supported, the video will need to be converted to ".mp4" format. I recommend using a free converter. In it, you can immediately cut out the desired fragment of the video, so as not to convert the entire file. If you are using Photoshop CS3, after converting, change the extension ".mp4" to ".mov".

After selecting a file on your computer, an import dialog should appear. If you want to animate only a portion of the video, set the switch to the "Selected range only" position.

If you are using Photoshop CS3, set the slider to the beginning of the fragment, hold down the "Shift" key and drag the slider to the end of the desired fragment.

If you have Photoshop CS6 installed, use the black sliders to indicate the beginning and end of the fragment.

Check the box next to "Leave each" and specify the video frame sampling rate. Example: if the video has a frame rate of 30 frames per second, and you enter the value "5", then the animation frame rate will be 30 / 5 = 6 frames per second, that is, the higher the number, the rarer the frames (the smaller the size of the animation).

Turn on the timeline by clicking the Window > Animation menu command in Photoshop CS3 or Window > Timeline in Photoshop CS6.

On the animation scale, click on the first frame, hold down the "Shift" key and click on the last frame. Select the desired frame delay time from the list, thus setting the animation playback speed. To view the result, use the player buttons.

Click "File > Save for Web..." (Photoshop CS6) or "File > Save for Web & Devices..." (Photoshop CS3). Select "GIF" format. If desired, you can reduce or increase the size of the image by changing the values ​​in pixels or as a percentage of the original size.

Hello friends, I want to continue the topic of creating GIFs. Here I will look at a way to create GIF animation in Photoshop, a well-known program and, I hope, you know about it. Let's take a couple of images as an example, as well as a video. Now you will learn how to make a GIF in Photoshop, let's go.

How to make a GIF from pictures in Photoshop

First of all, let’s select pictures to suit your taste. Let's launch Photoshop. In the top right menu, click the icon where we select the desired working environment. In our case it is called "Movement". Depending on the version of Photoshop, it may be called by a different name.

A timeline appears. You need to transfer several images there. This can be done by clicking on the videotape on the scale. Click on it and a drop-down menu opens, where we select the item "Add objects".


The loaded images on the scale need to be narrowed down so that the animation speed is faster; if left as is, the next image will appear in a minute at best. To narrow the time given to one picture, click on its edge and move it to the left. We do this with everyone.



To make the cycle endless, click on the gear and check the box "Playback loop".

Don't like how the images just appear one after another? Then you can add transitions and motion effects to them. Let's start with the second image. Select it on the timeline. Click on the square next to the scissors, indicating transitions. Select any of the transitions and drag it onto the picture.

To add a motion effect to a frame, you need to right-click on the image and select any of the effects and customize them for yourself.

Now you can see what came of it.

To save the gif, click on “File” and select “Export”, select the option in this menu "Save for Web".

We are waiting for the gif to be processed. To reduce its size, you can work with the resolution and other parameters. In real time, you can monitor the changes in the GIF, for example, whether the quality is worse or better, and whether the size has changed.


Once everything is configured, press the button "Save" and choose the path.

In addition, you can add music and other effects to the timeline, and then save it as a video. To do this, you need to click on the rotated arrow at the bottom, called “Export video”.

A window will open where we select the parameters: size, frame rate, quality and video size. The settings are clear if Photoshop is localized for you. You can also not go into details and immediately save the result. Therefore, click the “Render” button.


Click on the “File” section at the top and select the “Import” tab. Select a parameter “Video frames into layers”.

A window opens where we select a video. Another window will appear. There you can select the entire video, or a certain range. The “Create frame-by-frame animation” checkbox should also be checked.

Next, play with the parameters on the timeline, as in the first case, and then click “File” - “Export” - "Save for Web". I note that a large video can take a very long time to process, especially with weak hardware.

Since I chose a large video with a resolution of 1920x1080, the size came out to 200 MB, which is very bad. By reducing the resolution by half, I achieved a gif size of 50 MB. Of course, you can still play with the settings, but the smaller the size of the GIF animation, the worse its quality.


Save the gif using the corresponding button.

Well, that's all, you saved and learned how to create GIFs in Photoshop from pictures and videos. If you have any questions, write in the comments.

Important note. If you need to quickly create simple animation from several frames in Photoshop, go to the lesson - .


I have been interested in stop-motion animation for quite a long time, although I have studied little material. All the books I started reading were quite long, difficult and “dry”.

Therefore, after I began to understand a little about the technology of creating animations, I began to look for ways to bring them to life using Photoshop.

Many people advised me to switch to other programs (for example, TVP Animation Pro), but I, not wanting to adapt to the new interfaces of other programs, decided to do everything in Photoshop.

And I wrote this lesson specifically for those who did not understand the technology of creating frame-by-frame animations specifically in Photoshop. Who didn’t want to dig a little and understand what’s what?


I will touch on two topics: short animations and long ones. You should not scroll through the type of animations that are not interesting to you: there may be information there that will be useful to you for animations of the type you need.


Short animations– these are animated avatars, emoticons, etc.

Long animations– these are cartoons, videos, etc.


First I will tell you the theory and then we will create animation in practice.

Important addition

Many people ask: “Why is my animation so jerky, why is my character/object moving fast/slow?”
The answer is: your character/object moves fast because you drew few frames.

Your character/object is moving slowly because you drew a lot of frames.

Your character/object is jerking because you didn't follow the previous movement and drew the next one, which is not consistent with the previous one.


Remember: in one second 24 frame!


So when you get ready to create your animation, remember: 24 frame = 1 second, 24 frame = 1 second. Never forget this very important detail.

Short animations

I think you have often come across animations on avatars, animated emoticons.
Some emoticons are made in Flash, but I draw mine in Photoshop. Don't think that such short animations are easy to make. On the one hand, yes, they are small in size, but on the other hand, while you draw these 15 -30 frames, you'll get busy (imagine, if you want to create a three-minute clip, then you'll have to do 4320 frames!).

What should you remember and know?

Let's say you wanted to draw a girl with wind-blown hair for your avatar. Means:


Firstly, hair is not cardboard - under the influence of a moderate wind, it will form transverse waves.


This is roughly how it is shown in the diagram:


Under the influence of a strong wind, the hair will be almost straight, but your character will have to close his eyes tightly and grab onto something to avoid being blown away, since in reality few people can withstand such wind. although this type of animation can be used when your character is riding a bike, for example.


And finally, a gentle breeze gently lifts and lowers your hair.



Light wind:


Medium wind:


Strong wind:


The same applies to fabric and clothing - they will behave in much the same way as hair.


And now, for example, you wanted to draw an animation with the movement of your character and object. Means:


Secondly, any action begins somewhere. Have you ever noticed that, for example, to get up from a chair, you first move it a little and lean forward a little, and only then get up? or that when you want to make a hit with the racket, you first move it away and turn your body with it, and only then make a blow?

There are a huge bunch of such examples, but it’s better to look:

To avoid getting into trouble with these movements before actions(DPD), analyze and observe the movements of people or animals more often.

Small addition

In general, never forget about physics. The weight of objects, the materials from which they are made (elasticity, softness, hardness, etc.), all this is needed.

Realize that without this, your animation will be dead, terrible and ugly!

Better work on it and never rush.

Long animations

Oooh, this is where the fun begins!


Have you often, while watching cartoons or anime, admired animation and envied those who know how to make them? All these wonderful scenes, plastic movements and much more. etc.? I honestly admit - yes. Every time I watch something, I try to understand how the animators worked with it? How did they create all this?


But, due to the fact that I don’t know what programs they work in, I’m trying to understand the whole process using Photoshop mechanisms.

And you know, I find answers to all my questions!


But let's take everything in order.

The process of creating a long animation

1. Initially we need an IDEA

For example, you decided to make a short video in which several girls will dance.

If you are a seasoned animator, you can “make someone dance” in your video from 3 and more girls.

But at the beginning of your animator’s journey, it’s better to limit yourself to one or two.

2. Now you need to create a scene-by-scene storyboard (RPS)

What is it and what is it eaten with?


Imagine a movie. Now imagine the number of different views from different cameras. Close-up, landscape, camera following the character...


It's okay when there aren't so many of them. But when we make a whole clip there may be more of them 30 things!
That's why smart animators use such a wonderful thing that looks like a lined book.

In it they depict scenes.

Only some draw one scene in each section of the table, then another, a third, etc., while others draw images in each section of the table after a few seconds (I apologize if I didn’t explain it clearly).



It’s also very convenient that you can do it on the side of the description, otherwise, sometimes you draw it, then after a while you look at it and don’t understand - what did I depict here?


So we take note of this storyboard for the scenes and use these books.
You don’t even have to make a book, but simply create a large file in Photoshop and draw all the scenes there.

3. Now you need to come up with a background, character concept and movement

We draw the movements in the RPS book.

If you have more than one scene in a video, you will have to draw several different backgrounds. Draw them in separate files.
And remember one thing - the background does not appear out of thin air. So if you want the camera to kind of move to the side, then the background should be there too. those. you will have to draw the background in length (or width, or maybe both) more.

Then you design the look of your character and start creating the animation.

Moving from theory to practice

From now on, let’s think a little about the IDEA and, in general, about the point “The process of creating animation.” What am I talking about? Moreover, now you will need a guinea pig whom you will force to move. We won't make a video in which 4320 frames. The best and easiest way to understand is how to create a frame-by-frame animation using 24 -72 - frame animation.


Well, let's begin!


1. Let's create a new document. For my animation I took a small size - 400 x 500 px.


2. Now, if you don't have a window at the bottom left " Animation", look up, open the tab " Window» - « Animation».*


* - The examples use the Russified version Photoshop CS2.


In the screenshot above we see the animation window in which there is the first frame, below it is a small panel on which the buttons are located:

Always/once- by selecting “Always” you will loop the animation. If you select Once, the animation will only play once. (In my lesson there are both versions of animations: looped - where the principle of DPD is shown, reproduced once - where the scene change is shown).

Select first frame- takes us back to the very beginning.

Selects the previous frame- Let's not call Cap. (=

Plays animation/Stops animation- Play/Stop.

Selects next frames- next frame. Your Cap!

Tweens animation frames- using this button we can add smooth transitions between two frames by adding new ones.

Duplicates selected frames- not quite the correct name... It would be better to say “Adding a new frame”.

Deletes selected frames- basket.


3. Now we can start drawing. To do this, place the background you created earlier on Background(Background/Background).


4. Then create a new layer (Ctrl+Shift+Alt+N) and draw your character on it.

4. Now comes the hard part: we need to draw the same character many times in a row in different poses.


We create a new frame, and... There are two options:

A) Either you start drawing your character anew each time, or...

B) Copy the previous layer and change it (you finish drawing and erasing, rather than using transformation! You will rarely need such a tool, I’ll write later when).


Once you get some training in animation, you can use both options painlessly. (You can try each of them in a separate document).

Option A:

1. We drew our first frame.

2. To see how to change the next one, we reduce the layer's opacity to about 30% and create a new layer on which we already draw a rabbit for the second frame.

3. We finish drawing the second frame and turn off the visibility of the previous, first layer.


Option B:

1. Create a frame with the character and make this layer invisible.

2. Then duplicate it (Ctrl+J) by dragging the layer onto the “Create a new layer” button to the left of the trash can.

3. Now we make the second layer visible and begin to change it.

Thus, by duplicating the previous layer, you create new frames and change them, and not the same one.


5. We sit and draw frames 10 -15 ...


6. And let's see what happened.


It turned out to be a running rabbit.

Moreover, not a single part of it is copied: each frame is drawn anew.


See for yourself:


When creating an animation, you should remember that it is quite difficult to switch between hundreds of layers, and therefore you should not put off painting or changing anything until later. Do it right away.

Almost the end

Above I made a reservation about the tool ().
It is worth using it when, for example, you want to zoom the camera away, bring it closer, rotate it, etc. (If you only need to move the background, use video editors, it will be easier for you). Don't use distortion, tilt, or other transformation tools unnecessarily.



And, after we have saved our gif-animation as video file format .avi, for example, you can safely go to Windows Live Film Studio.
From there, do whatever your heart desires with your clip.


And then you can upload your clip to youtube.com and enjoy the work you've done.



THANK YOU VERY MUCH for your attention, Lero-art was with you. Excuse me for the tongue-tiedness, strange presentation and other flaws in the lesson, if any. All of them are due to the fact that thoughts are confused, and words do not form sentences...

But I hope you learned something new and interesting for yourself!