Ever wondered how to make GIF in Photoshop? Whenever you spend time on the internet, you have probably come to see an animated GIF. Quite naturally, if you are an editing enthusiast, it must have occurred to you about how to make GIF in Photoshop. GIF is actually an image file that allows you to feature animated images, which makes it seem like the image is moving. It is like a hybrid between a still image and a video.
Like the JPEG or PNG file formats, the GIF format can be used to make still images. But the GIF format has a special feature that it can also be used to create animated images.
In this tutorial, we will provide a few simple and easy steps on how to make GIF in Photoshop. Please note that we are using the Creative Cloud 2015 version of Photoshop, but the steps are the same as other versions.
Steps on how to make GIF in Photoshop
Here is an example of an animated GIF you might make using our tutorial:
Let’s start the procedure on how to make GIF in Photoshop-
Step 1: Upload your images in Photoshop.
If you already have created images….
Gather your images in a separate folder. To upload your images into Photoshop, click “File > Scripts > Load Files into Stack.”
After that, you need to select “Browse”, and choose the files you want to use in your GIF. Then, click on “OK”.
Then Photoshop will create a separate layer for every image you have selected. Once you have completed it, you need to go to next step.
If you do not have the images of previously created…
Create a different Photoshop layer for every frame of animated GIF. For adding a new layer, you need to choose “Layer > New > Layer.”
Be sure to create the name of your layers so that it is helpful to find when you make a GIF. For naming a layer, you need to go to the “Layer panel” which is shown at the bottom right of the screen, then double-click on the default layer name, and type in the name you want to change it to. Press “Enter” when you are finished.
Once you have layers and you have named them all, you are ready for the next step.
Pro Tip: If you need to combine layers so they appear as a single frame in the GIF, select the layers you need to merge and turn on the visibility (by selecting the “eye” to the left of every layer name so only the eyes for the layers you want to merge are open). After that, select “Shift + Ctrl + Alt + E (Windows)” or “Shift + Command + Option + E (Mac)” keys. A new layer is created by Photoshop which has merged content and should also be renamed.
Step 2: To Open the timeline window.
To open up Timeline, you need to go to top navigation and select “Window > Timeline”. The Timeline will help to turn different layers off and on for different periods of time, therefore changing the static image into a GIF.
At the bottom of the screen the Timeline window will show. It is looks like:
Step 3: At the Timeline window, you need to click on “Create Frame Animation.”
If it is not selected automatically, then choose it from the menu – and be sure to click on it, otherwise the frame animation options may not show up.
Now, the Timeline will look like this:
Step 4: For every new frame create a new layer
To create a new layer, first of all you need to select all your layers at the top navigation menu and then click “Select > All Layers.”
After that, click the menu icon on the right of the Timeline screen.
From the dropdown menu that appears, you should choose “Create New layer for Each new frame.”
Step 5: After that open the same menu icon, and then you should click “Make Frames From Layers.”
This will create frame from each layer of your GIF.
Step 6: Now you need to select the timing that each frame should appear for before going to the next frame.
Select the time below of every frame and choose how long you would like it to appear. We always choose 0.5 seconds per frame.
Step 7: After that you need to select how many times you want the layer to loop.
Default looping time is “Once”, but you can change it as by your choice, even as “Forever” also. You should click on “Other” option if you want to specify an exact number of repetitions.
Step 8: By pressing the play button you can see the preview your GIF.
Step 9: Save and export your GIF.
Save your GIF if you are satisfied. Go to the top navigation bar and then click on “File > Export > Save for Web (Legacy)”.
Now, you should select the type of GIF file you want to save. For GIF with gradients, you should choose “Dithered GIFs” to escape color banding. If the image employs lots of solid colors then you may choose no dither.
The number shown beside the GIF file defines how large the GIF colors are and compared to the original PNGs or JPEGs.
Then click “Save” icon at the bottom of the screen to save the file to computer. You are now ready to upload this GIF.
GIFs are not too hard to make. If you have access to Photoshop, you need to spare a few minutes and you can create an animated GIF in very short time.Because GIFs provide a new way to capture peoples’ attention and can have a serious emotional impact. GIFs are easy to consume.You can use it for fun or for your marketing!
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