[How to] Create animation in photoshop

31. Dec, 2009 0 Comments

Hi, i am sure that you were wondering at least once how to make some animation. The best program for this would be Adobe Flash were you can get small files with good animations.

But, in case you don’t have Adobe Flash, and you have Adobe Photoshop installed on your computer, you will be still able to do it.

Couple days ago i found this very usefull tip on http://creativetechs.com/tipsblog/build-animated-gifs-in-photoshop/, and i will be free to use their pictures.

Example:

This is the animation that we created in Photoshop and we will show you how to do it.

Example photoshop animation

This simple animation combines the two most common animation techniques in Photoshop: Turning layers off and on, and using the Tween command to animate the movement of an object on a layer.

Step 1: Make all the layers

The first thing that you need to do is to make all the layers that are planing to use. I this example 7 layers are used: background, 4 layers of text and 2 for the rocket (rocket and flame)

You can download photoshop file here: ExampleAnimation.psd

Step 2: Choose the visible layers for every frame

Chose Windows > Animation to show Photoshop’s animation palette.

On the first frame, turn off visibility for all layers you do not want visible at the start of your animation. Then add one frame at a time, and turn on the layers you want to be visible for each step in the animation.

Changing layer visibility one frame at a time is a classic Photoshop animation technique that covers a wide variety of needs.

In this example, continue this pattern to reveal the countdown and the flame at the bottom of the rocket.

Step 3: Creating animation frames using Tween

Now that the countdown is complete, we need to create the illusion that our rocket ship is taking off. Add one more frame, and this time select the group called “Rocket” in layers and move your rocket off the top of your image window.

Then choose “Tween…” from the Animation palette’s pop-out menu.

Set how many frames to add, and Photoshop spreads the movement of your layer across those extra frames.

Step 4: Set your timing

Finally, go back through and adjust the delay for each frame of your animation. That time is shown in seconds below each frame.

Tip: You can hold down the Shift-key to select a range of frames (such as the 9 frames we added for the rocket’s takeoff) and change them together.

Step 5: Export the animated GIF

Finally, to export your animated GIF choose:

In Photoshop CS3: File > Save For Web & Devices…

In Earlier Photoshops: File > Save For Web…