Tutorial Making professional quality gifs in photoshop

Inori · 04-20-2015, 10:08 PM

I learned how to make gifs in photoshop from a friend in Geo last Friday.
I refined his technique and made a few additions of my own.

Let's get on with it, shall we?

[spoiler=Step 1: Timeline]
First, you need to display the Timeline toolbar. It can be found near the bottom of the Window tab.
[Image: 0Pbdwdb.png]

After you enable it, you should get something that looks like this:
[Image: dYua6ZL.png]

[/spoiler]

[spoiler=Step 2: Open your subject]
Next step is pretty standard; open your base of choice. I chose the base I used for my avatar.
[Image: ERG8SRH.png]

[/spoiler]

[spoiler=Step 3: Layer spam]
Simple enough, just duplicate your image a dozen or more times. (one per frame)
[Image: jAg2dg5.png]

[/spoiler]

[spoiler=Step 4: Edit your layers]
Do your regular photoshop wizardry to get the desired effect for each layer, your first frame on the bottom. Then, make every layer except the bottom one invisible (actually EXTREMELY important).
[Image: l5QdZM7.png]

*
*This is for demonstration of what NOT to do.
[/spoiler]

[spoiler=Step 5: Frames]
For the first frame, just hit the "New Frame" button. For every frame after that, toggle the visibility for the previous layer and the one you want to display until you get to the top. Kind of like a really slow domino effect.
[Image: 25xNKbW.png]

[/spoiler]

[spoiler=Step 6: Timing]
If you want all frames to last the same amount of time, select them all, click the dropdown on one of them and enter your value under custom. If you want separate times, you have to do it manually.
[Image: Pdm4cMt.png]

[/spoiler]

[spoiler=Step 7: Saving]
Under file, click "Save for web" instead of save as. You should get a shitty looking, not-very-adobe-like page. Just mess around with the settings for a while until you're satisfied. If it doesn't play like you think it should, check your steps.
[Image: cn9ZHmf.png]