How to Make a Gif in Photoshop

One of the coolest things I learned when I first got photoshop was how to make a gif image. You may have seen the one on my advertise page on this blog.

If you haven't, here it is:

Cool right? Today I thought I'd share with you how I made it.

First, make a new image in photoshop and then go up to the top toolbar and click "window" and then click "animation." This brings up the menu that you see in the picture below.

Next, draw what you want to appear first. For this example, we're going to draw and arrow going across the image.

You should see the image that you just drew in frame 1 in your animation menu.

Next draw another arrow. Then click the little "new frame" button in your animation frame. It's the same button that you would click to make a new layer in your layer menu. The best way I can describe it is that it looks like peeling off a little post it note.

Now obviously, your arrow isn't jumping across the page yet. Click on frame one and then click on your second arrow in the layer menu and make it invisible (click the little eye next to the layer) and then click on your second frame and make your first arrow invisible. If that's confusing, I hope it will make sense when you are actually making your image.

Essentially, for each new frame, you're going to make a different layer invisible so you get the animation you want. For my testimonial image for my advertise page, I gathered my testimonials and made a new layer for each of them. When they flash through, I simply made a different one visible each time until I cycled through all of them.

In your animation window, you can select how long you want each frame to show. For our example, I did 5 seconds for each. You can also add effects and make them fade from one to the other.

Now you're ready to save your image. Go to file and then "Save for web and devices"

This menu will pop up. Make sure that it says "GIF" where I put a red box.

Then you can name it whatever you want and click save.

And here we are! I know it's a bit confusing at first but I really think if you follow my pictures while you make your own, you shouldn't have any problems! It also takes practice. The first GIF I made took me at least an hour while I played with all the animation options!

What photoshop tutorial would you like to see next?