Firstly, I’m not very good at this, nor is this the only way to do this and you can probably find better tutorials on the internet, but this is how I make/edit GIFs
N.B. I use Adobe Photoshop CS2 and ImageReady CS2
#Making a GIF
Setting up Photoshop
When you load photoshop with the default tools, you will probably see this.
However, to make a GIF, you need to be able to switch frames. To do that you go to Window, then find the tab called Animation and click it.
What you will find is this, of course, the storyboard would be empty if this was a new document.
Now that you’ve got this up,you’re set to go.
’Animating’
Now you’ve got photoshop set up, it’s time to ‘animate’
Making a GIF is similar to making a stop motion animation, you take a freeze frame of an object, move it a little, then take another freeze frame.
So I’ve started a new document. Here, I will make the word LOL spin. Of course you could do more advanced stuff, but this was the first GIF I ever made 7 years ago on Macromedia Fireworks (similar to photoshop) in school.
So as we can see, there’s only one frame. Making a new frame is exactly like making a new layer, just press the button
It will then make a new frame.
Now that you’ve got a new frame, you’ll need to make a duplicate of the layer you are moving.
Why? Because of this.
Note how the first frame has also been edited. To make simple animations in photoshop you need many layers.
Now of course, there are exceptions. Note below the number of frames I have and the number of layers. Changing the opacity, does not affect the first frame. This is how I managed to make my fade in GIF for the CRX with so little layers.
Moving onwards, now that you’ve got your duplicate layer, you can edit the image all you like until you’ve got your finished product.
Here’s the finished storyboard for my spinning ‘LOL’ but of course, you could replace this with a spinning car or something else.
Now if you want to save it, you have to save it for the web, since saving it normally as a GIF will not work
You will then be greeted by this screen. To save it as a GIF, press save at the top and Bob’s your Uncle, its done!
Applying this to your Automation Cars would look like this:
or even this.
#Editing a GIF
Editing a preexisting GIF is slightly more difficult, but is essentially the same as making your own GIF.
Firstly, opening a GIF:
If you try to open a GIF into photoshop directly, you are greeted with this. Just a still frame.
To open a GIF properly with all the frames, you need to open it in ImageReady first. (Im not sure how to do it without ImageReady though)
As you can see, unlike in photoshop, you can see all the frames and layers. Then you need to move it to photoshop.
This will move the GIF to photoshop, and now, you will see this.
Now it has all the frames and you can go about making it your own!. For this one, I’ll make a car move across the screen.
Basically, do the same as you would if you were making your own GIF, and you’ll end up with something like this…yes it is terrible, but I did make this in about 5 minutes.
If you want an example of something that took more time and effort, heres one I made earlier today!
Hope you found this helpful!