Simple GIF Animation - Photoshop Tutorial

This is a tutorial teaching the basics of animating and making gifs in adobe photoshop cc. There are two ways to animate in photoshop. The first way is to animate everything frame by frame, using this technique you can create smoother and more interesting animations but it's far more time intensive. The second way to animate a gif in photoshop is to create a video timeline. By converting photoshop layers to smart objects you're given control of where elements are placed and photoshop will fill in the movement by itself. By only creating two key frames photoshop will make the elements of your gif on it's own. I hope you enjoy the tutorial and get some useful tips out of it. This animation tutorial is not meant to be an in-depth tutorial but rather teach you the fundamental process so you can use the information to work on and build your own projects. To be able to explore the limits of photoshop's animating abilities on your own.
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[@zimrimayfield]

Hey guys! This tutorial hopefully shows the very basics of animating with the video timeline in Photoshop! Hope it's useful to some, have a nice weekend : )

[@ishitachandra2261]

which shortcut key do you use to create key-frame after you tilted the body?

[@brittanywinston9227]

this is cool, .. is there a benefit to animation frame by frame in photoshop, to achieving this result in after effects ?

[@lilyjones2811]

Hey Zimri, how do I make a smart object break down into its individual components when transferring objects from Illustrator to Photoshop for this? I made objects in Illustrator to make into GIFS, but when I import them in Photoshop as a smart object it just clumps it all together. Also, what button do you push to get the second little placer on the timeline after you push the stopwatch? For example, at 2:13 after you pushed the stop watch you then moved his body to look downwards, then pushed another button to get the white little marker you see at 2

[@1notnilc]

​@@lilyjones2811- You need to drag each element of your object (that you want to animate) from illustrator to Photoshop. This will bring them in on separate layers in your Photoshop document. For example. A head, body, the arms and a background each on individual layers. For the placer. You just mouse click where you want it. Hope you don't mind me jumping in! :)

[@clemencemira2533]

you're so fun! thank you!

[@cassandrafountaine9857]

This is a great tutorial! I'm just getting started with animating and after watching this I'm super excited.Thank you!

[@garyofdonny]

Once I got the hang of selecting/making smart objects - even though I had smart objects in place - this has made better sense. Great, thank you.

[@jaseylove]

That's so dope! Learned a bunch of stuff(s) there - thanks.

[@zimrimayfield]

Yayyy! That's so great to hear : D

[@Bad_Chad]

This is amazing stuff. Thank you for the time and effort!

[@aaronfree8825]

This guy is hilarious and helpful. This is an amazing tutorial!!!

heeeey! I really loved who you explained and how fun you are!! super entertaining and useful! big thanks

[@sisan881]

Great tutorial! Learned a lot! Can't stop smiling - you must have had a great time making it 🤗 😄 👏

[@Kudoobs]

I’ve never laughed so hard watching a tutorial!

[@Elizabeth-vq6mb]

This was INCREDIBLY helpful, thanks so much!

[@catieclapper6079]

this is the funniest informational tutorial i have watched LOL

[@danielraygoza9110]

This is me every time I do a GIF I just have fun with it and it flows a lot better, lovely tutorials DO IT AGAIN BOOOOOOOOM XD !!!! I Love me some donuts

[@cjlorenzdimalaluan6083]

love your energy!!!

[@nb08]

Yeah, this was needed so much. Thanks Zim

[@zimrimayfield]

You're welcome Nishant! GLad it was helpful to you : )

[@magicksecrets]

yeeesss!! finally new video and this topic i really wanted to learn! Thank you so much, Zimri!

[@zimrimayfield]

Yayy! haha you're welcome, i'm glad this one was useful!! : D

[@zofa_rf]

thank you soo much I followed along your tutorial and tried making hair move and it was pretty fluid and nice!

[@MicahBuzanANIMATION]

So much you can do with loops. The principles are good for limited animation or music videos too.

[@aminroopranjit]

This is such a cool tutorial! Learnt so many cool things! :) Thank you Zimri!

[@acejamelo6227]

Heeeey ZIMRIIIII!! Thanks for the tutorials! You're my insipiration! Keep up keeping up!

[@rjohnson5301]

Thanks for this video! Definitely helped me for my future project of a small video promotion clip!

[@dentdelions]

your voice and the way you deliver is so fun... thank u

[@misspapendick]

Very useful, thanks a million!!

[@shandy_6733]

I looking for this tutorial !! Thanks for the tip ur video esay to understand

[@jeffre4395]

Very useful tutorial, thanks a lot

[@ponethone]

Thank you! This was so much fun! I also learned a lot.😂

[@samlaunders]

This video made me super happy! Cheers dude :)

[@kawther7786]

soo useful! thank you for this amazing tutorial! :)

[@zimrimayfield]

awwwww yeah! You're welcome, i'm glad it was useful!

[@agitoart4961]

dude this is a great tutorial thanks

[@Artbyvidhya]

This was really very helpful. Gonna go try on my Illustration.

[@ATLaracheClub]

That was very informative, as well as fun! Had a grin on my face at the end, haha. 😁

[@tzeearn]

Love thiss

[@topjimmythe1]

Awesome! Super easy to follow along and taught in regular-guy speech!

[@sayalirane3231]

Bruh u r the most nicest teacher on the internet.

[@merylsigaton2938]

this tutorial was legit fun! thank youuu for enjoying 'cause we did too

[@DragonFireTwin]

I love your tutorial 😍👏👏👏

[@mikesheehan5946]

Superb as usual. I always enjoy your tutorials and had no idea photoshop could do this... Reminds me of the stickman animations I used to make in Macromedia Flash with tweens!

[@zimrimayfield]

Hey Mike! haha yesss! I'm sure those stick figures were epic : )

[@danielsibianul]

Thanks that was super helpful!

[@DominikSusila]

Very cool design Zimri! I like it a lot!

[@3JBCel]

I like your tutorial.. i needed this for creating background for my blog.. thank you man, more power

[@gonzalocruz380]

Your tutorials are really amazing! Greetings form Mexico City.

[@angelicationgson4785]

You deserve more views 💕💕 You're amaaziiinggg

[@DiegoMendezMessias]

man! this tutorial was very funny and usefull hahaha. The spontanious "mistakes" were the best, cause thats happen in real life: sometimes you are designin and stranger things happens to you and you dont know why or how

[@ImARainbowLlama]

Love your energy ahah

[@AvaDellamar]

Great tutorial!

[@johnsmith-sq1kn]

very nice tutorial. Thanks you.

[@Heartshackles]

Thank you, this helps me!

[@Armin-Academy]

Your tutorial has added to the best Photoshop tips playlist so far in our channel, well done! 👈✅ 👌⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

[@madonnaj4197]

This is By Far! The best tutorial I have seen on this topic. Would you be open to creating one on Insta stories? Like how to animate text with accompanying images. Would love to learn how to create a basic template etc. tutorial on

[@zimrimayfield]

Hey! aww I appreciate that! : ) That would be an interesting idea! : ) I'll definitely think about it, thanks for leaving the comment, you're awesome!

[@girlychams]

I would watch this!!

[@PinkCoffie]

Gosh you are so funny 😂😂 😂Thanks for the tut, super handy! 👌

[@elfwriterbluemoon2244]

Very cool 💪

[@lachauntiswashington231]

thank you so much for this

[@StraightToWeb]

Super helpful! I think this is the clearest I've found on keyframing animations in PS. Stay weird!

[@zimrimayfield]

Heyy Dustin, thanks man - i'm glad it came across clearly : ) Lol i'll try : P

[@saimun847]

Awesome ..... :) Love to see ....

[@bhuwnanaik3425]

this tutorial was fun...😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣👌i loved it... i had fun while learning... you are awsm 😜✌

[@aidenhill4265]

Thank you this video was amazballs

[@rojanshrestha5103]

That was very helpful. Thank you for taking the time to make such a detailed tutorial. :)

[@zimrimayfield]

Heya Rojan! You're welcome man, i'm glad you found it useful!

[@rojanshrestha5103]

Could you please do more tutorials on infographics? It would be very helpful. Thanks!

[@tolokaearnmoney4645]

Your video is really creative and your voice sounds good too. I really enjoyed. Thank you.

[@rzor84]

Great tutorial, i hope you get them donuts!

[@sanpls]

Nice gif creation

[@Turtlenaide]

I learned so much

[@sumonsarkar03]

great man.

[@OsamaElgebaly]

amazing :D :D thank you Zimri

[@zimrimayfield]

You're welcome Osama! Glad you found it useful! : D

[@Ivory_Schmetterling]

It's so much like the animation process in After Effects (kinda, I guess???) Great tutorial Zim! :)

[@zimrimayfield]

Heyyy yes, it's very similar - it seems like it's much harder to make a smoother motion though - I don't think there's an automatic "easy-ease" you could apply to the motion like in after effects : P

[@camilalau5477]

This was awesome! You're so funny

[@shubhammishra7922]

you are the best sir

[@dimensanikay]

Can you please show us how to save the animation. I’m getting a lot of difficulty while doing that

[@Cinephiles_inc]

2019 ?

[@tienshing1199]

Hi Zim! May I know where can I get the icons?

[@FloatingM]

if i try to render as video it just shows me loading aero so i need to do web(legacy) help !

[@felicitasfalke]

You are so funny!! Nice animation! 🤗

[@lykstorres]

New sub here hahahaha this is helpful and funny 😂

[@adamalsen3881]

Hillarious and helpful... Thanks man... How about exporting into a file size suitable for a website???

[@candicebell9752]

is there any way you can help me - I keep getting an unknown error after I save - Adobe says update to latest CC version which I have done - twice - same error. can save gif, but can render a video - but some platforms need gif not video... I was able to do the gif last week based on your awesome tutorial. thanks

[@valerieklosky5559]

any way to get these files....I would like to try this activity with students

[@aarond9563]

This is why I don't do animation. It took me like a week to do a 10 second animation haha. But yes this was incredibly helpful.

[@yokensin7244]

Hi Zimri, cool tutorial! Btw, can you also teach how to export it to Animation Gif?

[@MrFisharoo]

choose file/export/save for web (legacy).. top right second box select gif, bottom right looping options select 'forever'. (shortcut cmd+option+shift+s for mac, ctrl+alt+shift+s for pc)

[@anosjc]

yeah he should have explained that

[@OliverGomez1138]

I had no idea David Spade was so good at making PS tutorials!

[@sinthujanvinacithamby1901]

is there a tutorial for cutting the images first before animating them ?

[@roja100]

you're too funny !! Like it like it :)

[@medessunnymedsaleme7176]

The problem is how to save it as a GIF, Thank you the video was really helpful!

[@carlosfernandes1441]

Render it first in Adobe Media Encoder and automatically it will be saved as a gif in it's specified AME folder. Later you can open it in photoshop and export it to save for web, saving for web will reduce the file size.

[@psk1461]

The dooonutzz!!

[@heathjohnston4098]

lmaooo very helpful and idea producing video thank you

[@mennareda9511]

so good and creative! but I think the guy doesn't surprised enough

[@zimrimayfield]

haha yeah - he could have had a more exaggerated surprise!

[@mennareda9511]

yeah, maybe step back or fall on the ground but I think you meant a simple tut. I really wanna thank you for teaching us a lot and like your comedy scent haha.

[@adryeanathaboe7700]

I kinda wanted to see the end result

[@felicitasfalke]

I subscribed :)

[@haiellan.8886]

idk but the way you made this tutorial turned me on hahahahah

[@nadia.szegecs]

6:54!!!!! 😂🤣🤣🤣 Then 7:04 "So now what happens next is the donuts' need to come flying out! 😁🤓🍩" hahaha!

[@PhilTravisano]

I don't usually say things like this, but when you got excited at the end about all those donuts, I said, "This guy is so high!" Munchie animation! ... I don't really believe that, though. Nice work.

[@kimisalim3670]

My photoshop version is cs5 and i have a problem with converting it to smart object. I dont know why but eventhough i converted it the option transform wont appear can you help me with this?

[@kevinchaiken4253]

Are you able to use Illustrator instead of Photoshop?

[@jorj1758]

Im doing the exact same as you but my object doesn't move smoothly

[@Synceditxboxoffice]

❤

[@moniquecatubig]

how do you export it?

[@offzone1199]

Subbed

[@lilyjones2811]

Hey Zimri, how do I make a smart object break down into its individual components when transferring objects from Illustrator to Photoshop for this? I made objects in Illustrator to make into GIFS, but when I import them in Photoshop as a smart object it just clumps it all together. Also, what button do you push to get the second little placer on the timeline after you push the stopwatch? For example, at 2:13 after you pushed the stop watch you then moved his body to look downwards, then pushed another button to get the white little marker you see at 2:18.

[@zimrimayfield]

Hey Lily :) yeah okay this is what I would do. It might be time intensive and annoying to copy and paste every separate piece from illustrator into photoshop then position them correctly, so instead I would: save your illustrator file as a .psd. If you didn’t know you could do this it’s very helpful. In illustrator, go File > Export > Export as. Then choose photoshop (psd) from the options. Then make sure the “write layers” option is on, so your stuff doesn’t get flattened into one layer. Then you can open the saved file in photoshop. If all your elements were on different layers in illustrator then they will also be on different layers when opened in photoshop. Then go through and convert your layers into smart objects. There may be a faster or easier way to accomplish the goal, but I’d have to look into it more :))) lemme know if it works or you find a better solution :D

[@lilyjones2811]

@@zimrimayfield Thank you for your response! Unfortunately I have tried this as well. For some reason it keeps grouping each individual thing I make (I have 5 fish on an illustrator artboard). It recognizes them as separate fish, but won't break down these layers any further, even after ungrouping them.

[@Desktopgremlins-papercraft]

What about the SAVING aspect of this? How big was that GIF when you saved it? A lot of times if you are doing an animated GIF for a client, where it will be shown has some sort of FILE SIZE limit. Does this animation save as like a tween? Or does it convert to frames and then bloat up file size?

[@uulili]

I found a solution: File - Export - Save for Web(Legacy), then at the popup window, change the preset to GIF and click save, you'll get the gif file. I believe there're much more settings to control the size in the popup window as well.

[@citraaprilia6652]

i love ur video! but i dont have the same timeline as yours i dont know why, it's only frame by frame timeline... help please?

[@zimrimayfield]

Hi Citra! Thank youu : ) Okay, when you open the "Time Line" window you can click on a button next to where it says "Create Frame Animation" and click a little drop down and select the other video timeline option. Go to 0:29 in the video : ) I hope that helps, or maybe you figured it out already! Thanks : )

[@citraaprilia6652]

Thanks for your reply! but there still no such options like that, maybe because i'm not using the extended version of photoshop? (i'm using the CS6 version) and couldn't figure it out how to make it to extended version :(

[@israelbhc]

what's your photoshop version? is it a old version?

[@mil6879]

im creating a pixel like this and mine is bluring out i dont know why

[@warangproduction9759]

How do we upload to fb??

[@zimrimayfield]

Hey just go "save for web" - then select the GIF file type : )

[@subarulovesyoutoo4388]

When I want to learn Blender, they teach you how to make a donut. When I want to learn how to animate in PS, they teach me how to fly a donut. Donut everywhere.