Make an Animated GIF from a Video in Photoshop CS5

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Have you ever seen those funny GIF animations from videos and wished you could make them too? Now you can make them easily! Just follow this guide to making them in Photoshop CS5.

Steps

  1. Once you're in Photoshop, go to "File" and then "Import." Click on "Video Frames to Layers" (This can only be done in Photoshop version CS5 (32 bits) or newer versions. Mac users do this by going to going to Finder-->Applications-->Photoshop CS5-->Photoshop CS5 right click and select get info. There should be a check box there to open in 32 bits).
    • Select your video and click on "Load". Make sure that it is a video that can play in Photoshop. The formats supported are .MOV, .AVI, .MPG, .MPEG, and .MP4.
  2. Check the appropriate selections under "Range To Import". To select only a few frames, check "Selected Frames Only." This option will allow your GIF to be converted much faster. The size/layers will also be smaller so that you can easily edit the GIF. If you do this, move the slider in the video to your starting point, then hold shift and drag towards the ending point to ensure that a section has been highlighted.
    • Your video will now be converted into layers so you can make it into a GIF.
    • If you have a high frame rate video (over 60 frames per second) then check "Limit to Every [x] frames" and type a number in place of 'x'.
    • This will select every 'x'th frame which will make conversion faster and image size lower (and lower quality) by dividing frame rate by 'x'. You would want a frame rate of around 15-30.
    • Then continue by clicking 'OK'
  3. Go to "Window" and check "Animation."
    • Go to the animation area and trim any unnecessary frames until your animation is looking the way you want it. This is also the time to add any new frames. Remember that if the amount of frames is low, the size will be smaller and it will take less time to load when you post it on a website.
    • Check the time of the animation as shown on the screenshot at the right. Bigger numbers means slower animations that run less smoothly.
  4. Go the bottom left on the animation frames and check "Forever." This will ensure you that the animation will loop forever.
  5. Go to the "Rectangle marquee tool" on the upper left of the left toolbar. Make a selection on the section you want to focus on. Go to "Image" and click on "crop". This will reduce the image to only the that was highlighted as your area of focus.
  6. Reduce the image size of the video. To do this go to "Image," then "Image Size" and choose the new dimensions. It's recommended that you pick out the right size as doing otherwise could make your GIF look odd. You generally want to choose half the dimensions of the original GIF.
    • Go to "Image" and click on "Crop." This will crop unnecessary space from the picture and will lay focus on your subject of the animation.
    • Add or make any final changes. Your animation should be done now.
  7. Go to "File" and click on " Save for Web & Devices." This will optimize your image.
  8. Change the setting to "GIF" to make sure it's animated. Look to see if the animation appears correct in your browser by clicking "Preview" at the left bottom. If you want to change anything, you can always click " Cancel" and go back to Photoshop. *Note that the settings in the GIF menu apply compression. A lower file size will load faster in a browser but may look bad. Gif compresses by throwing away colours as you can see if you experiment with the settings. It's useful to choose "2 up" on the upper tabs of the save for web dialog box. This allows a view of "before and after" and includes a preview with a file size.
    • If everything looks fine, click on "Save." Fill in the file name and save it.

Video

Tips

  • Select "Animation in frames." This is an easier setting than "Animation timeline," particularly for beginners.

Things You'll Need

  • Adobe Photoshop CS5
  • A video file (.MOV, .AVI, .MPG, .MPEG)
  • QuickTime 7.1 or higher (for Mac)

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