Animating With Photoshop

In today’s lecture we learned how to animate with Adobe Photoshop. I was aware that Photoshop could be used  to create gifs and was actually the preferred method in gif making, but I didn’t know all the different animation techniques and possibilities that were possible.

First we were told to make a gif file. With ten images on different layers. I made a bunch of jellyfish appearing and reappearing. They are posted bellow, with the detailed instructions of how me made this in class:

1. File / New / Size = 300 x 100px

2. Layers / create new layers and add artwork (at least 5 layers)

3. Select all layers

4. Window Menu / Timeline / Create Frame Animation / Select frame

5. Timeline window menu / Make Frames from Layers

6. Change Loop options to Forever

7. Select all frames / Change frame times to 0.1sec

8. File / Save for Web / Gif / loop forever

After that we tried to animate something frame by frame. Which was something I was incredibly excited for. The result and instructions are bellow. Keeping to my jellyfish theme.

1. File / New / 960 x 540px Square pixel
2. make sure timeline is open
3. Layers menu / Video Layers / New Blank Video layer
4. Timeline window menu / Set Frame Rate / set to 12fps / Ok
5. Timeline menu / Turn on Onion Skin / Zoom layer to fit timeline
6. Playhead settings button / turn on Loop Playback
7. Draw artwork / new frame / draw next frame / new frame etc
8. Shorten work area to suit / play animation
9. Layers menu / Video Layers / New Blank Video layer
10. add another animation
11. File / Export / Render Video / Quicktime - jpeg medium quality - 24fps

Jelly from Rustis Balciunas on Vimeo.

Next we were shown how to animate 2D animation in Photoshop. This is extremely interesting to me and this method will be something I probably explore on my own time a lot since I am trying to make a few of my own 2D animations in my free time, the steps I followed and the animation itself Is shown below.

1. File / Open / Jump.psd
2. Select all layers
3. Timeline / Create Frame Animation / Select frame
4. Timeline window menu / Make Frames from Layers
5. Change Loop options to Forever / Play
6. Select all frames / Change frame times to 0.1sec
7. Crop image to fit better
8. File / Export / Render Video / Quicktime - jpeg medium quality - 24fps

jump from Rustis Balciunas on Vimeo.

What we did next is very interesting. We did some experimenting with rotoscoping. This was a very interesting thing to do, especially since when you work frame by frame (we worked 12 frames per second because the professor chose to spare us.) it never seems like your drawings will make up a fluent movement, but they do and that is very amazing. All jokes aside, this was probably one of my favorite lectures and one of the favorite results from said lectures. The steps taken are posted bellow along the rotoscopped video with and without background:
1. File / New / 1280 x 720px Square pixel
2. make sure timeline is open.
3. Layers menu / Video Layers / New Video layer from file... / Lock this layer
4. Timeline window menu / Set Frame Rate / set to 12fps / Ok
5. Layers menu / Video Layers / New Blank Video layer
6. Timeline menu / Turn off Onion Skin / Zoom layer to fit timeline
7. Playhead settings button / turn on Loop Playback
8. Draw artwork over video / new frame / draw next frame / new frame etc 

9. File / Export / Render Video / Quicktime - jpeg medium quality - 24fps

Rotoscope from Rustis Balciunas on Vimeo.

Rotoscope original background from Rustis Balciunas on Vimeo.

To finish up I learned a lot about this animating with Photoshop this lecture. Indeed more than I thought initially was possible. I do see how all of this will definitely be useful for me and my further studies, not to mention how all of this will benefit my future projects, university related or personal, and such.