Ah Photoshop. The mother of all photo editing software. Although some would contest that it is not the best, it definitely has a large following. I personally enjoy it.
Did you know that aside from photos, you can also make animations in Photoshop? Its very easy actually.
2 things you'll need
- An good plan of how you want your animation to look
- Adobe Photoshop
- (At least CS2. If you only have CS1 you can use the same techniques employed here with Image Ready instead of Photoshop, the animation tools in Photoshop CS2 and on are just copied from Image Ready)
- If you don't have photoshop you can download a 30 day unlimited trial from Adobe's website
- A web browser (any one will do)
- A computer (obviouslly
Let's get going
First open up photoshop. That seems like an obvious step, but you have to start somewhere. Once you open Photoshop be sure to set the color mode to RGB and the resolution to 72 dpi. That is web standard and it will save you a lot of headaches in the future. Also set the dimensions to pixels, and whatever dimensions you want. If you're going to make an animated ad, it would be best to use an IAB standard size ad.
The next thing you want to do in photoshop once you have your new document set up, is go up to the menubar and click on window, and in that menu bring up the animation palette.
Now draw something, even a circle or a square for this exercise it doesn't need to be too complicated. Draw your square. You'll notice that it shows up on the first frame. On the animation palette there is a button to add a new frame. Click that. With the second frame highlighted, grab your square and move it 100 pixels or so to the right. You'll notice that the first frame and the second frame are now different. That's hardly an animation, but it is a starting point. You could make a new frame for each individual step in between frames one and two, but why would you do that when Photoshop has a function built right into it that will do it automatically. It is called tweening.
To use the tween feature in Photoshop, click on frame 2, and then on the bottom right side of the animation palette there is a small button that looks like 3 circles. Click that, and it will bring up a menu. Make sure the dropdown menu says "Tween with:Previous Frame" and then put 5 frames in the number of frames to add. Then click "OK". This will add 5 frames in between your original 1 and 2, and when you press play you should see the square move across the screen.
To get a more in depth tutorial and for some examples of what you can do with this check out my website here
Tyler Whitworth
Graphic Designer - Illustrator - Web Designer To get a more in depth tutorial and for some examples of what you can do with this check out my website here tylerwhitworth.com
Author: Tyler Whitworth
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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