[TUTORIAL] How to make overlaying gifs.
Hi ! This post is kinda the end of the answer to what anon previously asked about how I make my gifs. I wrote a full step-by-step tutorial for Photoshop users whoâd like to learn how to do it. Itâs my first time posting something like this so I apologize if thereâs any confusion. My Photoshop is settled in French, but I requested a friend to screenshot the English version, hence the different gifs used in the screenshots. If thereâs anything thatâs missing or confusing, feel free to message me. Constructive criticism is always appreciated !
STEP 1 : First go to Photoshop. If you didnât do it before, open the picture/edit you want to apply the gif to. Now that itâs done, go to File, Open and then go the gif you want to use, click and then itâs going to open the gif in Photoshop as a document.
STEP 2 : Then go to Window and select Timeline. Now in the zone down your work space, you can see the editing tool open on the deconstructed gif. On the right of it, youâll see the menu icon (it looks like 4 little horizontal straight lines). Click on it and chose Select All Frames.
STEP 3 : Then go to the list of layers, on the far right. For this part, you want to be sure to select ALL of them. To do that, just click on the first layer and scroll to the last. Then you use SHIFT+Click and it will automatically select every layers in between. When itâs done, go back to the Timeline menu and click on Convert to Video Timeline.
STEP 4 : Now you go back to the upper part of your work space and select Filter. In the menu, choose Convert for Smart Filters. At this point you should get something that kind of looks like this :
Then you just drag the final gif layer you can see, onto the picture you want to use. You can also resize the gif layer as you want, it will not break it. If it appears with an all-black background, go the layers options and select Screen (my Photoshop is in french so itâs written as Superposition on the screenshot, but itâs the same option). You have to re-open the Timeline tool before going to STEP 5, so be sure that itâs running by clicking on Create Video Timeline, or the gif will crash when saved.
STEP 5 : Youâre almost at the end ! Now you got to be sure the little grey thingy (sorry idk the english name for that haha) at the end of the timeline is positioned at the end of your gif layer. Sometimes itâs already well-positioned, sometimes itâs not. If itâs not, you just click and drag it to the right place. It might go from this :
and go back like this. See how itâs just at the tip end of the layer ? Do not worry if, unlike what you see on my screenshot, the layer of your picture doesnât appear in the Timeline tool. It might be because the picture youâre working on is also open as the Background. Itâs okay and doesnât change anything to the process.
STEP 6 : Now that youâve got everything settled, you got to save your work. So what youâre going to do is that you open File. You select Export and choose Save for Web (Legacy). Itâs going to open a new window with lots of options around and the preview o your edit.
STEP 7 : See on the right and lower part of the window, thereâs a category named Animation. Click on Looping Options and change it to Forever. This will ensure that your gif endlessly runs over you edit.
STEP 8 : Now, just to be sure, click on the little Play icon under Looping Options to admire your masterpiece ! Be sure to hit Save and voilĂ ! Youâre done and on your road to master overlaying gifs on pictures. It might look a bit hard at first, but you will soon get the hang of it.
Hope this had been useful for some users ! (credit : hocuspocus-art)