#overlay tutorial

[usergif]

i recently got an ask [x] for blending anime gifs for two of my sets [x] [x]. i usually don't encounter that big of a difference between blending live action and animation scenes, so this will be more like some tips/ tricks i use whenever i blend scenes - regardless of the medium

this guide is split into three sections:

composition

overlay mechanics

colouring

1. composition

choosing scenes for overlays can be a little tricky if you don’t have any particular scenes in mind, or even if you do but aren’t sure how to put them together in a way that works best. i usually fall back to one of these four compositions. from there, it helps me choose the scenes to use and how they might look together. i’ll show examples for each one, from both animation and live action, so that it’s easier for you to picture

ofc, it doesn’t always work, e.g. if i really want to use two particular scenes, but both don’t really fall into any of these. one such instance this may occur is if there’s a lot of movement/ action in both scenes, like the one i've used in the header. in such a case, you probably need to experiment a little to see if it works

2. overlay mechanics

lighten vs screen

i usually use one of two blend modes for overlays: lighten or screen. without going into the technical difference between the two, the layman understanding (it me. i am the layman.) is that screen will allow more of your bottom gif to be seen through the top gif, while lighten will select the pixels that are lighter in colour between the two gif layers and show that one, regardless of whether it’s at the top or bottom

which blend mode you use really depends on the scenes you’re working with: sometimes, screen might be too distracting because it’s showing too much going on from both gif layers, while other times, lighten reduces the overlay effect because most of the darker scene is hidden. at times, the difference between the two is minimal, at this point it’s up to your personal preference - whether you wanna trade off between just a little bit more distraction vs. a little more obvious of an overlay

i’ve put in some examples from the gifsets you linked here, to show the blend modes i chose for them and why i didn’t choose the alternate

masking

after you’ve selected your blend mode, the two gifs might not overlay exactly the way you want it, with some parts still being hidden because of the contrast in brightness of the two gifs. for instance, in the first example above, half of the face on the right is hidden by the scene with the face on the left, because the latter is brighter than the former. this is where the layer mask comes in

i follow three main “rules” when masking for overlays:

use soft brush

the bigger the brush, the better

click, don’t drag

here’s a demonstration of these three tips

brightness adjustments

once you’ve done your overlay and masking, it’s the step for brightness adjustments to finetune the contrast between the two scenes. or in some cases, this might be much more than finetuning because the contrast between the two scenes still isn’t working out or can’t be masked away

i won’t go into too much detail here because i’ve talked about it before here [x] in step 2. in general, the rule of thumb is: if you want more of a particular scene to be visible, make it brighter. if you want to more of a particular scene to be hidden, make it darker

this can be done by one/ two/ three/ all of these adjustment layers:

gradient map (especially relevant if you want your scene to be b&w or with a colour gradient - see next part on colouring): by toggling the percentage of black vs. white/ whatever other colour you’re using

brightness & contrast

curves

levels

3. colouring

if you haven’t noticed by now, whenever i do overlays, i prefer to keep the colours as minimal as possible, since overlay effects tend to already be very busy visually (also bc i’m lazy). bringing back some examples, i usually go with one of the following combinations

i usually fall back to 1, 2, or 3, just because they’re the most straightforward, easiest, and provide the highest contrast. they also work especially well when you want to keep the whole gifset to a very fixed colour palette, which makes all the gifs look more cohesive altogether

4 is where animation and live action differ. i usually do this more with live action scenes just because it’s easier to mask specific areas with live action scenes, as compared to with animation scenes. because with animation scenes, if i want to mask a face, for example, because of the lines in animation, you will need to use a hard brush to mask the precise area of the face for the gif to look as cohesive as possible (not fun, especially for characters with spiky hair tips). versus in live action scenes, you can get away with using a soft brush and not going too much into the details, at least for scenes with not that much action. for both kinds of media, another layer of tediousness comes in when you need to shift the mask around as the scene or character moves. so i don’t use this colour combination very often, usually only with (usually live action) scenes that are more static, and when i really wanna show a more natural face colour in contrast with a coloured background, instead of slapping a coloured gradient map onto every single scene

5 is a lazy way to work around 4. however, it only works when your subject (the part of the scene you want to keep in its natural/ close to natural colour) is a very different colour from the rest of the scene, such that it can be isolated with colour adjustments. this isolation can be done with selective colouring (more on that here [x]) or with the hue/ saturation layer by reducing the saturation of the particular colour(s) you want to hide. for me, i usually like to emphasise reds and get rid of blues, so this works especially well if i want to keep a character’s face colour in a scene with a lot of blues

i rarely go with 7, just because if there are a lot of colours in the two scenes, it tends to look very messy. in such cases, i’ll also usually try to use some colour adjustments to get rid of any unnecessary colours (e.g. blue in the above example)

[ruanbaijie]

if you have any knowledge about triple blending i'd be so grateful!

TRIPLE BLENDING TIPS

hello! i don't do these super often (and most of the time i'm just playing around and hoping things work out). i do have some "tips" i keep in mind whenever i attempt these though. i've tried to summarise them below here! i hope there aren't any typos although there's probably at least one lying around somewhere 🤡

[mikelogan]

hello, those gifset for ready or not is great!!

https://www.tumblr.com/billysjoel/781204370023972864/sleeping-inside-a-hearse-kizzyedgelll-requested?source=share

i was wondering if you could explain how made this second and fourth gif, splitting the gif into two with each a different colouring

hi, first of all, thank you so much!! i ended up pretty proud of this set! below the cut, i'll walk you through how to do the ripped paper effect with different coloring for both gifs!

first, i made both gifs separately. when i'm combining multiple gifs into one canvas, i typically do not crop them beforehand and instead leave them at their original dimensions so i can move them where necessary on the final canvas. this is totally personal preference.

in this case, my final canvas was 540px by 540px. i create this canvas separately and then bring both gifs over to it. i've sharpened them, but left them uncolored and uncropped.

once both gifs are on the same canvas, i add the ripped paper texture/brush. now, you can do this effect with any sort of texture or brush, not just one that looks like ripped paper, but that's what i used for this set. you can find all sorts of brushes on my resource blog or you can search for them on google or other PS resource websites. you can do the same with textures as well -- here's that tag on my resource blog.

the most important parts are the order of your layers and using clipping masks. for this effect to work, you need the brush/texture layer to go IN BETWEEN your two gif layers. if you're using a texture, you don't really need to do anything other than using either the transform tool (ctrl+t) or move tool (v) to position your texture where you'd like it. it depends on the look you're going for, but with both of the gifs in this set that use this technique, they're divided approximately in half.

if using a brush instead of a texture, you need to create a new layer in between both of your gifs first before stamping the brush in the desired location.

without any clipping masks, your canvas will just show the topmost layer, which we'll call gif #2. gif #1 is your bottom/lowest layer with the brush/texture layer above it and gif #2 at the very top. this is what my canvas looks like with gif #2 hidden so you can see the positioning of my ripped paper brush:

to create a clipping mask, right-click on the gif #2 layer and select "create clipping mask." now you should see both gifs with gif #2 only appearing where your brush/texture appears:

you can see that depending on your texture/brush and its positioning, you can end up with a lot of cool and dynamic arrangements! clipping masks and the order of our layers are going to continue to be very important in order to keep the coloring separate. if it gets hard to keep track of what is where, you can always rename your layers by double-clicking on them!

let's color gif #1 first. before adding your first adjustment layer, make sure you have gif #1 selected as any coloring layers need to be above gif #1 but BELOW your texture/brush layer. because gif #2 and the texture/brush layer are above gif #1 and whatever coloring layers, they will only apply to gif #1. you do NOT need to use clipping masks for gif #1. here are my coloring/adjustment layers and their settings (click to enlarge):

the coloring layers for gif #2 need to be above gif #2 and all of them must utilize clipping masks! with adjustment layers, there are a couple ways to do this. you can right-click on each of them and select "create clipping mask" like we did before or you can click this button underneath the properties tab of each layer:

here are these coloring layers and their settings:

the last thing i did was add the drop shadow part of the texture/brush. to do this, i duplicated that layer and moved it down a handful of pixels using the transform tool (ctrl+t).

to add the color overlay effect (making it pink), double click the layer, select color overlay, and choose your color and applicable blending mode. i just chose a pink color and left its blending mode at normal and 100% opacity.

and that's pretty much it! as usual, please let me know if you have any additional questions -- about this tutorial or any of my other sets! (and so sorry this one took me so long!)

[kiwicidios]

ㅤ☆ㅤ𓈒ㅤׂㅤ Como fazer esse efeito blur no seu icon / header e etc ｡      ◌    ♡🎀

⠀

Finalmente fazendo o tutorial que vocês já me pediram muuuuuito, dessa vez vou deixar salvo pra caso alguém no futuro apareça com essa dúvida novamente; espero que de pra entender, qualquer dúvida me mandem ask ou dm <3

vou mostrar de dois jeitos, como eu faço no picsart e como eu faço no ibis paint, mas isso funciona em qualquer programa de edição / desenho

⠀

primeiro de tudo, vá no pinterest ou google, procure por "overlay" + o efeito que você quer, que no meu caso foi blur (só pesquisando por overlay vc já vai achar mas btw)

⠀

. PicsArt

1. primeiro abra o picsart e abra a imagem q vc quer editar

2. seleciona a imagem

3. após abrir a imagem, vá em foto, seleciona a overlay e coloque ela por cima da imagem (não confirme nada, deixa a imagem só por cima, sem juntar as duas)

4. nessa parte eu não consegui tirar print mas na barrinha de ferramentas q aparecer você vai em "mesclar" e em seguida em "tela" . prontinho 👌🏽

⠀

. Ibis Paint

1. abra a imagem

2. vá naquela camerazinha pra importar a overlay, importe ela e dê um ok

2. clique no "normal" ali embaixo, que vai abrir o "modo de mistura", e em seguida clique em "tela". prontinho 👌🏽

⠀

é isso gente, espero q tenham entendido, vou deixar também a overlay que eu uso pras headers caso vocês queram usar tbm

[clubgif]

Adding Video/Photo Textures to Gifs

In this tutorial, you will learn how to add photo and/or video textures on your gifs using the Video Timeline method which is easier and faster than the Frame Animation method.

This tutorial also doubles as a VHS gif effect tutorial :)

Please like/reblog if this has helped you and feel free to send an ask for any questions and concerns! ♥︎

↓ TUTORIAL UNDER THE CUT ↓

[1] Create your gif

Make the gif like you normally would, apply coloring, sharpen, etc. If you don’t know how to make gifs yet, click here for some great tutorials.

Assuming you’ve already converted into a Video Timeline and your layers into a Smart Object in your gif making process, let’s proceed.

[2] Make sure the playhead is at the start of the timeline

If your playhead isn’t at the start of the timeline, do this before adding new layers (which are the next steps) so the new layers will be aligned with your gif and coloring layers as demonstrated below:

[3] Add a photo texture

[3.1] Resources

Download the texture here, which I found through this post. You can also get free textures from Freepik, Pexels or Free Stock Textures.

[3.2] Place your texture

REMINDER: [2] Make sure the playhead is at the start of the timeline before placing.

To place your texture, go to File > Place Embedded... > then select a texture from the file downloaded in [3.1].

I chose the texture named "VHS TEXTURE - LITTLEDR3AMS (2)". It's a long image but I only used the bottom part of it.

NOTE: Make sure the texture layer is above your gif and coloring layers.

[3.3] Change the blending mode

I set the texture's blending mode to Soft Light. Feel free to experiment with the different modes and adjust the opacity.

[4] Add a video texture

[4.1] Resources

The texture used in my gif example from Youtube. In hindsight, I should have gotten my video texture from Pexels or Videezy. They're (mostly) free to download.

[4.2] Make a gif from the texture video

Make the gif like you normally would, but no need to apply coloring and sharpening.

NOTE: No need to gif the whole video, otherwise it would be very long.

[4.3] Change the blending mode

Just like in [3.3], I changed the texture's blending mode. For this one, I set it to Screen with the opacity at 70%. Feel free to experiment with the different modes and adjust the opacity.

Now that you already know how to do that, here's a psd file of the texture I used 😂

NOTE: Before we proceed, make sure you’ve already converted your Frame Animation into a Video Timeline, and converted all your layers into a Smart Object. Here's an easy tutorial on how to do it.

[4.4] Transfer your texture gif onto your main gif

REMINDER: [2] Make sure the playhead is at the start of the timeline before transferring.

To transfer the texture, check out how to do it here. It's super quick.

NOTE: Make sure the texture layer is above your gif and coloring layers. I put my texture gif over my texture photo.

[5] Split colors (OPTIONAL)

If you've noticed, there are green and pink color outlines in the gif. If you haven't, here it is zoomed in:

[5.1] Duplicate your actual gif layer

Select your gif layer then press the shortcut key for duplicating layers: command (Mac) / Ctrl (Windows) + J

[5.2] Split the RGB channels

With the duplicated gif layer selected, click the fx button which is at the bottom of the Layers window then click Blending Options...

Under Advanced Blending, untick the R and B boxes (later, you can experiment with this and untick G and B or R and G). This is what my settings look like:

[5.3] Nudge the duplicated layer

Select the Move tool (shortcut key: V) and press the left arrow key twice. It's a bit subtle, but it should look like this when you're moving it:

You could also nudge your duplicated layer upwards, downwards or to the right. Now that we can see what it looks like, you can now go back and experiment with the channels—untick G and B, or R and G—and see which colors you like best on your gif.

〰️

Please like/reblog if this has helped you and feel free to hit me up for any questions and concerns! ♥︎

[avafaid]

This is a snippet of an overlay tutorial I did, but the full version is on >Patreon!< As well as another tutorial I’ll mention here soon.

[graphictutorials]

。・ tutorial six, graphic tutorial four by graphictutorials ゜+.*

-`. Hello everyone! In this tutorial, I’ll teach you how to use and edit gif overlays, like this: .’-

1. Finish editing your image and adding your psd. We want to put the overlay over the psd, that way the white stands out. Here I have edited this picture and I will soon be adding an overlay:

2. Find an overlay gif.

Here is a blog of some: https://overlaygifs.tumblr.com.

octomoosey has posted some gif overlays before, and you can go through their tag to check them out.

library-mermaid has made some as well: 1, 2.

You can also search "gif overlay" on Tumblr and see if you can find any, or go through the tag.

Find the one you like and download it.

I'll be using one from one of library-mermaid's posts.

3. Open the gif in Photoshop and open the timeline (Window>Timelime or Window>Animation). The frame animation should be on.

Example (it should look something like this):

4. Go to the corner of the timeline and click the settings arrow, and then click "Select All Frames."

5. Once the frames are selected, click the settings arrow again, and select "Convert to Timeline."

It will now look something like this:

6. In the Photoshop menu, go to Select and click "Select All Layers."

7. Once the layers are selected, right-click on one of them, and select "Convert to Smart Object."

It will place all the layers into one, like this:

8. Drag the gif over to your edit document.

***Make sure to place the gif layer above all the other layers from the edit, like so:

9. Put the gif layer mode to "Screen" or "Lighten."

It doesn't matter which, but I think people use Screen mode more because it picks up more of the gif. But for certain things, Lighten mode looks better. It is up to you.

It will now look something like this:

10. If your gif doesn't fit like mine clearly doesn't, select the gif layer, click the select tool, right-click on the document, and select "Free Transform" to make the gif bigger.

If it ends up blurry, sharpen it by going to Filter>Sharpen>Smart Sharpen.

Now it fits:

11. Now, before saving it, make sure the timeline duration is in sync to the gif.

As you can see below, the timeline duration ends way after the gif. You don't want that because the overlay will stop for a long period of time.

Drag the end point to where the gif ends.

12. Finally, go to File>Save for Web & Devices, and save it.

***Make sure the looping option is on "Forever" and I recommend setting the Gif to "Adaption" and "Pattern"!!

Here is my final result:

OTHER INFO / TUTORIALS:

Sometimes the background of gif overlay isn't entirely black, so it'll end up looking like this:

It will have a white background and it won't look right. If this happens, add a Selective Color adjustment.

Go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Selective Color.

On the adjustment, switch the color to black. Add some to the "Black" section to darken the background.

Here I added 26% more to the black:

Now it is just the overlay with no white background: 

For this, I used this gif.

Another obstacle you might run into is the overlay might not be white or grey.

Here mine is light pink, but I don't want that:

If that happens and you want it to be black and white, go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Gradient Map.

On the adjustment, click the arrow to choose and black and white gradient.

Place that into a clipping mask, so that it only makes that layer black and white, not the rest. (right-click on the adjustment and select "create clipping mask.")

It is now black and white:

For this, I used this gif.

But what if you want to change it to a different color?

Go to Layer > New Fill Layer > Solid Color.

Upon the pop-up box, set the mode to "Multiply" and click OK.

Now choose a color you want it to be. (Btw, it's going to temporarily change the entire thing to that color, but we'll fix that in a second.)

I chose cyan, but click OK when you're done.

Now it's gonna look something like this:

To fix it, make sure the color layer is right above the gradient layer, right-click on the color layer, and select "Create Clipping Mask" to put it inside the gif only.

Now it should color the gif overlay only.

That’s all there is to it!

I hope you found this helpful and plan on using it. If you need any further help, just send me a message!

[softjminies-moved]

hello there! sorry to bother you but i absolutely love your yoi edits and was wondering how you put falling snow onto text? i tried to follow the instructions of another tutorial and i couldn't seem to get it to work. thank you so much!

thank you so much! + you’re not bothering me at all! :) normally i’d probably direct you to a tutorial but since you said you couldn’t get it to work; i’ll try to explain how i do it! 

note: you’ll need to use the timeline.

1. make your text as though you’re making a gif. (using the timeline)

2. open up the overlay you want to use; i use this gif. it should open up into layers/frame animation. i personally keep it as a 0.1 delay.

3. (still on the overlay gif) convert to timeline + then convert for smart filters.

4. drag the overlay gif onto the text gif file, resize. next, change the overlay layer style to screen. you can sharpen the overlay if you’d like, i usually do!

result:

hope this helps + allows you to create something wonderful ;) if not drop by again!