how to add gifs to templates.
for this tutorial, we’ll use my template belle as an example. it can be downloaded for free here. don’t forget to leave a like/reblog when downloading!
step 1: check how many frames you need
open the template you want to use in photoshop. in the top bar, click on window > timeline, and scroll to the end of the gif to see how many frames the template has.
in our example, we need 34 frames.
step 2: make/choose your gif with that number in mind
for belle, the gif needs to be at least 143 wide by 215 tall. it’s important to check this for the template you want to use.
for this tutorial, i made this sample gif for us to test together.
save it and open it in photoshop. keep the timeline window open because we’ll need it.
step 3: copy the selected gif
in the timeline, select the number of frames you need. my example has 34 frames, so you can select all of them to test in belle.
with the frames selected and still in the timeline panel, click on this icon here to open the dropdown menu we need. it’s always in the upper right corner, near the last frame.
in the dropdown, choose the option copy frames. now we’ve got the gif ready for ctrl c + ctrl v, but this part works a little differently from what we’re used to.
step 4: paste the selected gif
go back to the template window and select all of its frames in the timeline panel. using the same dropdown from the previous step, now choose the option paste frames.
when you click it, a pop-up will appear asking for the paste method. choose paste over selection and click ok, like this:
done correctly, your result should look like this:
step 5: position the gif
when you paste frames in photoshop, the corresponding gif layers are automatically selected by default.
keep only those layers selected and, with the first frame selected in the timeline, move the layers until they’re centered over the frame.
it’s crucial that the first frame is selected in the timeline to ensure the adjustment applies to all the frames.
if you did everything right, what you have on screen should now look like this:
step 6: place the gif below the frame
with only the gif layers selected, drag them vertically in the layers panel until they’re placed immediately above these two layers:
since my gif is exactly the right size, i don’t even need a clipping mask, but let’s say you want to use a gif with larger dimensions.
step 7: use a clipping mask
with the gif layers still selected, right-click on them in the layers panel. a dropdown will open. the second-to-last option is create clipping mask, and that’s what we’re going to click.
once that’s done, the gif will be neatly cropped to the size and place we need, like this:
if you need to adjust the position, always remember to select all gif layers and only move them while the first frame is selected in the timeline.
you can also resize the gif with the layers selected by going to edit > free transform. note that this adjustment will make the gif lose sharpness, and i don’t recommend it unless you know how to use sharpening actions.
extra: changing the background gif
to change the background, the process is exactly the same, but you’ll need a gif that’s at least 700 wide by 450 tall, and you’ll drag it into the background group in the layers panel. the gif should go below but not inside the background coloring subgroup.
the background group is the first from bottom to top in the layers panel, and you should place the new background gif layers right here:
for the background, you won’t need the clipping mask step.
extra: what if my background gif is smaller than 700px wide?
you can resize the whole template by going to image > image size. change the width of the template to match the gif you want to use, and it will fit just right.
when you resize an image in photoshop, sometimes it leaves a weird 1-pixel border around the edges. what i usually do to avoid that is this:
i add 2 pixels to the target width before resizing. for example, if i want the final result to be 600 pixels wide, i resize to 602 pixels first.
after resizing, i go to image > canvas size in the top menu bar and change the canvas from 602 to 600. this will cut off the weird extra pixels and leave you with a clean final result.
always remember that tumblr’s minimum width is 540 pixels. anything smaller will result in bad quality when posting.
extra: good etiquette
if you’re going to use a premade gif made by someone else, it’s important to remember that not every creator allows their content to be edited. choose gifs from creators who allow edits according to their rules, and pay attention to whether they require credit when using their materials.
many content creators ask for credit when their resources are used because that’s how you compensate them – by promoting their work.
in my rules, credit is required when using my templates. many gif creators have the same rule when it comes to editing gifs, and most are fine with being credited in the post tags, so it doesn’t clutter the content itself.
support content creators!
