Did you know that Photoshop can be used to make dynamic pictures? Almost all the funny GIFs and emoticons we usually see can be made with Photoshop. Using the timeline tool in Photoshop, you can adjust the dwell time of the picture and add tween animation frames between two frames. And then the system scans and displays each frame according to the time you set, so that multiple frames are combined to form an animation!
Today, I will teach you something about how to use the timeline, how to set the relevant time, and how to add tween animation frames. The final work produced is the one above—a string of glowing letters. Let’s take a look!
- Create a Text Layer
1. Create a new layer. Set the width to 700 pixels, the height to 400 pixels, and the resolution to 72 pixels/Inch. Set the background content to black. Name the file Light. Click OK.
2. Click the Horizontal Type Tool in the toolbar on the left, and add your favorite text to the canvas. In the upper status bar, the second symbol on the left can be used to adjust the writing direction of the text. The third horizontal bar can used to set the font style. The fifth bar can be used to adjust the font size. The color block on the right is used to set the font color.
Choose a font style you like. Adjust its size, and fill the font color with white.
- Make the Glowing Effect for the Text
3. Use the shortcut key—”CTRL+J” to copy a text layer. Turn off the text copy layer. Right-click the original text layer and choose Rasterize Type.
4. Right-click again and choose the Merge Down to merge the original image with the background. Execute menu bar—filter—distort—polar coordinates, select the Polar to Rectangular.
Execute menu bar—image—image rotation—90° clockwise.
5. Execute menu bar—filter—stylize—wind. Set the method to the wind and the direction to from the right. Click OK. Repeat it once.
To repeat the execution here, you can directly select the menu bar—filter, and click the first item of the drop-down menu.
6. Execute menu bar—image—image rotation—90° counter clockwise.
Execute menu bar—filter—distort—polar coordinate. Select the Rectangular to Polar.
- Add Some Color
7. The glowing effect of the text has been done. But we also need to add a little color to it, and do a little special effect to the text in the middle, so that it looks natural when the text glows dynamically.
Click the sixth symbol in the lower right corner to create a new layer and fill it with black. Click the small lock sign behind the background layer to unlock it. Drag the color fill layer to the bottom layer.
8. Open the text copy layer. Double-click the blank area of the layer. Add the inner glow. Set the blending mode to screen, the opacity to 75%, and the size to 5 pixels. Because the light we want to do is orange, so, we should set the color of the light in the text to yellow that is lighter than orange. Click OK.
Modify the filling method to 16%.
9. Select the background layer. Click the fourth symbol at the bottom right, and select the gradient map. Click the gradient bar to open the gradient editor. Double-click the two sliders below the gradient bar to change the color to a gradient from black to orange.
- Create Frame Animation
10. Next, we will make the static picture into a dynamic luminous effect. Select the menu bar—window—timeline in turn. Click the Create Frame Animation column.
11. After creating the first frame, turn off layer 0 in the layer panel.
12. Then click the second to last symbol at the bottom right of the timeline to create a new frame animation. Turn on layer 0 in the second frame.
This operation is to produce a change from no light to light.
13. Next, we add some tween animation frames between them to make the whole animation look more coherent and smoother. Select the first frame. Click on the Tween Animation Frames key. Check the opacity in the parameters, and leave the other two unchecked. Set the Frames to Add to 5. Click OK.
Select the last frame. Create a new frame animation, and turn off the background layer. The operation of this step is to produce a change from luminous to non-luminous.
14. Click on the penultimate frame and click on the “tween animation frames”.
15. Finally, delete the last frame. After the loop is played back from the last frame to the first frame, and the first frame is completely non-illuminated, the effect of the last non-illuminated frame needs to be deleted to avoid repeating the same frame.
16. Change the play mode to always. Click to play. Then you can see the font glowing dynamically.
- Save It
17. Click File—Export—Save for Web in the menu bar.
Select the output format as GIF, and click the Save.
18. Our work is complete! Open the corresponding gif animation in the file storage location. You can see the text is shining!
When using the timeline tool, you need to pay attention to the following points:
1. If you want to make the text glow quickly, or you want to make the characters in the animation look faster, you can set the number of tween animation frames to be smaller. If you want to make the text glow slowly, or you want to make the characters in the animation move slower, you can set the number of tween animation frames a bit larger.
2. The transition method of each frame does not necessarily need to be completely in accordance with my settings. You can make different transitions according to your own preferences to achieve different artistic effects.
3. When saving the file, do not use Save As or Export As. You must choose to save as web layout, and set the format to gif format, otherwise, your work will not be able to form an animated picture.
