How To Make An Animatic In Photoshop

Photoshop User Guide
Introduction to Photoshop
1. Dream it. Make it.
2. What's new in Photoshop
3. Edit your first photo
4. Create documents
5. Photoshop | Common Questions
6. Photoshop system requirements
7. Migrate presets, actions, and settings
8. Get to know Photoshop
Photoshop and Adobe services
1. Photoshop and Adobe Stock
2. Creative Cloud Libraries
3. Creative Cloud Libraries in Photoshop
4. Grid and guides
5. Creating actions
6. Undo and history
7. Default keyboard shortcuts
8. Touch capabilities and customizable workspaces
9. Use the Touch Bar with Photoshop
10. Use the Capture in-app extension in Photoshop
Photoshop on the iPad
1. Photoshop on the iPad | Common questions
2. Get to know the workspace
3. System requirements | Photoshop on the iPad
4. Create, open, and export cloud documents
5. Add photos
6. Work with layers
7. Draw and paint with brushes
8. Make selections and add masks
9. Retouch your composites
10. Work with adjustment layers
11. Adjust the tonality of your composite with Curves
12. Apply transform operations
13. Crop and rotate your composites
14. Rotate, pan, zoom, and reset the canvas
15. Work with Type layers
16. Work with Photoshop and Lightroom
17. Get missing fonts in Photoshop on the iPad
18. Japanese Text in Photoshop on the iPad
19. Manage app settings
20. Touch shortcuts and gestures
21. Keyboard shortcuts
22. System requirements 1.x | Photoshop on the iPad
23. System requirements 2.x | Photoshop on the iPad
24. Edit your image size
25. Livestream as you create in Photoshop on the iPad
26. Correct imperfections with the Healing Brush
27. Create brushes in Capture and use them in Photoshop
Photoshop on the web beta
1. Common questions | Photoshop on the web beta
2. Introduction to the workspace
3. System requirements | Photoshop on the web beta
4. Keyboard shortcuts | Photoshop on the web beta
5. Supported file types | Photoshop on the web beta
6. Open and work with cloud documents
7. Collaborate with stakeholders
8. Apply limited edits to your cloud documents
Cloud documents
1. Photoshop cloud documents | Common questions
2. Photoshop cloud documents | Workflow questions
3. Manage and work with cloud documents in Photoshop
4. Upgrade cloud storage for Photoshop
5. Unable to create or save a cloud document
6. Solve Photoshop cloud document errors
7. Collect cloud document sync logs
8. Share access and edit your cloud documents
Workspace
1. Workspace basics
2. Create documents
3. Use the Touch Bar with Photoshop
4. Microsoft Dial support in Photoshop
5. Tool galleries
6. Performance preferences
7. Use tools
8. Touch gestures
9. Touch capabilities and customizable workspaces
10. Technology previews
11. Metadata and notes
12. Quickly share your creations
13. Place Photoshop images in other applications
14. Preferences
15. Default keyboard shortcuts
16. Rulers
17. Show or hide non-printing Extras
18. Specify columns for an image
19. Undo and history
20. Panels and menus
21. Place files
22. Position elements with snapping
23. Position with the Ruler tool
24. Presets
25. Customize keyboard shortcuts
26. Grid and guides
Web, screen, and app design
1. Photoshop for design
2. Artboards
3. Export files in Photoshop
4. Device Preview
5. Copy CSS from layers
6. Slice web pages
7. HTML options for slices
8. Modify slice layout
9. Work with web graphics
10. Create web photo galleries
Image and color basics
1. How to resize images
2. Work with raster and vector images
3. Image size and resolution
4. Acquire images from cameras and scanners
5. Create, open, and import images
6. View images
7. Invalid JPEG Marker error | Opening images
8. Viewing multiple images
9. Customize color pickers and swatches
10. High dynamic range images
11. Match colors in your image
12. Convert between color modes
13. Color modes
14. Erase parts of an image
15. Blending modes
16. Choose colors
17. Customize indexed color tables
18. Image information
19. Distort filters are unavailable
20. About color
21. Color and monochrome adjustments using channels
22. Choose colors in the Color and Swatches panels
23. Sample
24. Color mode or Image mode
25. Color cast
26. Add a conditional mode change to an action
27. Add swatches from HTML CSS and SVG
28. Bit depth and preferences
Layers
1. Layer basics
2. Nondestructive editing
3. Create and manage layers and groups
4. Select, group, and link layers
5. Place images into frames
6. Layer opacity and blending
7. Mask layers
8. Apply Smart Filters
9. Layer comps
10. Move, stack, and lock layers
11. Mask layers with vector masks
12. Manage layers and groups
13. Layer effects and styles
14. Edit layer masks
15. Extract assets
16. Reveal layers with clipping masks
17. Generate image assets from layers
18. Work with Smart Objects
19. Blending modes
20. Combine multiple images into a group portrait
21. Combine images with Auto-Blend Layers
22. Align and distribute layers
23. Copy CSS from layers
24. Load selections from a layer or layer mask's boundaries
25. Knockout to reveal content from other layers
26. Layer
27. Flattening
28. Composite
29. Background
Selections
1. Select and Mask workspace
2. Make quick selections
3. Get started with selections
4. Select with the marquee tools
5. Select with the lasso tools
6. Select a color range in an image
7. Adjust pixel selections
8. Convert between paths and selection borders
9. Channel basics
10. Move, copy, and delete selected pixels
11. Create a temporary quick mask
12. Save selections and alpha channel masks
13. Select the image areas in focus
14. Duplicate, split, and merge channels
15. Channel calculations
16. Selection
17. Bounding box
Image adjustments
1. Perspective warp
2. Reduce camera shake blurring
3. Healing brush examples
4. Export color lookup tables
5. Adjust image sharpness and blur
6. Understand color adjustments
7. Apply a Brightness/Contrast adjustment
8. Adjust shadow and highlight detail
9. Levels adjustment
10. Adjust hue and saturation
11. Adjust vibrance
12. Adjust color saturation in image areas
13. Make quick tonal adjustments
14. Apply special color effects to images
15. Enhance your image with color balance adjustments
16. High dynamic range images
17. View histograms and pixel values
18. Match colors in your image
19. How to crop and straighten photos
20. Convert a color image to black and white
21. Adjustment and fill layers
22. Curves adjustment
23. Blending modes
24. Target images for press
25. Adjust color and tone with Levels and Curves eyedroppers
26. Adjust HDR exposure and toning
27. Filter
28. Blur
29. Dodge or burn image areas
30. Make selective color adjustments
31. Replace object colors
Adobe Camera Raw
1. Camera Raw system requirements
2. What's new in Camera Raw
3. Introduction to Camera Raw
4. Create panoramas
5. Supported lenses
6. Vignette, grain, and dehaze effects in Camera Raw
7. Default keyboard shortcuts
8. Automatic perspective correction in Camera Raw
9. How to make non-destructive edits in Camera Raw
10. Radial Filter in Camera Raw
11. Manage Camera Raw settings
12. Open, process, and save images in Camera Raw
13. Repair images with the Enhanced Spot Removal tool in Camera Raw
14. Rotate, crop, and adjust images
15. Adjust color rendering in Camera Raw
16. Feature summary | Adobe Camera Raw | 2018 releases
17. New features summary
18. Process versions in Camera Raw
19. Make local adjustments in Camera Raw
Image repair and restoration
1. Remove objects from your photos with Content-Aware Fill
2. Content-Aware Patch and Move
3. Retouch and repair photos
4. Correct image distortion and noise
5. Basic troubleshooting steps to fix most issues
Image transformations
1. Transform objects
2. Adjust crop, rotation, and canvas size
3. How to crop and straighten photos
4. Create and edit panoramic images
5. Warp images, shapes, and paths
6. Vanishing Point
7. Use the Liquify filter
8. Content-aware scaling
9. Transform images, shapes, and paths
10. Warp
11. Transform
12. Panorama
Drawing and painting
1. Paint symmetrical patterns
2. Draw rectangles and modify stroke options
3. About drawing
4. Draw and edit shapes
5. Painting tools
6. Create and modify brushes
7. Blending modes
8. Add color to paths
9. Edit paths
10. Paint with the Mixer Brush
11. Brush presets
12. Gradients
13. Fill and stroke selections, layers, and paths
14. Draw with the Pen tools
15. Create patterns
16. Generate a pattern using the Pattern Maker
17. Manage paths
18. Manage pattern libraries and presets
19. Draw or paint with a graphics tablet
20. Create textured brushes
21. Add dynamic elements to brushes
22. Gradient
23. Paint stylized strokes with the Art History Brush
24. Paint with a pattern
25. Sync presets on multiple devices
Text
1. Work with OpenType SVG fonts
2. Format characters
3. Format paragraphs
4. How to create type effects
5. Edit text
6. Line and character spacing
7. Arabic and Hebrew type
8. Fonts
9. Troubleshoot fonts
10. Asian type
11. Create type
12. Text Engine error using Type tool in Photoshop | Windows 8
13. World-Ready composer for Asian Scripts
14. How to add and edit text in Photoshop
Video and animation
1. Video editing in Photoshop
2. Edit video and animation layers
3. Video and animation overview
4. Preview video and animations
5. Paint frames in video layers
6. Import video files and image sequences
7. Create frame animations
8. Creative Cloud 3D Animation (Preview)
9. Create timeline animations
10. Create images for video
Filters and effects
1. Use the Liquify filter
2. Use the Blur Gallery
3. Filter basics
4. Filter effects reference
5. Add Lighting Effects
6. Use the Adaptive Wide Angle filter
7. Use the Oil Paint filter
8. Layer effects and styles
9. Apply specific filters
10. Smudge image areas
Saving and exporting
1. Save files in graphics formats
2. Save your files in Photoshop
3. File formats
4. Save and export video and animations
5. Save PDF files
6. Digimarc copyright protection
Printing
1. Print 3D objects
2. Print from Photoshop
3. Print with color management
4. Contact Sheets and PDF Presentations
5. Print photos in a picture package layout
6. Print spot colors
7. Duotones
8. Print images to a commercial printing press
9. Improve color prints from Photoshop
10. Troubleshoot printing problems | Photoshop
Automation
1. Creating actions
2. Create data-driven graphics
3. Scripting
4. Process a batch of files
5. Play and manage actions
6. Add conditional actions
7. About actions and the Actions panel
8. Record tools in actions
9. Add a conditional mode change to an action
10. Photoshop UI toolkit for plug-ins and scripts
3D and technical imaging
1. Creative Cloud 3D Animation (Preview)
2. Print 3D objects
3. 3D painting
4. 3D panel enhancements | Photoshop
5. Essential 3D concepts and tools
6. 3D rendering and saving
7. Create 3D objects and animations
8. Image stacks
9. 3D workflow
10. Measurement
11. DICOM files
12. Photoshop and MATLAB
13. Count objects in an image
14. Combine and convert 3D objects
15. 3D texture editing
16. Adjust HDR exposure and toning
17. 3D panel settings
Color Management
1. Understanding color management
2. Keeping colors consistent
3. Color settings
4. Work with color profiles
5. Color-managing documents for online viewing
6. Color-managing documents when printing
7. Color-managing imported images
8. Proofing colors

For Photoshop versions earlier than Photoshop CC, some functionality discussed in this article may be available only if you have Photoshop Extended. Photoshop does not have a separate Extended offering. All features in Photoshop Extended are part of Photoshop.

Frame animation workflow

In Photoshop, you use the Timeline panel to create animation frames. Each frame represents a configuration of layers.

To create frame-based animations in Photoshop, use the following general workflow.

If they are not already visible, open the Timeline, and Layers panels. Make sure the Timeline panel is in frame animation mode. In the middle of the Timeline panel, click the downpointing arrow to choose Create Frame Animation and then click the button next to the arrow.

Add a layer or convert the background layer.

Because a background layer cannot be animated, add a new layer or convert the background layer to a regular layer. See Convert background and layers.

Add content to your animation.

If your animation includes several objects that are animated independently, or if you want to change the color of an object or completely change the content in a frame, create the objects on separate layers.

Add a frame to the Timeline panel.

Edit the layers for the selected frame.

Turn visibility on and off for different layers.
Change the position of objects or layers to make layer content move.
Change layer opacity to make content fade in or out.
Change the blending mode of layers.
Add a style to layers.

Photoshop provides tools for keeping characteristics of a layer the same across frames. See Unifying layer properties in animation frames.

Add more frames and edit layers as needed.

The number of frames you can create is limited only by the amount of system memory available to Photoshop.

You can generate new frames with intermediate changes between two existing frames in the panel using the Tween command. This is a quick way to make an object move across the screen or to fade in or out. See Create frames using tweening.

Set frame delay and looping options.

You can assign a delay time to each frame and specify looping so that the animation runs once, a certain number of times, or continuously. See Specify a delay time in frame animations and Specify looping in frame animations.

Use the controls in the Timeline panel to play the animation as you create it. Then use the Save For Web command to preview the animation in your web browser.

Optimize the animation for efficient download.

There are different options for saving your frame animation:

Save as an animated GIF using the Save For Web command.
Save in Photoshop (PSD) format so you can do more work on the animation later.
Save as an image sequence, QuickTime movie, or as separate files. See also Export video files or image sequences.

Add frames to an animation

Adding frames is the first step in creating an animation. If you have an image open, the Timeline panel displays the image as the first frame in a new animation. Each frame you add starts as a duplicate of the preceding frame. You then make changes to the frame using the Layers panel.

Make sure the Timeline panel is in frame animation mode.

Click the Duplicate Selected Frames button.

Select animation frames

Before you can work with a frame, you must select it as the current frame. The contents of the current frame appear in the document window.

In the Timeline panel, the current frame is indicated by a narrow border (inside the shaded selection highlight) around the frame thumbnail. Selected frames are indicated by a shaded highlight around the frame thumbnails.

Select one animation frame

Do one of the following in the Timeline panel:

Click a frame.
Click the Select Next Frame button to select the next frame in the series as the current frame.
Click the Select Previous Frame button to select the previous frame in the series as the current frame.
Click the Select First Frame button to select the first frame in the series as the current frame.

Select multiple animation frames

In the Timeline panel, do one of the following:

To select contiguous multiple frames, Shift-click a second frame. The second frame and all frames between the first and second are added to the selection.
To select discontiguous multiple frames, Ctrl‑click (Windows) or Command-click (Mac OS) additional frames to add those frames to the selection.
To select all frames, choose Select All Frames from the panel menu.
To deselect a frame in a multiframe selection, Ctrl-click (Windows) or Command-click (Mac OS) that frame.

Edit animation frames

In the Timeline panel, select one or more frames.

To edit the content of objects in animation frames, use the Layers panel to modify the layers in the image that affect that frame.
To change the position of an object in an animation frame, select the layer containing the object in the Layers panel and drag it to a new position.

You can select and change the position of multiple frames. However, if you drag multiple discontiguous frames, the frames are placed contiguously in the new position.

To reverse the order of animation frames, choose Reverse Frames from the panel menu.

The frames you want to reverse do not have to be contiguous; you can reverse any selected frames.

To delete selected frames, choose Delete Frame from the Timeline panel menu or click the Delete icon, then click Yes to confirm the deletion. You can also drag the selected frame onto the Delete icon.

Unify layer properties in animation frames

The unify buttons (Unify Layer Position, Unify Layer Visibility, and Unify Layer Style) in the Layers panel determine how the changes you make to attributes in the active animation frame apply to the other frames in the same layer. When a unify button is selected, that attribute is changed in all the frames in the active layer; when that button is deselected, changes apply to only the active frame.

The Propagate Frame 1 option in the Layers panel also determines how the changes you make to attributes in the first frame will apply to the other frames in the same layer. When it is selected, you can change an attribute in the first frame, and all subsequent frames in the active layer will change in relation to the first frame (and preserve the animation you have already created).

Unify layer properties

In the Timeline panel, change the attribute to one frame.

Propagate Frame 1

In the Layers panel, select the Propagate Frame 1 option.

In the Timeline panel, change the attribute for the first frame.

The changed attribute is applied (in relation) to all subsequent frames in a layer.

You can also propagate frames by Shift-selecting any consecutive group of frames in the layer and changing an attribute in any of the selected frames.

Choose Animation Options from the Layers panel menu, and then choose one of the following:

Automatic

Displays the unify layers buttons when the Timeline panel is open.

Always Show

Displays the unify layers buttons whether the Timeline panel is open or closed.

Always Hide

Hides the unify layers buttons whether the Timeline panel is open or closed.

Copy frames with layer properties

To understand what happens when you copy and paste a frame, think of a frame as a duplicate version of an image with a given layer configuration. When you copy a frame, you copy the configurations of layers (including each layer's visibility setting, position, and other properties). When you paste a frame, you apply that layer configuration to the destination frame.

Select one or more frames you want to copy in the Timeline panel.

Choose Copy Frame(s) from the panel menu.

Select a destination frame or frames in the current animation or another animation.

Choose Paste Frame(s) from the panel menu.

Replace Frames

Replaces the selected frames with the copied frames. No new layers are added. The properties of each existing layer in the destination frames are replaced by those of each copied layer. When you paste frames between images, new layers are added to the image; however, only the pasted layers are visible in the destination frames (the existing layers are hidden).

Paste Over Selection

Adds the contents of the pasted frames as new layers in the image. When you paste frames into the same image, using this option doubles the number of layers in the image. In the destination frames, the newly pasted layers are visible, and the original layers are hidden. In the non-destination frames, the newly pasted layers are hidden.

Paste Before Selection or Paste After Selection

Adds the copied frames before or after the destination frame. When you paste frames between images, new layers are added to the image; however, only the pasted layers are visible in the new frames (the existing layers are hidden).

(Optional) To link pasted layers in the Layers panel, select Link Added Layers.

This option works only when pasting frames into another document. Select it when you plan to reposition the pasted layers as a unit.

Create frames using tweening

The term tweening is derived from "in betweening," the traditional animation term used to describe this process. Tweening (also called interpolating) significantly reduces the time required to create animation effects such as fading in or fading out, or moving an element across a frame. You can edit tweened frames individually after you create them.

You use the Tween command to automatically add or modify a series of frames between two existing frames—varying the layer properties (position, opacity, or effect parameters) evenly between the new frames to create the appearance of movement. For example, if you want to fade out a layer, set the opacity of the layer in the starting frame to 100%; then set the opacity of the same layer in the ending frame to 0%. When you tween between the two frames, the opacity of the layer is reduced evenly across the new frames.

Photoshop create frames using tweening — Using tweening to animate text position

To apply tweening to a specific layer, select it in the Layers panel.

Select a single frame or multiple contiguous frames.

If you select a single frame, you choose whether to tween the frame with the previous frame or the next frame.
If you select two contiguous frames, new frames are added between the frames.
If you select more than two frames, existing frames between the first and last selected frames are altered by the tweening operation.
If you select the first and last frames in an animation, these frames are treated as contiguous, and tweened frames are added after the last frame. (This tweening method is useful when the animation is set to loop multiple times.)

Click the Tweens button in the Timeline panel.
Choose Tween from the panel menu.

Specify the layer or layers to be varied in the added frames:

All Layers

Varies all layers in the selected frame or frames.

Selected Layer

Varies only the currently selected layer in the selected frame or frames.

Specify layer properties to be varied:

Position

Varies the position of the layer's content in the new frames evenly between the beginning and ending frames.

Opacity

Varies the opacity of the new frames evenly between the beginning and ending frames.

Effects

Varies the parameter settings of layer effects evenly between the beginning and ending frames.

If you selected a single frame in step 2, choose where to add frames from the Tween With menu:

Next Frame

Adds frames between the selected frame and the following frame. This option is not available when you select the last frame in the Timeline panel.

First Frame

Adds frames between the last frame and first frame. This option is available only if you select the last frame in the Timeline panel.

Previous Frame

Adds frames between the selected frame and the preceding frame. This option is not available when you select the first frame in the Timeline panel.

Last Frame

Adds frames between the first frame and last frame. This option is available only if you select the first frame in the Timeline panel.

In the Frames To Add box, enter a value, or use the Up or Down Arrow key to choose the number of frames. (This option is not available if you selected more than two frames.)

Add a new layer for each new frame

The Create New Layer For Each New Frame command automatically adds a new layer visible in the new frame but hidden in other frames. This option saves time when you are creating an animation that requires you to add a new visual element to each frame.

Choose Create New Layer For Each New Frame from the Timeline panel menu.

A check mark indicates that the option is turned on.

When you create a new layer, it is visible in all animation frames by default.

To show new layers only in active frames, deselect New Layers Visible In All Frames from the Timeline panel menu.
To hide a layer in a specific frame, select the frame, and then hide the desired layer in the Layers panel.

Specify a delay time in frame animations

You can specify a delay—the time that a frame is displayed—for single frames or for multiple frames in an animation. Delay time is displayed in seconds. Fractions of a second are displayed as decimal values. For example, one-quarter of a second is specified as .25. If you set a delay on the current frame, every frame you create after that will remember and apply that delay value.

Select one or more frames in the Timeline panel.

Click the Delay value below the selected frame to view the pop‑up menu.

Choose a value from the pop‑up menu. (The last value used appears at the bottom of the menu.)
Choose Other, enter a value in the Set Frame Delay dialog box, and click OK. If you selected multiple frames, specifying a delay value for one frame applies the value to all frames.

Choose a frame disposal method

The frame disposal method specifies whether to discard the current frame before displaying the next frame. You select a disposal method for animations that include background transparency to specify whether the current frame will be visible through the transparent areas of the next frame.

Photoshop Frame disposal methods — Frame disposal methods

A. Frame with background transparency with Restore To Background optionB. Frame with background transparency with Do Not Dispose option

The Disposal Method icon indicates whether the frame is set to Do Not Dispose or Dispose. (No icon appears when Disposal Method is set to Automatic.)

Select a frame or frames for which you want to choose a disposal method.

Right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac OS) the frame thumbnail to view the Disposal Method context menu.

Choose a disposal method:

Automatic

Determines a disposal method for the current frame automatically, discarding the current frame if the next frame contains layer transparency. For most animations, the Automatic option (default) yields the desired results.

To preserve frames that include transparency, select the Automatic disposal option when you are using the Redundant Pixel Removal optimization option.

Do Not Dispose

Preserves the current frame as the next frame is added to the display. The current frame (and preceding frames) may show through transparent areas of the next frame. Use a browser to see an accurate preview of an animation using the Do Not Dispose option.

Dispose

Discards the current frame from the display before the next frame is displayed. Only a single frame is displayed at any time (and the current frame does not appear through the transparent areas of the next frame).

Specify looping in frame animations

You select a looping option to specify how many times the animation sequence repeats when played.

Click the Looping Option Selection box at the lower-left corner of the Timeline panel.

Select a looping option: Once, 3 Times, Forever, or Other.

If you selected Other, enter a value in the Set Loop Count dialog box, and click OK.

Looping options can also be set in the Save for Web dialog box.

Delete an entire animation

Choose Delete Animation from the Timeline panel menu.