Animated Mood Theme Tutorial!
This tutorial was written especially for Susan (burstoflight).
From this:
To:
Programs: Photoshop 7 / ImageReady 7
1. First of all, we're going to be using ImageReady so have that program open.
Here's a general screencap of ImageReady and the tools we'll be using to make the animations.
ImageReady Screenshot
Go to File - Import - Folder as Frames
Screenshot 1
When the Browse for Folder box pops up, select the folder where your caps are stored and then click on OK.
Screenshot 2
ImageReady will then automatically import all of the stored caps and turn them into frames which is the first part of the animation process and you should see those frames in the animation window at the bottom of the screen.
2. The next step is to crop the frames to whichever size you want your mood theme to be. For this example, we'll go for 90px (width) by 50px (height).
Screenshot 3A
In the crop window, enter the size you want to crop to and make sure that 'Fixed Size' is ticked. Next, using the Crop Tool, select the area you want to crop and then go to Image - Crop.
Screenshot 3B
Press the play button on the animation window to check all the detail you want is included in the animation. If it isn't, go to Edit - Undo Crop and try it again.
3. Once you're satisfied with the cropping, you can now decide whether to delete a few frames. Often, the more frames you have in an animation, the slower you'll find it is so it might be worth deleting some of them.
What I tend to do is delete every other frame. On the animation window, hold down the CTRL button while clicking on every other frame except for the last one. My personal preference is if the total number of frames in the window is even, then I start deleting the odd numbers. So, for example, if I've got 40 frames, I select 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 10, etc, and then hit the little trash can/delete button which can be found beneath the frames. (If the number of frames is odd, ie. 37, then I delete the even numbered frames: 2, 4, 6, 8 and so on.)
Screenshot 4
After deleting the frames, play the animation and make sure it looks the way you want it to. If not, click Edit - Undo Delete Frame and instead of deleting every other frame, try deleting every two frames and see how that works for you.
Screenshot 4A
4. At this point, particularly if frames have been deleted, I save the animation. When saving, you need to use the Optimize window which is at the top-right of the screen and these are the settings I use for my animations:
Screenshot 5
For the colours, you'll see I've selected '128' and not '256'. If you're making an icon to use on LJ, I find using '128' makes it easier to keep everything under 40kb and the quality doesn't seem to be affected by it. Of course, if you're making an animation where there's no limit, ie. for a mood theme or sidebar, you can use '256' but keep in mind it will make the overall file size bigger.
To save the animation, go to File - Save Optimized As. This will save it as a .gif file.
As we've still got to colour the mood, I'd suggest not saving it under its final file name. For example, the mood we're making in this tutorial is "annoyed" so rather than save it as that yet, I'd saved it as "annoyed1" or something to that effect.
Once it's saved, close the animation.
5. Re-open the animation in ImageReady and make sure the Optimize settings are the same as before (see previous screenshot) as, for some reason, they sometimes change to something else.
This next step involves improving the animation's colouring and to do this I use adjustment layers as it's so much easier and less time consuming than colouring each individual screencap. First of all, click on the Edit in Photoshop button which automatically opens your frames in Photoshop.
Screenshot 6
The following steps explain how I achieved the colouring for this mood and screenshots will be found at the end together with a psd file:
a) In the layers palette, add a new layer on top of your last layer (in this case, the new layer goes above layer 22) and fill it with #EFEDED which is a light grey. Set this layer to Overlay and reduce its opacity to 35%.
Screenshot 7
b) Click on the little black and white circle which can be found at the bottom of your layers palette. You can now select whichever adjustment layers you want to use to lighten/colour the animation.
Screenshot 8
The first adjustment layer I select here is Colour Balance, settings as follows:
Midtones:
Cyan 0
Magenta 0
Yellow -20
Screenshot 9
c) The second is Levels, settings as follows:
Channel RGB
Input levels: 5, 1.10, 245
Screenshot 10
d) The third is Brightness/Contrast, settings as follows:
Brightness: +5
Contrast: +5
Screenshot 11
e) The fourth adjustment layer I've used is Selective Coloring, settings as follows:
Colors: Neutrals
Cyan: +5
Magenta: 0
Yellow: -5
Black: +5
Screenshot 12
f) The next one is Curves, settings as follows:
Channel: RGB
First point - Input: 74, Output: 80
Second point - Input: 190, Output: 202
Screenshot 13
g) The next adjustment layer is Hue/Saturation, settings as follows:
Edit: Master
Hue: 0
Saturation: +6
Lightness: 0
Screenshot 14
h) Create a new layer in the Layer Palette and, using the paint bucket, fill it with a light blue colour - #94DDF5. Set this to Soft Light and reduce it's opacity to 30%.
Screenshot 15
Note: Keep in mind that different animations are going to probably need different colouring. It all depends on how dark/light the scene you've captured is. Just play around with the settings and opacities and see what you think looks best.
Once the colouring is done, this is the time I think about sharpening the frames. Rather than go to Filter - Sharpen - Sharpen and then Edit - Fade Sharpen, I select the Sharpen Tool at a strength of around 25-30% and a large round brush - around 200px - and then in the layers palette, I highlight each individual frame and stamp once on the actual icon/mood. (The Sharpen Tool can be found by right-clicking on the Blur or Smudge Tool if those are the ones already selected.) You might find after working on the colouring that you don't need to sharpen the frames so the choice is completely up to you.
6. When you're happy with the colouring of the animation, it's time to go back to ImageReady so click on the Edit in ImageReady button (which is in the same place as the Edit in Photoshop button in IR) and the frames are then transferred with their changes into ImageReady. At this point, I then save the file. You can either name it the same as previously (ie. "annoyed1" and just click on "replace" when the prompt box pops up or call it "annoyed2"). Remember to make sure your Optimize settings are the same as before (Screenshot 5) and that all animated files must be saved as a .gif otherwise they won't work. Now close the file and remember to go into Photoshop and close it in there as well to avoid any confusion as to which file you need to work with.
7. Working in ImageReady, open the animation you've just saved and you'll see that the adjustment layers aren't there now. Don't worry, that's how it should be and you'll see that the animation still has the colouring you saved it with.
Click on the Edit in Photoshop button again so that you're again working in Photoshop. We basically want to add a black (or white, if you prefer) frame which the last "people" frame will blend into.
Screenshot 16
Now click on the Edit in ImageReady button.
When the frames are transferred into IR, you'll probably see that all the frames in your animation window are now black (or white if that's the colour you just chose for that last frame) but don't worry.
On the animation window, click on the two little arrows on the right-hand corner of it and then click on Select All Frames which will then highlight all of the frames.
Screenshot 17
With all of the frames in the window selected, click on the "eye" beside the black fill layer on the layer palette which will then make it invisible.
Screenshot 18
You'll see that there are 21 frames in the animation window but 22 in the layer palette on the right. What we need to do now is create a new frame in the window which is where the black fill layer will be visible again so that we have 22 frames in both the window and palette. To do this, you duplicate the last layer in the window by clicking on the Duplicate button which is highlighted in red on the next screenshot.
Screenshot 19
The last two frames in the animation window are now exactly the same so to change that you highlight the last frame in the window and then in the palette on the right, click on the "eye" beside the last frame that's beneath the black one. You'll now see the animation in the centre of your screen has nothing in it. Again, on the layer palette, click on the "eye" beside the black layer making it visible again and, in turn, the very last frame in the animation window will now be black.
Screenshot 20
8. What you need to do now is click on the last but one frame, ie. the last frame of your scene before the black frame.
Screenshot 21
9. Next, click on the Tween button which is highlighted on the next screenshot along with the settings you should use.
Screenshot 22
You'll see you've now got two new frames in between the final frame of your scene and the black frame.
Screenshot 23
Now you can play around with the timing of your animation. To do this, click on the small arrow beside 0 sec and a menu will pop up. If the timing you want isn't there, click on Other and type in what you want.
I often set the final frames of my animations between 0.6 and 1 sec while for the 'tweened' frames, I usually set those at 0.06 seconds.
For the main frames in this particular example, I've set them at 0.11 seconds. It can vary though depending on your PC so play around with it until you're happy with how it looks.
Here are a few other moods I've made using the above steps:
I've saved the above as .psd files (which you can download here: Megaupload | Mediafire) so you're able to see the adjustment layers I've used together with the slight differences in their settings. Like I've mentioned above, your settings will vary depending upon the lightness/darkness of the scene you're working with.
Just a quick re-cap, this is the basic guide to keep in mind:
1. Cap the scene.
2. Import caps into ImageReady.
3. Crop frames. Remember to play the animation to make sure all the detail you want is still there. If not, undo and crop again.
4. Delete any frames, if necessary.
5. Check the optimize settings and save your animation before closing it.
6. Re-open your saved animation, again making sure the optimize settings are correct. (It's better to do this each time you re-open the file since it's easy to forget at the end.)
7. Click on the Edit in Photoshop button and start working on the colouring of your animation using adjustment layers, colour fill layers. Also, if necessary, sharpen the animation. Once happy with the colouring, go back into ImageReady and save the file before closing it again.
8. Re-open it, check the optimize settings once more before again working in Photoshop. After the last layer in the layer palette on the right, add a new layer and fill it with either black or white (your choice).
9. Go back into ImageReady where you'll see all the frames in the window are now either black or white. Click on the little arrows on the right-hand edge of the window and choose 'Select All Frames'. With all the frames highlighted, click on the little "eye" beside the black or white layer so that all of your frames return to normal.
10. Now, with the last frame in the animation window highlighted, click on the 'Duplicate' button so you now have two of the same frame. With the new last frame now highlighted, go over to the layer palette on the right and click on the "eye" beside the last "NJ" frame so it's now invisible and then click on the "eye" beside the black/white frame so that is now visible.
11. In the animation window, select the last but one frame (ie. the last "NJ" frame) and click on the "Tween" button.
12. All you need to do now is set the timing of your animation and then save it, remembering to check the optimize settings beforehand.
That's pretty much it. I hope this explains the process in more detail and that the screenshots help. If you've got any other questions though, please feel free to let me know and I'll do my best to answer them.
From this:
To:
Programs: Photoshop 7 / ImageReady 7
1. First of all, we're going to be using ImageReady so have that program open.
Here's a general screencap of ImageReady and the tools we'll be using to make the animations.
ImageReady Screenshot
Go to File - Import - Folder as Frames
Screenshot 1
When the Browse for Folder box pops up, select the folder where your caps are stored and then click on OK.
Screenshot 2
ImageReady will then automatically import all of the stored caps and turn them into frames which is the first part of the animation process and you should see those frames in the animation window at the bottom of the screen.
2. The next step is to crop the frames to whichever size you want your mood theme to be. For this example, we'll go for 90px (width) by 50px (height).
Screenshot 3A
In the crop window, enter the size you want to crop to and make sure that 'Fixed Size' is ticked. Next, using the Crop Tool, select the area you want to crop and then go to Image - Crop.
Screenshot 3B
Press the play button on the animation window to check all the detail you want is included in the animation. If it isn't, go to Edit - Undo Crop and try it again.
3. Once you're satisfied with the cropping, you can now decide whether to delete a few frames. Often, the more frames you have in an animation, the slower you'll find it is so it might be worth deleting some of them.
What I tend to do is delete every other frame. On the animation window, hold down the CTRL button while clicking on every other frame except for the last one. My personal preference is if the total number of frames in the window is even, then I start deleting the odd numbers. So, for example, if I've got 40 frames, I select 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 10, etc, and then hit the little trash can/delete button which can be found beneath the frames. (If the number of frames is odd, ie. 37, then I delete the even numbered frames: 2, 4, 6, 8 and so on.)
Screenshot 4
After deleting the frames, play the animation and make sure it looks the way you want it to. If not, click Edit - Undo Delete Frame and instead of deleting every other frame, try deleting every two frames and see how that works for you.
Screenshot 4A
4. At this point, particularly if frames have been deleted, I save the animation. When saving, you need to use the Optimize window which is at the top-right of the screen and these are the settings I use for my animations:
Screenshot 5
For the colours, you'll see I've selected '128' and not '256'. If you're making an icon to use on LJ, I find using '128' makes it easier to keep everything under 40kb and the quality doesn't seem to be affected by it. Of course, if you're making an animation where there's no limit, ie. for a mood theme or sidebar, you can use '256' but keep in mind it will make the overall file size bigger.
To save the animation, go to File - Save Optimized As. This will save it as a .gif file.
As we've still got to colour the mood, I'd suggest not saving it under its final file name. For example, the mood we're making in this tutorial is "annoyed" so rather than save it as that yet, I'd saved it as "annoyed1" or something to that effect.
Once it's saved, close the animation.
5. Re-open the animation in ImageReady and make sure the Optimize settings are the same as before (see previous screenshot) as, for some reason, they sometimes change to something else.
This next step involves improving the animation's colouring and to do this I use adjustment layers as it's so much easier and less time consuming than colouring each individual screencap. First of all, click on the Edit in Photoshop button which automatically opens your frames in Photoshop.
Screenshot 6
The following steps explain how I achieved the colouring for this mood and screenshots will be found at the end together with a psd file:
a) In the layers palette, add a new layer on top of your last layer (in this case, the new layer goes above layer 22) and fill it with #EFEDED which is a light grey. Set this layer to Overlay and reduce its opacity to 35%.
Screenshot 7
b) Click on the little black and white circle which can be found at the bottom of your layers palette. You can now select whichever adjustment layers you want to use to lighten/colour the animation.
Screenshot 8
The first adjustment layer I select here is Colour Balance, settings as follows:
Midtones:
Cyan 0
Magenta 0
Yellow -20
Screenshot 9
c) The second is Levels, settings as follows:
Channel RGB
Input levels: 5, 1.10, 245
Screenshot 10
d) The third is Brightness/Contrast, settings as follows:
Brightness: +5
Contrast: +5
Screenshot 11
e) The fourth adjustment layer I've used is Selective Coloring, settings as follows:
Colors: Neutrals
Cyan: +5
Magenta: 0
Yellow: -5
Black: +5
Screenshot 12
f) The next one is Curves, settings as follows:
Channel: RGB
First point - Input: 74, Output: 80
Second point - Input: 190, Output: 202
Screenshot 13
g) The next adjustment layer is Hue/Saturation, settings as follows:
Edit: Master
Hue: 0
Saturation: +6
Lightness: 0
Screenshot 14
h) Create a new layer in the Layer Palette and, using the paint bucket, fill it with a light blue colour - #94DDF5. Set this to Soft Light and reduce it's opacity to 30%.
Screenshot 15
Note: Keep in mind that different animations are going to probably need different colouring. It all depends on how dark/light the scene you've captured is. Just play around with the settings and opacities and see what you think looks best.
Once the colouring is done, this is the time I think about sharpening the frames. Rather than go to Filter - Sharpen - Sharpen and then Edit - Fade Sharpen, I select the Sharpen Tool at a strength of around 25-30% and a large round brush - around 200px - and then in the layers palette, I highlight each individual frame and stamp once on the actual icon/mood. (The Sharpen Tool can be found by right-clicking on the Blur or Smudge Tool if those are the ones already selected.) You might find after working on the colouring that you don't need to sharpen the frames so the choice is completely up to you.
6. When you're happy with the colouring of the animation, it's time to go back to ImageReady so click on the Edit in ImageReady button (which is in the same place as the Edit in Photoshop button in IR) and the frames are then transferred with their changes into ImageReady. At this point, I then save the file. You can either name it the same as previously (ie. "annoyed1" and just click on "replace" when the prompt box pops up or call it "annoyed2"). Remember to make sure your Optimize settings are the same as before (Screenshot 5) and that all animated files must be saved as a .gif otherwise they won't work. Now close the file and remember to go into Photoshop and close it in there as well to avoid any confusion as to which file you need to work with.
7. Working in ImageReady, open the animation you've just saved and you'll see that the adjustment layers aren't there now. Don't worry, that's how it should be and you'll see that the animation still has the colouring you saved it with.
Click on the Edit in Photoshop button again so that you're again working in Photoshop. We basically want to add a black (or white, if you prefer) frame which the last "people" frame will blend into.
Screenshot 16
Now click on the Edit in ImageReady button.
When the frames are transferred into IR, you'll probably see that all the frames in your animation window are now black (or white if that's the colour you just chose for that last frame) but don't worry.
On the animation window, click on the two little arrows on the right-hand corner of it and then click on Select All Frames which will then highlight all of the frames.
Screenshot 17
With all of the frames in the window selected, click on the "eye" beside the black fill layer on the layer palette which will then make it invisible.
Screenshot 18
You'll see that there are 21 frames in the animation window but 22 in the layer palette on the right. What we need to do now is create a new frame in the window which is where the black fill layer will be visible again so that we have 22 frames in both the window and palette. To do this, you duplicate the last layer in the window by clicking on the Duplicate button which is highlighted in red on the next screenshot.
Screenshot 19
The last two frames in the animation window are now exactly the same so to change that you highlight the last frame in the window and then in the palette on the right, click on the "eye" beside the last frame that's beneath the black one. You'll now see the animation in the centre of your screen has nothing in it. Again, on the layer palette, click on the "eye" beside the black layer making it visible again and, in turn, the very last frame in the animation window will now be black.
Screenshot 20
8. What you need to do now is click on the last but one frame, ie. the last frame of your scene before the black frame.
Screenshot 21
9. Next, click on the Tween button which is highlighted on the next screenshot along with the settings you should use.
Screenshot 22
You'll see you've now got two new frames in between the final frame of your scene and the black frame.
Screenshot 23
Now you can play around with the timing of your animation. To do this, click on the small arrow beside 0 sec and a menu will pop up. If the timing you want isn't there, click on Other and type in what you want.
I often set the final frames of my animations between 0.6 and 1 sec while for the 'tweened' frames, I usually set those at 0.06 seconds.
For the main frames in this particular example, I've set them at 0.11 seconds. It can vary though depending on your PC so play around with it until you're happy with how it looks.
Here are a few other moods I've made using the above steps:
I've saved the above as .psd files (which you can download here: Megaupload | Mediafire) so you're able to see the adjustment layers I've used together with the slight differences in their settings. Like I've mentioned above, your settings will vary depending upon the lightness/darkness of the scene you're working with.
Just a quick re-cap, this is the basic guide to keep in mind:
1. Cap the scene.
2. Import caps into ImageReady.
3. Crop frames. Remember to play the animation to make sure all the detail you want is still there. If not, undo and crop again.
4. Delete any frames, if necessary.
5. Check the optimize settings and save your animation before closing it.
6. Re-open your saved animation, again making sure the optimize settings are correct. (It's better to do this each time you re-open the file since it's easy to forget at the end.)
7. Click on the Edit in Photoshop button and start working on the colouring of your animation using adjustment layers, colour fill layers. Also, if necessary, sharpen the animation. Once happy with the colouring, go back into ImageReady and save the file before closing it again.
8. Re-open it, check the optimize settings once more before again working in Photoshop. After the last layer in the layer palette on the right, add a new layer and fill it with either black or white (your choice).
9. Go back into ImageReady where you'll see all the frames in the window are now either black or white. Click on the little arrows on the right-hand edge of the window and choose 'Select All Frames'. With all the frames highlighted, click on the little "eye" beside the black or white layer so that all of your frames return to normal.
10. Now, with the last frame in the animation window highlighted, click on the 'Duplicate' button so you now have two of the same frame. With the new last frame now highlighted, go over to the layer palette on the right and click on the "eye" beside the last "NJ" frame so it's now invisible and then click on the "eye" beside the black/white frame so that is now visible.
11. In the animation window, select the last but one frame (ie. the last "NJ" frame) and click on the "Tween" button.
12. All you need to do now is set the timing of your animation and then save it, remembering to check the optimize settings beforehand.
That's pretty much it. I hope this explains the process in more detail and that the screenshots help. If you've got any other questions though, please feel free to let me know and I'll do my best to answer them.