#**lizziestutorials

so first thing’s first, in order to make a manip gif, you’ll need two gifs (duh). here’s three things i always try to make sure they have in common:

similar backgrounds

similar lighting (it’s really hard to manip together a night scene with one that’s in like a school room haha)

low movement (i.e. camera zooms, movement from the character themselves -- like avoiding someone running or jumping or twirling or just generally moving a lot) 

now, as for how i made that gif....

first, make the two gifs you want to blend together. sharpen them, adjust your number of frames (make sure both gifs have the same number of frames!) and all that jazz. don’t worry about coloring (that’ll be done at the end) or sizing them correctly (you’ll need to adjust the size when putting them together) 

here are my two gifs that i’m working with: 

you’ll notice that they’re not colored, their sizes are different and the frame delay is different too and that’s okay! we’ll fix it all hehe

next, go into one of the gifs and select all the frames + layers and group them using that little folder button that’s on the right hand side where the layers are: 

^that dude. it’ll make it easier when you need to erase the layers or move it around. 

then, go into the second gif you’re working with and select all the frames and copy them.

then you’re gonna want to go over to your first gif and paste the frames from the second gif OVER THE SELECTION OF ALL THE FRAMES IN THE FIRST

then your first gif is gonna look something like this:

(notice how i grouped all the layers from the second gif into a group too!) and don’t worry about how big it is over the first gif! you can use the MOVE tool to adjust the size! usually i make it as small or as big as the first gif just as a base, but will then continue to adjust once i begin to erase some of the background or other people. 

much better.

then comes the fun part! overlaying your gif! take GROUP TWO (the gif you pasted over the first) and choose from the drop down menu on the right hand side where your layers (now sectioned into groups) are! usually, i choose the SCREEN option but you can flick through and choose whichever one looks best to you!  

so now we have something like this: 

again, not great but we will fix it!! let’s continue! 

okay! so now it’s all about using your MOVE tool and your ERASER tool to help move your gifs around so they line up and to get rid of any unwanted lurkers in the background (sorry ned and steve) 

all you need to do if you want to move one of the gifs, is select the tool, then the group that coincides with the gif and move it! 

!!! JUST REMEMBER IF YOU’RE GOING TO MOVE EITHER ONE OF THE GIFS MAKE SURE ALL YOUR FRAMES ARE SELECTED OR ELSE IT’S GONNA END UP LIKE THIS:  

in order to erase the background, you’ll have to apply a MASK to your group which is the little button on the right hand side where the layers are that looks like this: 

apply that to both your groups and then you can use your eraser tool! i usually have mine set to 0% hardness and between 74% to 51% opacity or lower while erasing cause then it doesn’t give as hard of lines and gives it a nice softness to it -- if that makes sense... anyway erase away any unnecessary background you don’t want or anything like that! just make sure you always have all the frames selected and the mask of the specific group! 

then once you have everything erased that you want to be erased and have moved the gifs where you want them to be moved, play your gif once or twice through to make sure it looks how you want it to be! 

(i’m a dumbass and forgot to save one without the coloring on it before closing photoshop so this doesn’t match the final product but you get the point) 

finally, add your coloring! of course, you’ll want to make sure you color the gifs so that they’re somewhat similar. (it can be hard since a lot of things use different lightings, base colorings etc. etc.) but do your best! and if you think it looks nice, then it looks nice!  

resize the gif to the proper dimensions, change the frame delay so it’s not super fast or super slow and save it! 

there you have it! a manip gif!

if you made it through this whole thing, i appreciate you! i hope this long ass tutorial has been helpful to you lol and if you have any other questions or need help with anything else, PLEASE SEND ME AN ASK! i’m pretty self-taught in this whole thing, but i can try to help as best i can -- we can figure it out together!

so first thing’s first, in order to make a gif, you’ll need some source material. like tv shows/movies/trailers/music videos/etc. you get it. get your source material downloaded and ready 2 go. 

after you have that, open up photoshop and go to FILE > IMPORT > VIDEO FRAMES TO LAYERS

from there, pick your source file from wherever it was saved to and then this little screen will pop up: 

**NOTE: don’t touch the “limit to every ____ frame” unless you’re importing a screen recorded video (then put 2) 

use the arrow heads as bookmarks to choose the section of footage you want to import frames from from the whole video. it can be a scene or a little moment from the tv show/movie as a whole. 

**NOTE: that photoshop will only import 500 layers at a time

if this comes up, hit the CONTINUE button and photoshop will load your frames into the TIMELINE which is at the bottom of your workshop screen. so now you have something like this: 

next, you’re going to want to trim down your frames so that your finished gif is just what you want it to be. you can do this directly in the timeline just by SELECTING ONE FRAME + HOLDING DOWN ‘SHIFT’ + USING THE HORIZONTAL SCROLL BAR AT THE BOTTOM + CLICKING ON THE LAST FRAME YOU WANT TO DELETE then hitting the small TRASH BIN icon:

after you’ve trimmed down your frames to an appropriate number, you’ll want to SHARPEN your frames. there’s a ton of sharpening tools from plenty of more experienced gif-makers. i currently use THIS ONE and it sharpens up to 100 frames so as long as your frame number is less than or equal to 100, you’re good to go! 

in order to start the action, you’ll want to go to the top right hand corner where this icon is: 

and open up the panel where your ACTIONS are located: 

hit the PLAY button and let the action do the work! when it’s finished, and you’re under 100 frames, you’ll get this notif: 

hit CONTINUE to make it go away and allow you to work with your frames again. 

from there, it’s all about coloring, resizing and adjusting the frame delay! you can do this in any order you like, just make sure you do it lol  

you can use this icon: 

to access all the different ways to color your gif! like brightness, vibrance, selective color, etc. etc. play around with it! see what looks nice! if you think it looks good, then it looks good. you can also download PSDs from other gif-makers that help with coloring certain scenes like dark scenes or weirdly lighted ones. 

**NOTE: make sure your coloring affects ALL the frames! you can see if the coloring layer does by clicking a frame, then looking at the layers to see if this icon (the eye) is on: 

after you’ve finished coloring, set your frame delay! you’ll want your gif to be anywhere between 0.04 to 0.07 depending on what looks best to you! **hit OTHER to change the timing to your preference -- just make sure ALL your frames are selected!

once you’ve set your frame delay, make sure you resize your gif to the right tumblr sizes. i think the right sizes are 540px, 268px and then 170px, (i think -- fact check me pls) but i’m not sure bc now there’s apparently a new 8mb limit?? either way, just stick to those as your base! you can change your image size by going to IMAGE > IMAGE SIZE

change your dimensions to one of the three above (whichever you think looks the best) and make sure that your WIDTH AND HEIGHT ARE ALWAYS LINKED that way your gif won’t be stretched out like mine used to be

**NOTE: you can always use the CROP TOOL to crop down your gif so it’s focused on one thing in particular and then resize your image!

now let’s export our gif! you’re going to go to FILE > EXPORT > SAVE FOR WEB (LEGACY)

then you’ll get a screen that looks like this: 

make sure everything is as it looks above: the right size, the right speed, make sure the loop is FOREVER and then hit SAVE! save it to wherever you want on your computer and there you have it! you made a gif!

**NOTE: i always like to save my gifsets as drafts before posting them on tumblr just to make sure the gif works and the speed is how i wanted it to be. 

IF IT’S NOT WORKING/FREEZING: go back into photoshop and delete some frames. 

IF YOU DON’T LIKE THE SPEED: go back into photoshop and change the frame delay. then re-save!

but yay! you made a gif! if you made it through this whole thing, i appreciate you! i hope this long ass tutorial has been helpful to you lol and if you have any other questions or need help with anything else, PLEASE SEND ME AN ASK! i’m pretty self-taught in this whole thing, but i can try to help as best i can – we can figure it out together!