#multiple gifs tutorial

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1. THE GIF ON GIF PART

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[1.1] Create your small gif

Make the gif like you normally would (just the basic brightening/coloring and sharpening) then save. If you don’t know how to make gifs yet, click here for some great tutorials.

We'll leave this for now and move on to the big gif.

[1.2] Create a new document for the big gif

To do this, press command for Mac / Ctrl for Windows + N.

The size is up to you :) Just make sure the width is 540px, the standard Tumblr post width. In the example above, the dimensions are 540px (width) by 615px (height).

[1.3] Click Create Frame Animation

This button can be found in the Timeline window, which is normally found at the bottom portion of Photoshop. If it's not there, go to Windows > ✓ Timeline.

[1.4] Convert to Timeline

To do this, select the button at the bottom left part of the Timeline window, encircled in orange below:

We'll leave this for now and go back to the small gif.

[1.5] Open your saved small gif then turn it into a Smart Object

If you don't know how, here's a quick tutorial on how to do it.

[1.6] Transfer the small gif into the new document

If you don't know how, check out the super easy Duplicate layer method here!

[1.7] Delete the white Background layer after transferring the small gif

[1.8] Drag the playhead to the start of the timeline if it's not at the start of the timeline

Do this before adding text/layers/adjustment layers in order to align them with your gif as demonstrated below:

[1.9] Duplicate the small gif layer

Shortcut keys:

Mac: command + J Windows: Ctrl + J

[1.10] Enlarge the original small gif layer to fill the canvas

This is what it looks like now:

So this is basically how you put a gif over a gif! You can stop here or keep reading to know about the shape, coloring and effects :)

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2. THE SMALL GIF PART

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NOTE: Make sure you have the small gif copy layer selected.

[2.1] Add a rounded rectangle shape (or any shape you prefer)

This can be found under the Rectangle Tool (U).

Next, click on the new document/canvas once and this window will pop out:

These are my settings.

NOTE: Make sure the shape's dimensions are the same as the small gif's dimensions or smaller (for step [2.3]). The Radii is for the rounded corners—the bigger the px, the rounder the corner. Feel free to change it :)

[2.2] Align your small gif copy to the shape

My shape and small gif copy are at the center of the big gif. To center your objects perfectly, view step [5B] Move tool here.

[2.3] Clip mask the small gif copy over the shape

To do this:

Make sure the small gif copy layer is above the shape layer

Right click on the small gif copy layer

Select "Create Clipping Mask"

[2.4] Add a stroke to the shape layer

This is for the border around the small gif.

To do this, click the fx button at the bottom of the Layers window. These are my settings:

[2.5] Add a Gradient Map over the small gif copy

This can be found by clicking the circle button at the bottom of the Layers window, as demonstrated here:

Next, clip mask the Gradient Map layer over the small gif layer. To do this, right click on the Gradient Map layer and select Create Clipping Mask.

To edit the Gradient Map colors, double click on the color stop, the one circled in blue below:

TIP: As demonstrated above, drag the color stop near the middle to increase the highlights/brightness of the gif (this would also depend on your chosen color).

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3. THE BIG GIF PART —

[3.1] Add gaussian blur to the big gif

To do this:

Select the big gif / original small gif layer (the first layer)

Go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur

These are my settings:

Enlarged gifs/photos tend to become pixelated as opposed to reducing the size of big gifs/photos. Other than being a creative gifset effect, adding the gaussian blur softens the rough pixels. So feel free to increase the blur to your liking :)

[3.2] Add a gradient map over the big gif layer

To do this, check out step [2.5]. The colors I've chosen for this are grey for the highlights and black for the shadows. (I've reached the ten photo limit so you're only getting a description 😂)

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Fading-In 2 Scenes in 1 Gif Tutorial

[1] Create gifs of each scene separately

Make gifs like you normally would, apply coloring, sharpen, etc. then save. If you don't know how to make gifs yet, click here for some great tutorials.

NOTE: Make sure your gifs have the same dimensions. For example, the dimensions of all the gifs I'm making are 540px by 370px.

You can put your gifs side by side like this if you want to match the colors of the scenes (here's a tutorial):

[2] Prepare gifs for combination

NOTE: The steps in this section must be applied to each .gif file you saved in step [1].

2.1 Open your saved gif (.gif file, not .psd file) in Photoshop

To do this, you can either:

File > Open > [select your .gif files] (shortcut: command for Mac/Ctrl for Windows + O)

Right click on your .gif files > Open with > Photoshop

2.2 Convert to Video Frame Timeline

To do this, click on the first button in your Timeline window, highlighted in orange below:

2.3 Convert layers to Smart Object

To do this:

Select all layers (How? Select the layer at the bottom, then hold the Shift key while selecting the last layer).

Click the hamburger button "≡" on the right-hand corner of the Layers window.

Click "Convert to Smart Object".

NOTE: Doing this converts all layers into a single layer.

(Your layers could be named Layer 1, Layer 2, Layer 3, etc)

[3] Transfer gifs to one gif file

Make sure you the layers of all your gifs have already been converted into a Smart Object.

How I moved "Untitled-1.gif" (Falling scene) into "Untitled-2.psd" (cardigan scene):

Select the Move tool (shortcut: V)

Click and drag the Smart Object (Layer 49 in the example above) onto the Untitled-2.gif tab (the same way you would drag and drop a file into a folder on your desktop).

While still dragging, wait until the "Untitled-1.gif" tab automatically switches to "Untitled-2.gif" tab.

Drop the Smart Object you're dragging into the document.

Repeat steps 1–4 with the other gifs if you have more gifs to drag and drop.

[4] Center align your dragged gif(s)

To perfectly center align your dragged gif(s):

Select the Move tool (V)

Press command (Mac) / Ctrl (Windows) + A

At the top portion of Photoshop, click the buttons highlighted below:

[5] Put your gif layers in a single row

This is done in the Timeline window. To do this:

5.1 Zoom out your layers first as demonstrated in the example below. Doing this will make the next steps easier.

5.2 Select the layer at the top (Layer 57 in the example below).

5.3 Drag the top layer down beside the layer at the bottom (Layer 56 in the example).

5.4 Repeat steps 5.1 to 5.3 if you have more gifs.

NOTE: If you're okay with how your gif looks without the fade effect, you can stop at this step.

[6] Add a crossfade transition

To do this:

Select the Transition button, encircled in orange below

Click Cross Fade

Drag Cross Fade in between the two gif layers then drop it once a black rectangle appears

Apply steps 6.1 to 6.3 to the rest of the layers (if applicable).

TIP:

You can shorten the duration of the transition effect by selecting the second layer (Layer 57 in the example above) and dragging it to the right. To lengthen it, drag the layer to the left.

You can also set the duration time by changing the "1 s" under "Duration:" in the example. "s" means second.

When you're okay with your overall gif, save it like how you would normally save a gif and you're good to go!

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2 Gifs in 1 Canvas Tutorial

[1] Think about the gif dimensions

Before starting, think about what your final gif is going to look like. Here's my "thought process":

What I'm planning to make is the basic 2-in-1 gif that looks like two separate gifs.

The size of my individual gifs will be 268px (width) by 268px (height).

Add the width of both gifs and we get 536px.

Subtract the sum from 540px (the maximum Tumblr post width). The 4px difference is for the gap between the two gifs. The height is still the same, 268px.

[2] Create a new document

This is the document where you'll put the gifs side by side.

To create a new document, go to File (upper left-hand side) > New... (the shortcut is { Ctrl for Windows / command for Mac + N })

Type in your width and height. In the example above, 540px is the overall width and 268px is the height.

Make sure you've selected Pixels + have a Resolution of 72 + an RGB Color Mode

Click Create/OK

[3] Prepare document for gifs

Click "Create Frame Animation" in the Timeline window

Convert to Video Timeline. In the right-hand corner of the Timeline window, you will see an icon that looks like "≡". Click the hamburger button "≡" > Convert to Video Timeline. See demonstration below:

NOTE: If there's no Timeline window, go to the upper edge of Photoshop and select Window > Timeline (make sure it's checked).

Next, we'll be focusing on the gifs. We'll get back to this document after.

[4] Make the gifs separately

Make gifs like you normally would, apply coloring, sharpen, etc. then save. If you don't know how to make gifs yet, click here for some great tutorials.

[5] Prepare gifs for transfer

NOTE: The steps in this section must be applied to each .gif file.

5.1 Open your saved gif (.gif file, not .psd file) in Photoshop. To do this, you can either:

File > Open > [select your .gif files] (the shortcut is { Ctrl for Windows / command for Mac + O })

Right click on your .gif files > Open with > Photoshop

5.2 Convert to Video Frame Timeline. Check section [3] on how to convert it.

5.3 Convert layers to Smart Object. Now we're focusing on the Layers window which contains Layers 1, 2, 3 etc. or whatever your layers are named.

How I converted these layers into a Smart Object:

Select all layers (How? Select the layer at the bottom, hold the Shift key while selecting the last layer).

Click the hamburger button "≡" on the right-hand corner of the Layers window.

Look for "Convert to Smart Object" and click it.

NOTE: Doing this converts all layers into a single layer.

[6] Transfer gifs to document

How I moved "gif-1.gif" into "the document.psd":

Select the Move Tool (shortcut: press the letter V key).

Simply click and drag the Smart Object (named Layer 109 in this case) onto the tab of the document created in section [2] (the same way you would drag and drop a file into a folder on your desktop).

While still dragging, wait until the "gif-1.gif" tab automatically switches to "the document.psd" tab.

Drop the Smart Object you're dragging into the document.

Do steps 1–4 with the other gif(s).

Properly position your gifs in the document. In this case I positioned "gif-1" at the left and "gif-2" at the right.

In the Layers window, delete the Background layer (the one with the lock).

[7] Final adjustments

In the Timeline window, one gif layer is usually longer than the other. For the overall gif to work, all gifs within need to have the same length, otherwise it would look like this:

This is happening because the first gif is shorter than the second gif.

To fix this, simply move the end mark (what the green arrow's pointing to below) to where the gif with the shorter length ends as demonstrated below:

And then save like how you would normally save a gif and you're good to go!

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Let me know if there are any typos 😂

Please like/reblog if this has helped you and feel free to send a message for any questions and concerns! ♥︎

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