how to make a gif icon from a gif really quickly
alright kids, time for a tutorial. i got a couple questions about how i make my gif icons so quickly, so i’m here to explain. i recommend starting out with a regular sized gif you made. (note: i’m using photoshop cc 2015 and a mac computer, but i’m sure this can be applied to other versions.)
step 1: open your gif or series of gifs in photoshop.
this is how my workspace looks, with my timeline & frames of the gif at the bottom and layers of the gif on the right side below the color picker.
step 2: set your cropping tool.
in the upper left corner of my workspace, i select my cropping tool and set my dimensions. i like 80px x 80px gif icons, so i set them to that size.
step 3: crop your gif.
if your gif is square like mine, you just have to double click it and it will be automatically resized to 80 x 80. if it’s rectangular, just drag the tool until you have the area you want and double click.
step 4 ( **important** ): select all frames & select the top layer.
this step is important so that your psd lasts the whole gif. highlight (shift + click) from the first frame all the way to the last. then go to your layers and select the top one.
step 5: add your psd.
to save as much time as possible, i saved my psd in a document along with the texture i use set to the right fill/opacity that i like, so all i have to do is drag the group with the psd over the gif i just cropped.
hopefully you see that you just drag and drop the psd group of layers onto the gif.
step 6: make your save action.
unfortunately, photoshop isn’t smart enough to actually find the folder where you save your gif icons on your computer unless you keep one on your desktop (or somewhere that doesn’t change). so i have actions for each of the people i icon regularly that leads to their specific folder on my desktop. how do you make the action though? no worries. i show you.
to the right of where i’ve opened my gif, i have actions in a panel. this is where you make an action. press the button with the folded corner. name your action whatever you want (it doesn’t really matter) and press okay.
press command + alt + shift + S to export/save for web. selecting file > export > save for web is the long way to do that. we’re just saving time. when the window pops up to save...
click save and find the specific folder on your desktop you want to save each gif icon in. this does not have to be named the same thing as your action --- mine just happens to be. if you’re opening the gif from tumblr, it should be automatically called something like tumblr_328m47x2n40.gif.
press save. your action panel after this should look like this.
now click the x on the tab of your gif icon. yep, close out of the gif without touching the action panel. if it asks if you want to save the document, say no.
now your action panel should look like this. press the stop button as indicated.
you're done! now you have an action to save your gif icons into the folder you selected.
say you’ve opened 50 gifs into photoshop. that’s when this saves tons of time. just go from step one to step five, then press play on your action. it will save it into that folder automatically without you having to wait for the save to web window to pop up and then finding the folder. i hope this helps, and if you have any questions, i’ll try to clarify! my inbox is open.
