How to Create Animations (GIFs)

Download GIMP. GIMP stands for GNU Image Processing Software, an open source image editing software. You can download it for free at gimp.org/downloads. With GIMP, you can edit your animation frame-by-frame, change the speed, and save it in an optimized format to make it run smoother.

Open the image file you want to convert to an animation. Choose File → Open from the menu above and select an image that is available on your computer. If you want to create the animation yourself, choose File → New .

• If you’re using a GIMP built-in animation with multiple layers, use the Image → Flatten Image command to merge the layers into one. ^[1] This layer will be a frame of the animation.

Add photos. If you have several photos that you want to turn into animations (such as a series of screenshots), open the images with the File → Open as Layers command. If you only have one image but still want to animate yourself, use the Duplicate Layers function in the “Layers” window on the left side of the screen. You can right-click the image icon and select Duplicate Layer , or click the two stacked image icon.

• Each layer will form an animation frame. The image in the bottom layer will appear first, then the image in the upper layers will appear in turn. You can change the order of images by drag and drop.
• The images must be the same size, or the larger image will be cropped when saving the animation.

Hide the upper layers to edit the bottom layer (optional). If you intend to edit the image or insert text, you need to hide the image layers above the image to be edited, otherwise you will not be able to see the edit. There are two ways to do this on the “Layers” window:

• Click the “eye” icon next to each photo to hide the layer. Click it again when you want to show the image.
• Or select an image layer and adjust the Opacity at the top of the Layers window. Low opacity makes the image transparent. This is quite useful when you want to insert text or edit on multiple frames, you can completely stack them together.

Frame correction (optional). You can learn more about GIMP’s other editing functions if you want, or just stick to the basic technique. Select the image you want to edit from the icon on the “Layers” window on the right side of the screen, and then follow these steps:

• On the “Toolbar” (Topbar) window on the left side, select the “Scale Top” (small square icon with an arrow pointing to the larger square) to resize the image. Image size in all layers must be the same.
• In the Toolbar window, select the “A” icon then click on the image to insert text. Type text and use the tool palette that appears to adjust the size, font, and color. Once done, use the Layer → Merge Down command to combine the text frame and the underlying image layer.

Review animation. After editing, choose Filters → Animation → Playback… in the upper menu. Click on the run icon on the window to see the animation.

Adjust time. Go to the “Layers” window, right-click (or press Ctrl and click on some Macs) the image layer. Select the Edit Layer Attributes command. After the name, type (XXXXms) , replacing the Xs with the number of milliseconds you want the layer to appear in. ^[2] Do the same for the remaining image layers. Open the Playback section to see the animation after editing, continue to adjust until satisfied.

• Most animations created from video typically run at 10 frames per second (100 milliseconds per frame).
• You can skip this step and choose the default speed when exporting files.

Optimized animations to run smoother. Choose Filter → Animation → Optimize (for GIF ). This will create a much smaller copy. Continue with the above step with the copy in the remaining steps.

• Before optimization, each frame was completely loaded (“replaced”). After optimization, only the edit area is loaded (“combined”). ^[3]
• You can skip this step and optimize the file export process.

Export files as Animations. Choose File → Export As…. Click Select File Type at the bottom of the window for more options, scroll down and select “GIF”. Select Export , a new window will appear, explained in more detail in the step below.