Create frame animations

In Photoshop, you use the Timeline panel to create animation frames. Each frame represents a configuration of layers.

To create frame-based animations in Photoshop, use the following general workflow.

Open a new document.

If they are not already visible, open the Timeline, and Layers panels. Make sure the Timeline panel is in frame animation mode. In the middle of the Timeline panel, click the downpointing arrow to choose Create Frame Animation and then click the button next to the arrow.

Add a layer or convert the background layer.

Because a background layer cannot be animated, add a new layer or convert the background layer to a regular layer. See Convert background and layers.

Add content to your animation.

If your animation includes several objects that are animated independently, or if you want to change the color of an object or completely change the content in a frame, create the objects on separate layers.

Add a frame to the Timeline panel.

See Add frames to an animation.

Select a frame.

See Select animation frames.

Edit the layers for the selected frame.

Do any of the following:

• Turn visibility on and off for different layers.

• Change the position of objects or layers to make layer content move.

• Change layer opacity to make content fade in or out.

• Change the blending mode of layers.

• Add a style to layers.

  Photoshop provides tools for keeping characteristics of a layer the same across frames. See Unifying layer properties in animation frames.

Add more frames and edit layers as needed.

The number of frames you can create is limited only by the amount of system memory available to Photoshop.

You can generate new frames with intermediate changes between two existing frames in the panel using the Tween command. This is a quick way to make an object move across the screen or to fade in or out. See Create frames using tweening.

Set frame delay and looping options.

You can assign a delay time to each frame and specify looping so that the animation runs once, a certain number of times, or continuously. See Specify a delay time in frame animations and Specify looping in frame animations.

Preview the animation.

Use the controls in the Timeline panel to play the animation as you create it. Then use the Save For Web command to preview the animation in your web browser. 

Optimize the animation for efficient download.

See Optimize animation frames.

Save the animation.

There are different options for saving your frame animation:

• Save as an animated GIF using the Save For Web command.

• Save in Photoshop (PSD) format so you can do more work on the animation later.

• Save as an image sequence, QuickTime movie, or as separate files. See also Export video files or image sequences.

Add frames to an animation

Adding frames is the first step in creating an animation. If you have an image open, the Timeline panel displays the image as the first frame in a new animation. Each frame you add starts as a duplicate of the preceding frame. You then make changes to the frame using the Layers panel.

Select animation frames

Before you can work with a frame, you must select it as the current frame. The contents of the current frame appear in the document window.

In the Timeline panel, the current frame is indicated by a narrow border (inside the shaded selection highlight) around the frame thumbnail. Selected frames are indicated by a shaded highlight around the frame thumbnails.

Select one animation frame

Select multiple animation frames

Edit animation frames

Unify layer properties in animation frames

The unify buttons (Unify Layer Position, Unify Layer Visibility, and Unify Layer Style) in the Layers panel determine how the changes you make to attributes in the active animation frame apply to the other frames in the same layer. When a unify button is selected, that attribute is changed in all the frames in the active layer; when that button is deselected, changes apply to only the active frame.

The Propagate Frame 1 option in the Layers panel also determines how the changes you make to attributes in the first frame will apply to the other frames in the same layer. When it is selected, you can change an attribute in the first frame, and all subsequent frames in the active layer will change in relation to the first frame (and preserve the animation you have already created).

Unify layer properties

Propagate Frame 1

Show or hide unify layers buttons

Copy frames with layer properties

To understand what happens when you copy and paste a frame, think of a frame as a duplicate version of an image with a given layer configuration. When you copy a frame, you copy the configurations of layers (including each layer's visibility setting, position, and other properties). When you paste a frame, you apply that layer configuration to the destination frame.

Create frames using tweening

The term tweening is derived from "in betweening," the traditional animation term used to describe this process. Tweening (also called interpolating) significantly reduces the time required to create animation effects such as fading in or fading out, or moving an element across a frame. You can edit tweened frames individually after you create them.

You use the Tween command to automatically add or modify a series of frames between two existing frames—varying the layer properties (position, opacity, or effect parameters) evenly between the new frames to create the appearance of movement. For example, if you want to fade out a layer, set the opacity of the layer in the starting frame to 100%; then set the opacity of the same layer in the ending frame to 0%. When you tween between the two frames, the opacity of the layer is reduced evenly across the new frames.

Add a new layer for each new frame

The Create New Layer For Each New Frame command automatically adds a new layer visible in the new frame but hidden in other frames. This option saves time when you are creating an animation that requires you to add a new visual element to each frame.

Hide layers in animation frames

When you create a new layer, it is visible in all animation frames by default.

• To show new layers only in active frames, deselect New Layers Visible In All Frames from the Timeline panel menu.

• To hide a layer in a specific frame, select the frame, and then hide the desired layer in the Layers panel.

Specify a delay time in frame animations

You can specify a delay—the time that a frame is displayed—for single frames or for multiple frames in an animation. Delay time is displayed in seconds. Fractions of a second are displayed as decimal values. For example, one-quarter of a second is specified as .25. If you set a delay on the current frame, every frame you create after that will remember and apply that delay value.

Choose a frame disposal method

The frame disposal method specifies whether to discard the current frame before displaying the next frame. You select a disposal method for animations that include background transparency to specify whether the current frame will be visible through the transparent areas of the next frame.

The Disposal Method icon indicates whether the frame is set to Do Not Dispose  or Dispose . (No icon appears when Disposal Method is set to Automatic.)

Specify looping in frame animations

You select a looping option to specify how many times the animation sequence repeats when played.

Delete an entire animation