Video and animation overview

You can use Photoshop to edit individual frames of video and image sequence files. In addition to using any Photoshop tool to edit and paint on video, you can also apply filters, masks, transformations, layers styles, and blending modes. After making edits, you can save the document as a PSD file (that can be played back in other Adobe applications such as Premiere Pro and After Effects or accessed as a static file in other applications), or you can render it as a QuickTime movie or image sequence.

When you open a video file or image sequence in Photoshop, the frames are contained within a video layer. In the Layers panel, a video layer is identified with a filmstrip icon . Video layers let you paint and clone on individual frames using the brush tools and stamp tools. Like working with regular layers, you can create selections or apply masks to restrict your edits to specific areas of a frame. You navigate through the frames using the timeline mode in the Animation panel (Window > Animation).

You work with video layers just like regular layers by adjusting the blending mode, opacity, position, and layer style. You can also group video layers in the Layers panel. Adjustment layers let you apply color and tonal adjustments non-destructively to the video layers.

If you prefer to make your frame edits on a separate layer, you can create a blank video layer. Blank video layers also let you create hand-drawn animations.

Supported video and image sequence formats

You can open video files and image sequences in the following formats.

QuickTime video formats

• MPEG‑1 (.mpg or .mpeg)

• MPEG‑4 (.mp4 or .m4v)

• MOV

• AVI

• MPEG‑2 is supported if an MPEG‑2 encoder is installed on your computer.

Image sequence formats

• BMP

• DICOM

• JPEG

• OpenEXR

• PNG

• PSD

• Targa

• TIFF

• Cineon and JPEG 2000 are supported if the plug‑ins are installed.

Color mode and bit depth

Video layers can contain files in the following color modes and bits per channel (bpc):

• Grayscale: 8, 16, or 32 bpc

• RGB: 8, 16, or 32 bpc

• CMYK: 8 or 16 bpc

• Lab: 8 or 16 bpc

Animation panel overview

An animation is a sequence of images, or frames, that is displayed over time. Each frame varies slightly from the preceding frame, creating the illusion of movement or other changes when the frames are viewed in quick succession.

In the standard edition of earlier versions of Photoshop, the Animation panel (Window > Animation) appears in frame mode, showing a thumbnail of each frame in your animation. Use the tools at the bottom of the panel to navigate through the frames, set looping options, add and delete frames, and preview the animation.

The Animation panel menu contains additional commands for editing frames or timeline durations, and for configuring the panel display. Click the panel menu icon to view available commands.

You can use the Animation panel in either frame mode or timeline mode. Timeline mode shows the frame duration and animation properties for document layers. Use the tools at the bottom of the panel to navigate through frames, zoom the time display in or out, toggle onion skin mode, delete keyframes, and preview the video. You can use controls on the timeline itself to adjust frame duration for a layer, set keyframes for layer properties, and designate a section of the video as the working area.

In timeline mode, the Animation panel displays each layer in a Photoshop document (except the background layer) and is synchronized with the Layers panel. Whenever a layer is added, deleted, renamed, grouped, duplicated, or assigned a color, the changes are updated in both panels.

Frame mode controls

In frame mode, the Animation panel includes the following controls:

Sets the number of times an animation plays when exported as an animated GIF file.

Sets the duration of a frame during playback.

Adds a series of frames between two existing frames, interpolating (varying) the layer properties evenly between the new frames.

Adds a frame to the animation by duplicating the selected frame in the Animation panel.

Converts a frame animation to timeline animation using keyframes to animate layer properties.

Timeline mode controls

In timeline mode, the Animation panel includes the following features and controls:

Displays a green bar to indicate the frames that are cached for playback.

Choose Edit Timeline Comment from the panel menu to insert a text comment at the current time. Comments appear as icons  in the comments track. Move the pointer over these icons to display comments as tool tips. Double-click these icons to revise comments. To navigate from one comment to the next, click the Go To Previous  or Go To Next  buttons at the far left of the Comments track.

Converts a timeline animation using keyframes to frame animation.

Shows the timecode or frame number (depending on panel options) for the current frame.

Drag the current-time indicator to navigate frames or change the current time or frame.

Displays keyframes where you set and change the master lighting angle for layer effects such as Drop Shadow, Inner Shadow, and Bevel and Emboss.

Arrow buttons to the left of a track label move the current-time indicator to the previous or next keyframe from its current position. Click the center button to add or delete a keyframe at the current time.

Specifies a layer’s place in time within a video or animation. To move the layer to another place in time, drag the bar. To trim (adjust the duration of) a layer, drag either end of the bar.

For video layers, displays a duration bar for altered frames. To jump to altered frames, use the keyframe navigator to the left of the track label.

Measures duration (or frame count) horizontally, according to the document’s duration and frame rate. (Choose Document Settings from the panel menu to change duration or frame rate.) Tick marks and numbers appear along the ruler and change in spacing with the zoom setting of the timeline.

Enables or disables keyframing for a layer property. Select this option to insert a keyframe and enable keyframing for a layer property. Deselect to remove all keyframes and disable keyframing for a layer property.

Includes functions affecting keyframes, layers, panel appearance, onion skinning, and document settings.

Drag the blue tab at either end of the topmost track to mark the specific portion of the animation or video that you want to preview or export.

Change thumbnail size

In the Animation panel, you can change the size of the thumbnails that represent each frame or layer.

Switch timeline units

You can display the Animation panel timeline in either frame number or timecode units.

• To select units to display, choose Panel Options from the Animation panel menu and select Frame Numbers or Timecode.
• To toggle between units, Alt-click (Windows) or Option-click (Mac OS) the current-time display in the upper-left corner of the timeline.

Show or hide layer properties in the timeline

As you add layers to a document, they appear as tracks in the timeline. Expand layer tracks to show layer properties that can be animated.

Show or hide layers in the timeline

All document layers appear in the timeline by default. To show only a subset of layers, first set them as favorites.

Navigate the timeline

Switch animation modes

You can use the Animation panel in either frame or timeline animation mode. Frame mode shows each separate frame, letting you set unique duration and layer properties for each. Timeline mode shows frames in a continuous timeline, letting you animate properties with keyframes and play video layers.

Ideally, you should select the mode you want before starting an animation. However, it’s possible to switch animation modes in an open document, converting a frame animation to a timeline animation, or vice versa.

Specify timeline duration and frame rate

When you are working in timeline mode, you can specify the duration and frame rate of a document containing video or animation. Duration is the overall time length of the video clip, from the first frame you specify to the last. Frame rate or frames per second (fps), is usually determined by the type of output you produce: NTSC video has a frame rate of 29.97 fps; PAL video has a frame rate of 25 fps; and motion picture film has a frame rate of 24 fps. Depending on the broadcast system, DVD video can have the same frame rate as NTSC video or PAL video, or a frame rate of 23.976. Video intended for CD‑ROM or the web typically has a frame rate of 10 to 15 fps.

When you create a new document, the default timeline duration is 10 seconds. The frame rate depends on the chosen document preset. For non-video presets (like International Paper), the default rate is 30 fps. For video presets, the rate is 25 fps for PAL and 29.97 for NTSC.