Understanding Animation
A quick display of an image sequence, or animation, creates the appearance of movement. In Photoshop, you can generate animation from your images. You can create an animation by making slight changes to several images, and then adjusting the timing between their appearances. When you convert an image to HTML for display on a web page, slices become cells in an HTML table and animations become files in object folders.
Extending Photoshop Skills to Video
Photoshop Extended and Apple QuickTime® application can be used to play and modify video. Almost any Photoshop skill you can apply to images can be applied to video clips. And you don’t have to invest in sophisticated, expensive video camera equipment to shoot video. Just about any commonly available point-and-shoot digital camera has the capability to shoot video. (So get ready to harness your inner-Scorsese!)
Fine-Tuning Images with Camera Raw
Images that you take with your own digital camera can be tweaked using Adobe Bridge and the Camera Raw dialog box. You can use the Camera Raw dialog box to adjust images in RAW format (as well as those in JPG and TIFF formats) while preserving all the original image data.
II. CREATE AND PLAY BASIC ANIMATION
Understanding Animation
You can use nearly any type of graphics image to create interesting animation effects. You can move objects in your image or overlap them so that they blend into one another. Once you place the images that you want to animate in a fi le, you can determine how and when you want the animation to play.
Creating Animation on the Animation Panel
Remember that an animation is nothing more than a series of still images displayed rapidly to give the illusion of motion. The Animation panel displays a thumbnail of the animation image in each frame. A frame is an individual image that is used in animation. When you create a new frame on the Animation panel, you duplicate the current frame, and can then modify the duplicate frame as desired. The layers that are visible on the Layers panel appear in the selected frame, and thus, in the animation. Here’s all that’s involved in creating a simple animation:
â Place images on layers in the fi le.
â Hide all but one layer.
â Duplicate the frame, turn off the displayed layer, and then turn on the layer you want to see.
Animating Images
If you look at the Layers panel in Figure below, you’ll see that there are images on two layers. The Animation panel contains two frames: one for each of the layers. When frame 1 is selected, the man appears in the image; when frame 2 is selected, the woman appears. When the animation is played, the images of the man and woman alternate.
Moving and Deleting Frames
To move a frame to a different spot, click the frame on the Animation panel, and drag it to a new location. To select contiguous frames, press and hold [Shift ], and then click the frames you want to include. To select noncontiguous frames, press and hold [Ctrl] (Win) or (Mac), and then click the frames you want to include. You can delete a frame by clicking it on the Animation panel, and then dragging it to the Deletes selected frames button on the Animation panel.
Looping the Animation
You can set the number of times the animation plays by clicking the Selects looping options list arrow on the Animation panel, and then clicking Once, 3 times, Forever, or Other. When you select Other, the Set Loop Count dialog box opens, where you can enter the loop number you want.
Previewing the Animation
When you’re ready to preview an animation, you have Animeonline a few choices:
â You can use the buttons on the bottom of the Animation panel. When you click the Plays animation button, the animation plays.
â You can preview and test the animation in your browser by clicking the Preview the optimized image in a browser button in the Save for Web & Devices dialog box.
Converting Animation Frames to a Timeline
By default, the Animation panel displays frames, but you can change the panel so it shows a timeline. You change the display by clicking the Convert to timeline animation button in the lower-right corner of the Animation (Frames) panel. (Return to displaying frames by clicking the Convert to frame animation button when the timeline is displayed.) Figure below shows the Animation (Timeline) panel. As you drag the bars for each of the layers in the animation, the image updates to show the effect of your changes. By default, the Animation panel displays frames, but you can change the panel so it shows a timeline. You change the display by clicking the Convert to timeline animation button in the lower-right corner of the Animation (Frames) panel. (Return to displaying frames by clicking the Convert to frame animation button when the timeline is displayed.) Figure below shows the Animation (Timeline) panel. As you drag the bars for each of the layers in the animation, the image updates to show the effect of your changes.