Creating an animated gif using PhotoShop/ImageReady
In the event that you are interested in making
animations of comets or asteroids , here are the steps that I use.
Instead of combining your sub frames as you
normally would do to create a single image, to create an animation, you
will process each exposure separately. Do this using your favorite
processing program.
I happen to used
Nebulosity 3. This version of Nebulosity allows you to create a
macro while processing an image and then play that macro back to
process the remaining exposures. this gives you consistency across all
the subs.
Once the exposures have been processed
the way you want them, import them into PhotoShop. I'm still using
PhotoShop 6 though I think these steps will also work for newer
versions. Obviously if you use PhotoShop to process the subs, you will
be already there.
When you import the exposures into PS
make sure that you have them labeled so that you can keep them in
the proper sequence. You don't want the final image jumping around but
rather follow a nice steady path.
CLICK IMAGE to enlarge
Now that you have the images in
PhotoShop you will want to create an image where each of the exposures
is a separate layer.
- Make sure that your layers pallet is open by
clicking on WINDOW> Show Layers
- Select the first image by clicking on it.
- Click on IMAGE>Duplicate and give it a name,
if you want. This will put the first image in as the background of
the new file.
- Click the second image and press the CTRL and
A to select the image for copying.
- Press CTRL and C to copy the image
- Click on the NEW file to activate if and
press CTRL and V to paste it as a layer onto the new image.
Do steps 4 thru 6 for each exposure.
At this point you should have all the
exposures in layers in the new file as pictured above. Now it's time to
build the animation.
Click on the ImageReady button on the
tool bar as shown above to launch it.
CLICK IMAGE to enlarge
ImageReady should open up and look something
like the above picture. You will notice that the layers pallet is
visible and your image has been imported into ImageReady.
To create the animation click on the menu button
of the animation pallet as indicated above. Then click on MAKE FRAMES
FROM LAYERS. This will copy the layers into the animation pallet.
You can click on the arrows on the animation pallet
to view the animation. At this point I would put a bit of a delay
between each frame. In the above picture I have chosen a .5 second
delay.
When the animation is set up to your liking, all
that is left is to save the animation as a GIF. Simply click on FILE
>SAVE OPTIMIZED AS... . Choose the name of the file and location.
You can view the animation in your browser by
opening the browser and clicking on your animation file and dragging it
onto the browser window. Alternatively you can right click on the GIF
and select OPEN WITH and the select your browser. You can also copy it
to your web site where visitors can view it on line.
That's all that there is to it. Go out there and
shoot some comets and asteroids. |
