This tutorial is created using PSCS3 but can also be used for other Photoshop versions with a few minor changes.
This tutorial will cover the basic idea of animating a layout. More elaborate animations can be achieved using the same methods.
Select (or create) the layout you wish to animate. Decide which elements of the layout you wish to animate. This could be a photo or a design element.
Resize the layout to 1200x1200 (for square format) and merge all layers that will not be animated. In this layout I plan to only animate the butterflies.
Open the animation palette by going to Window> Animation
The animation palette will open to the workspace.
The first frame will show exactly as your layout does. Click on the animation palette menu in the top right hand corner and select New Frame.
Make changes to this frame by moving the elements on the layout. My aim is to have these butterflies fly about the layout so for this frame I am going to move each butterfly into a new position to follow a flight path. Reposition the elements by a small amount, to imply movement rather than a dissappearing and reappearing act.
Create a New Frame and make further movements
Continue creating New Frames and making changes to the position of the elements to follow the path of the movement you require. You can create just a few frames or many – though the more frames the larger the file size will be. This animation has a total of 10 frames. In each the butterflies have been moved to a new position.
Test the movement by pressing the Play button on the animation palette. Press stop and make any changes as desired. Should you dislike a frame you can delete it or make a change to it by clicking the frame and making the alteration.
Decide how long you wish each frame to play. You can select any time frame or varying time frames for each frame by clicking on the small arrow beneath each frame.
The loop option should be set to Forever.
Once you are happy with animation, select File> Save for Web and Devices
In the Save window, make sure you are on the Optimized tab.
Change the file type to GIF by clicking on the Preset menu and choosing GIF 128 Dithered
Go down to the Image Size tab and resize the image to 500x500px. Click Apply
The file size of these type of gifs are large (the file size is shown in the left bottom hand corner of the Save window). You may be able to reduce it somewhat by trying any of the following however carefully watch the preview to gauge the effect on your layout.
You may be able to decrease the size by increasing the lossy amount.
Dependent upon the layout you may also be able to reduce the number of colors to reduce file size however this often has an overall detrimental effect, by desaturating the colors
You can also decrease the amount of dither, again carefully watch the preview to gauge the effect on your layout.
Once you are happy with the balance between the file size and the display, save the animated layout.
Gifs of this size would be a drain on your gallery hosts bandwidth and in most cases the file size would be too big for the size requirement of most galleries.
You will most likely need to host the layout on your own space (such as www.Photobucket.com) and insert the Image link into the description of your post.
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