Create an animated GIF in Photoshop

Discover how to create an animated banner with Photoshop CS4

01 The size and resolution

Among the array of various banner sizes, the full horizontal banner, box out and skyscraper are some of the most popular sizes. File>New brings out the new document dialog box, where it’s important to input the correct values to ensure the right size and resolution. 468×80 pixel at 72dpi is needed for the full horizontal banner.

02 Call to action message

After multiple layers are created for each slide, you can access the Animation menu via Menu>View>Animation. To make the animation a little more interesting, you can duplicate the text layers, rasterize them, use motion blur and insert in between each transition to make the result nice and smooth, and more intriguing.

03 Sequence

Depending on the banner placement of the animated banner, some web administrators require the animation to stop after a certain amount of time. In other cases the animation can stay looped ‘forever’. Set frame time below each slide and prepare the final GIF file via Save for Web function. It’s possible to tweak final options before you save.