Online freebies are good for the quick creation of an animated GIF, but limits on size and resolution, and common watermarks, are annoying. So, a better way is to use dedicated image software, in particular Photoshop. Oddly, the instructions for animation were not obvious (to me at least), so here it goes.
Open Photoshop (I have CS6)
File > Scripts > Load Files into Stack.
Open the set of images you want animated, and click OK.
Make sure you can see the Timeline panel in Photoshop (otherwise, Window > Timeline )
In the Timeline panel, click “Make Frames From Layers” on the drop down menu in upper right, which loads the individual images. [or, hit "Create Frame animation"]
Highlight images in Timeline and select time (all or individually) by clicking on the default time below an image. Note that you can reverse image order in Timeline by clicking on “Reverse Frames” in dropdown.
Lastly, select Once or Forever at bottom menu in Timeline panel.
Then we are ready to create the animated gif. Click File/Export > Save for Web in Photoshop, which opens a new window that shows the top image and allows several tweaks (like size, looping). Other options abound (overwhelming for novice user like me) that can be ignored for now.
Click “Save…”, and voila. Some examples below.
Open Photoshop (I have CS6)
File > Scripts > Load Files into Stack.
Open the set of images you want animated, and click OK.
Make sure you can see the Timeline panel in Photoshop (otherwise, Window > Timeline )
In the Timeline panel, click “Make Frames From Layers” on the drop down menu in upper right, which loads the individual images. [or, hit "Create Frame animation"]
Highlight images in Timeline and select time (all or individually) by clicking on the default time below an image. Note that you can reverse image order in Timeline by clicking on “Reverse Frames” in dropdown.
Lastly, select Once or Forever at bottom menu in Timeline panel.
Then we are ready to create the animated gif. Click File/Export > Save for Web in Photoshop, which opens a new window that shows the top image and allows several tweaks (like size, looping). Other options abound (overwhelming for novice user like me) that can be ignored for now.
Click “Save…”, and voila. Some examples below.
Or faster.
I found this site most helpful, and it includes steps for older Photoshop versions as well: http://www.briandalessandro.com/blog/create-an-animated-gif-in-photoshop-cs5/
