How to Build an Animated Witch

Create your own animation of a witch with a broom.

If you want to create a simple Halloween animation for a website, online ad or eCard, you might want to have a scary character moving through the scene, such as a witch flying through on a broomstick. You could do this in such as way that the witch seems to continually fly out one side and then back in from the other. There are several programs you can use to create the effect, but if you want to avoid anything complex, you can use the Paint and Movie Maker applications.

Instructions

1. Load an image of a witch on a broom and a background image onto your computer.

2. Start Paint. Select "File" from the menu and choose "Open." In the dialog, browse to and open the witch image.

3. Use the "Freehand" selection tool to select the witch in the image. Select "Edit" from the menu and choose "Copy." Open the background image.

4. Select "Edit" and choose "Paste." Position the witch where you want her in the first frame. Select "File" from the menu and choose "Save As." Name the file "1" and save the image to a folder.

5. Select "Edit" and click "Undo" until the pasted witch is gone. Then repeat Step 4 and place the witch where you want in the second frame. Keep repeat this process to produce all the frames for you animation, saving them with sequential numbers to the same folder.

6. Open Movie Maker. Go to the panel on the left and click "Import Pictures." In the dialog, browse to and select the images you saved to the folder. They will appear in the bin at the top.

7. Drag each image one by one into the timeline in the order you want for the animation. Each will appear as a clip in the timeline. Place your cursor over the end of each clip as you add it, hold down the left mouse button and drag the clip to adjust its duration. Click "Play" in the preview to watch your animation. Save your work.

References

• MadeMan: How To Edit Pivot Animations On Windows Movie Maker
• Windows: Paint Tools