How to Get an Animated Background

Animate the backgrounds of your images by using image manipulation programs to create the frames for an animated GIF. Make sure you chose a program with layering features before starting this project. Layers are virtual transparencies that form a complete image when stacked atop one another. Layers can also become the frames of an animated sequence, including a sequence you can store as an animated GIF. GIFs can only store 256 colors, so image quality may decrease when you animate a background.

Instructions

Paint.NET

1. Click the File menu's "Open" command, and then navigate to and double-click a picture whose background you'd like to animate. Paint.NET will load the image.

2. Click the toolbar icon shaped like a blue balloon to enter selection mode. Drag the mouse over the outline separating the foreground from the background to select the background. Press and "Control" and "X" simultaneously to cut out the background.

3. Click the "Layer" panel's page icon to create a new layer, and then press "Control" and "V" simultaneously to paste the cutout background onto the new layer.

4. Press "Control" and "S" simultaneously to display the "Save" dialog. Type a file name in the "Name" text box, and then click "Save" to save the file.

5. Click the toolbar icon shaped like a "+" symbol to run the "Move" tool, and then drag on the canvas to move the background. Save the revised image with a new filename. Move the background at least two more times, and save each image with a new filename.

6. Open a GIF animation service such as Picasion, Make a GIF or GIF Ninja in your Web browser. Follow the service's instructions to create an animated GIF from the images you created.

GIMP

1. Click the "File" menu's "Open' command, and then navigate to and double-click a picture whose background you'd like to animate.

2. Click the "Tools" panel icon shaped like a lasso, and then drag on the background of the image you loaded to select the background. Press "Control" and "X" simultaneously, then press "Control" and "V" simultaneously to paste the background as a new layer.

3. Press "Control" and "V" simultaneously at least twice more to create enough frames for an animation. Click the second highest row in the "Layers" panel to select the layer for editing.

4. Click the "Tools" panel icon shaped like a four-headed arrow to run the "Move" tool, and then drag on the canvas to move the background.

5. Move the backgrounds of the remaining layers in the "Layers" panel, and then click the "File" menu's "Save as" command. Type any filename ending in ".GIF," and then click "Save." Click the "Animation" option of the dialog that appears to save the file as an animated GIF.

Photoshop

1. Click the "File" menu's "Open' command, and then navigate to and double-click a picture you'd like to make an animated background for.

2. Click the lasso icon from the "Tools" panel, and then drag over the background's outline to select the background. Press "Control" and "X" simultaneously to cut the background to the clipboard.

3. Press "Control" and "V" simultaneously at least three times to paste the background onto separate layers. Click the second highest row in the "Layers" panel, and then press "V" to run the "Move" tool.

4. Drag on the canvas to move the background, and then move the background for the remaining layers in the "Layers" panel.

5. Click the "Animation" panel's "Make frames from layers" command to create the animation's frames. Click the "Save for Web" command from the "File" menu, and then type a filename for the GIF in the dialog that appears.

References

• dotPDN: Paint.NET Move tool
• GIMP User Manual; GIMP documentation team; 2009
• Photoshop CS5 Bible; Lisa Dayley; 2010

Resources

• Picasion: Make an Animated GIF
• Make a GIF: Make an Animated GIF
• GIF Ninja: Make an Animated GIF