How to Make an Animation Using GIMP Freeware

GIMP is a powerful image editing program available for free (see link below). In this article we will show you how to use the software to make animations. In this example, we will use a still image and turn it into a simple home movie title. There are a few animation types that can be selected; we will use the wave animation, which makes an image look as if a pebble was dropped into a smooth pond.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• GIMP 2.0 or later running on a PC
• A copy of an image for experimentation

1. Original Image Open your saved file in GIMP. The accompanying image is a five-candle candelabra that we created specifically for using as an image for home movie titles.
2. Waves Control Frame Under the FILTERS menu, select ANIMATION and WAVES to open up the waves control panel. Notice you can choose the amount of frames for your animation. More frames will create a longer animation. Since we can eventually change the timing of this animation in our video editing program, we selected 10 frames. This will create a relatively short sequence. We can also adjust the amplitude and wavelength for the animation. You can experiment with these to change the nature of the wave.
3. Image Window after Rendering Once you click OK, the program will begin rendering. When it is finished you will see a still image of the effect in the image window. To view the animation, choose FILTERS/ANIMATION and PLAYBACK
4. Text Control Panel Since we want to make this into a movie title, we want to add some text. Add the text AFTER creating the animation otherwise your text will also be wavy. Select the Text tool and click on the image where you want to insert the text.
5. Edit Text Select color and font, color and other text attributes as you would when adding text to any image. In this case, we wanted the font color to come close to the color of the candlelight.
6. Final Image The image is now the way we want it with the text in the proper place for the final frame.
7. Save the Image To save the image, select SAVE AS from the FILE menu. Expand the file types. There are a couple of animation types to choose from. We will save this as a GIF animation and therefore select GIF from the file type menu.
8. Export File Once you click EXPORT you will get another dialog box. You MUST choose SAVE AS ANIMATION or you will only save a still image. You can preview your final image by just double-clicking on the saved file.

Tips & Warnings

• When downloading GIMP, make sure you download the help system. It is a separate download and also free.
• You can adjust the timing of the animation with your video editing program.
• GIF Animations are relatively low resolution and perfect for the web, but you may want to save to an alternative file format if making a home DVD.
• Always work with copies of your images to preserve your image archive.