Edit your image or avatar normally with Photoshop. Once you're done, create a new layer
for each frame of the animation separatedly. Switch to Image Ready:
Open the animation window (Window > Animation) and the layers
window (Window > Layers) if you don't have them already opened. This
is the animation window, and a little information about it:
Now, basically to make it animated, you add frames and hide or show the layers you want
on each frame. Make sure that the frame that is selected (click on the frame to make it
active) is the one you want to change, or you'll end up with everything messed.
You can animate it as you want, but bear in mind that the more frames you use, the
bigger the file size will be. Change the frame delay time of each frame to make the
animation slower: short delay time = quick animation, long delay
time = slow animation. You can make the animation repeat only once, or limited
times instead of forever, to do this, click on the little arrow next to Forever
in the Animation window and change it to what you want.
You can change the image optimization properties at the Optimize window. It's quite the
same as what appears in Photoshop when you save an image for web. Animated images can't be
saved in jpg, always save them as *.gif files, or it won't be animated.
To save your avatar or animation, go to Edit > Save optimized as...
My final result:
Tutorial © Melfina. Do not reproduce in any way without previous permission from the author. Printed from http://celestial-star.net