Do you say jif or gif ? This ever-lasting debate has been dividing the Internets since the dawn of time. Whatever is your take on this subject, with the increased popularity of the reaction GIFs across social plateforms, it can come handy to know how to make your own personalized GIFs.

I will teach you today how to create GIFs both from scratch and from a video. Don’t forget that even if this may seem basic, sky is the limit so open Photoshop, grab some creativity and let the fun begins !

Create a GIF from scratch

1. Open Photoshop and create a new project: File > New (⌘+N or Ctrl + N) The ideal size is around 150×200 px.
2. Create a layer for each frame: Layer > New > Layer (⇧+⌘+N or ⇧+Ctrl+N)
3. Import or create the content you want to animate (text, pictures, symbols and so on)
4. Show the video timeline tool: Window > Timeline. This is the tool we are gonna use to animate your gif
5. Click the dropdown menu in the video timeline tool and select Create Fram Animation.
6. Click the top right button in the video timeline tool and select Make Frames From Layers. This will import all your layers as frame for you GIF.
7. Choose how many times you want your gif to repeat. I would advise to choose “Forever” in order to have an endless animation.
8. Adjust the timing of each frame to your liking.
9. When everything seems perfect, go to File > Export > Save for Web (⎇+⇧+⌘+S or Alt+⇧+Ctrl+S). Choose the option GIF 128 Dithered and save !

Create a GIF from a video

1. Get a video clip (from Youtube, a movie, your last family holiday)
2. Open Photoshop and import the video: File > Import > Video Frames to Layers. You can either choose to import the whole video or only a part of it.
3. To save it, go to File > Export > Save for Web (⎇+⇧+⌘+S or Alt+⇧+Ctrl+S). Choose the option GIF 128 Dithered and save !

Tip : you can also add some layers over the video. For this, refers to the method above.

Bonus : Integrate them in WeChat

To add your precious creation to your WeChat stickers gallery, send them to yourself or someone, then you will be able to click on it and add them as stickers, like you are probably already doing when your friends send you some !

And Voilà !