Motion Trail Tag

I claim the copyright to this tutorial.  You are free to do whatever you please with what you make, but please do not take my tutorial.  Do not send the tutorial through email.  Only share my link.

This tutorial is intended for a beginner to learn about setting up image ready for animation.  If you have any questions, please feel free to email me.

To do this tutorial you will also need Photoshop CS.  You may download a free trial at Adobe.

Remember to save as a .psd file often!

You will need this eagle tube, or some other bird in flight tube.

1.  Open up a new image with WHITE background, size = 500 x 500 pixels. Your image must have a background because the blur part is partially transparent.

2.  Open up the image tube.  From the Layer palette, left-click on the tube layer and drag that tube layer over to the white background and release the mouse.  Now the eagle is a new layer on that image.  With the mover tool, move the eagle into place in the lower right corner (see below).

3.  Right-click on the Eagle layer and choose Duplicate layer.

4.  Click on the eye of the top eagle layer to HIDE that layer, and click on the bottom eagle layer to highlight it.

5. In the top menu, click Filters > Blur > Motion Blur.   Set Angle = -32, and Distance = 200 pixels.  (You may have to adjust these settings to your liking if you are using a different tube.)

6.  With the mover tool, center the blur layer, then click on the eagle layer and move the eagle so that it is on the right edge of the blur.

7.  In the top menu, click Layers > Merge Visible.

8.  Right-click on the merged layer and choose Duplicate Layer. 

9.  Duplicate again and again and again, so that you end up with 4 eagle layers.

10.  In the Layer Palette, click on the 2nd eagle layer from the TOP.  We will be working downward in the Layer Palette.

11.  In the top menu, click Edit > Transform > Scale.  In the Scale toolbar at the top, click on the lock icon (circled) and then change the width = 80%.  Press the Check mark to apply.

12.  In the Layer Palette, click on the 3rd eagle layer down.  In the top menu, click Edit > Transform > Scale.  In the Scale toolbar at the top, click on the lock icon, and then change the width = 60%.  Press the Check mark to apply.

13.  In the Layer Palette, click on the 4th (last)  eagle layer down.  In the top menu, click Edit > Transform > Scale. In the Scale toolbar at the top, click on the lock icon, and then change the width = 40%.  Press the Checkmark to apply.  Your image should look something like below:

14.  With the mover tool, click on each eagle layer and spread them out on the image as below.

16.  Choose a foreground color to match your tube.  Then choose the text tool with a font of your choice (I chose size = 108 for Zapfino Linotype 3 font)  and type your name.  Press the checkmark.  Right-click on the text layer and choose Rasterize.

17.  Rotate your name so that it is at the same angle as your bird.  In top menu, click Edit > Transform > Rotate.  With the left mouse button grab one of the corner nodes and drag it upward until the name is rotated the right angle.

18.  Now save this in PSD format.  File > Save As.

19.  Now we are ready to animate this tag.  At the bottom of the toolbar click  Edit in Image Ready icon.  The image will be sent to Image Ready.  It will take a while for the program and image to open up, so be patient!

20.  Find the Web Content/color Table box on the right side.  If you cannot see this, then Click on Window > Web Content.  Click on the menu arrow under the X at the top.  Choose Palette Options.

21.  Place a check next to Include Animation Frames.  And choose a Thumbnail size.

22.  In top menu, click Window > Animation.  This will open the animation Frame box.

23.  In the Animation frame box, click on the menu arrow for the time (circled in pic)

24.  Choose 0.2 for your time delay.

25.  Click on the menu arrow under the X in the animation frame box and choose Copy Frame.

26.   Now click on the arrow and choose Paste Frame.

27.  This box comes up, and choose Paste after Selection.

28.  Repeat Steps 26 & 27 until you have 5 frames.

29.  Click on the first frame.  Your layer palette should look like this right now.

30.  Click on the eyes of the name layer and the top 3 eagle layers to HIDE the top 4 layers.

31.  click on the second Frame.  Then click on the Eye of the BOTTOM eagle layer to HIDE that one, and click on the eye of the one above it to UNhide that one (see arrow in pic below).

32.  Click on the third Frame.  Then click on the Eye of the BOTTOM eagle layer to HIDE that one, and click on the eye of Layer2 copy 3 to UNhide that one (see arrow in pic below).

33.  Click on the fourth Frame.  Then click on the Eye of the BOTTOM eagle layer to HIDE that one, and click on the eye of Layer2 copy 4 to UNhide that one (see arrow in pic below).

34.  Click on the fifth  Frame.  Then click on the Eye of the BOTTOM eagle layer to HIDE that one, and click on the eye of Layer2 copy 4 and the name layer  to UNhide those layers (see arrow in pic below).

35.  Now click on the time menu arrow of the 5th frame and choose 2.0 for the time delay.

36.  Now save this as a GIF by clicking File > Save Optimized As

 Please do not remove this tutorial from my site.  Share my url.