Creating animated text


The above animated title was created in the following way:

Using Adobe Illustrator:

  • Type GIF Animation in 72pt Ariel Black:

Go to File/Export and export it as a transparent .gif file.  Since you will be creating several images to be linked in sequence, I use a numbering system when naming these exported GIF's.  The first one was saved as 00.gif.

  • Using the selection tool, select (highlight) GIF Animation. Go to Type/Create Objects. This changes the font into an object that can be manipulated in many ways.  For this demonstration, I'm going to change the colors of each letter, saving each letter change as its own GIF file.
  • The first letter to change is the G.  Select the G using the selection tool.

    Change the color, include the outline, to your preferred pallet.  I chose to create mine in a rainbow effect starting with green:

    Go to File/Export and export this image as your next transparent .gif.  I saved mine as 01.gif.

  • Select the I and repeat the steps used to change the G.

    Change the color to your preferred pallet. My next color choice was blue:

    Export this image as your third transparent .gif file.  I saved mine as 02.gif.

  • Continue changing each letter to your desired pallet and save each change as an individual transparent GIF file.  When complete, I had 13 frames:


Open GIF Animator.

Choose Animation Wizard

Click Next Image. 

Locate where your files are stored and click on the image that's to be your first frame. Mine was the '00.gif', the all black title.

Click OK.

This brings you back to the animation wizard. Note that your first file is listed in the wizard box.

Repeat from "click Next Image" until all your files  have been listed in the animation wizard in the sequence you want them to run.

Click NEXT and follow the directions.

Save the final animation as a transparent .gif.  You will be able to view it and make any adjustments to the animation such as applying one of the many plug-in effects.

HOME

 This page was created on October 28, 1998 and last updated on October 16, 1999. Please contact the webmistress if you have questions or update suggestions for the site.