Skip to main content
Tech Radar Tech Radar TechRadar The source for Tech Buying Advice
Subscribe
RSS
(opens in new tab) (opens in new tab) (opens in new tab) (opens in new tab)
Asia
flag of Singapore
Singapore
Europe
flag of Danmark
Danmark
flag of Suomi
Suomi
flag of Norge
Norge
flag of Sverige
Sverige
flag of UK
UK
flag of Italia
Italia
flag of Nederland
Nederland
flag of België (Nederlands)
België (Nederlands)
flag of France
France
flag of Deutschland
Deutschland
flag of España
España
North America
flag of US (English)
US (English)
flag of Canada
Canada
flag of México
México
Australasia
flag of Australia
Australia
flag of New Zealand
New Zealand
Technology Magazines
(opens in new tab)
Technology Magazines (opens in new tab)
Why subscribe?
  • The best tech tutorials and in-depth reviews
  • Try a single issue or save on a subscription
  • Issues delivered straight to your door or device
From$12.99
(opens in new tab)
View Deal (opens in new tab)
  • News
  • Best
  • Reviews
  • Opinion
  • How To
  • Deals
  • More
    • Versus
    • Appliances
    • Audiovisual
    • Cameras
    • Car Tech
    • Computing
    • Coupons
    • Downloads
    • Entertainment
    • Fitness
    • Laptops
    • Phones
    • Smart Home
    • Tablets
    • TVs
    • Wearables
    • About Us
Tech Radar Pro
Tech Radar Gaming
Trending
  • iPhone 15
  • ChatGPT
  • Wordle hints
  • Best phones
  • Best VPN
  • Best air-fryers

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

  1. Home
  2. How-to

How to create an animated GIF

By Dan Grabham
published 8 December 2015

Stop motion

  • (opens in new tab)
  • (opens in new tab)
  • (opens in new tab)
  • (opens in new tab)
Create animated GIFs with GiftedMotion

Create animated GIFs with GiftedMotion

If you spend any time on the internet there's a good chance you've seen animated GIFs - which are short animations that play when you're on a website.

It's also very easy to create your own animated GIFs, and GiftedMotion is a great tool for creating simple animations for use in a website or blog.

It outputs the animation in the form of a common GIF file, so you don't need any extra software to play it back either. As a result it can be displayed in almost any browser.

You can also use a variety of image formats to build up your animated masterpiece – PNG, JPEG/JPG, BMP and GIF files.

During this tutorial, we'll be showing you how simple it is to put one of these animations together using GiftedMotion – as an added bonus, the application is completely free to download, too.

GiftedMotion works as a JAR file, which is a type of Java format that can run on multiple platforms – as a result, it's extremely easy to use. With a little taste of GiftedMotion, you'll be animating images in no time.

Page 1 of 9
Page 1 of 9
1. Run the app

1. Run the app

Once you've downloaded the JAR file from the website, save it somewhere you can easily find. We've decided to save it to our desktop in this example, just for simplicity.

Now double-click it and you'll see this blank window, into which you're going to load some still images so you can create an animation. From here on, the process is nice and swift.

Page 2 of 9
Page 2 of 9
2. Load the fies

2. Load the fies

Now go to the File menu and click on 'Load'. You don't want your images to be too large as it will affect the final animation – you may need to resize your images first using an application like Paint.net.

The other options here deal with the saving of the finished animation, which we'll come onto after you've developed your own.

Page 3 of 9
Page 3 of 9
3. Choose your files

3. Choose your files

Clicking on 'Load' takes you to the Open dialog box so you can get the files you need for your new animation. Make sure you select the right images for the job, though – you can also use [Shift]+[Ctrl] to select multiple files in one go.

As you can see above, we've selected a total of five files. Finally, click 'Open' to load the images into GiftedMotion.

Page 4 of 9
Page 4 of 9
4. Change the sequence

4. Change the sequence

You'll now see the images are all loaded into the Sequence Editor screen, with a preview of the image in the main window.

You can select any image in the order and use the up and down arrows to change the sequence the images will play in (the preview on the right will then change accordingly). You can also copy and remove any images in the list as well.

Page 5 of 9
Page 5 of 9
5. Adjust position

5. Adjust position

With the order changed, we're now going to change the position of a particular image (see the difference between this step and the next step for further context).

You can alter the 'X' and 'Y' offset figures in the left-hand column, but it's very difficult to get what you want with this, so dragging the image itself is a far better option (as you can see above).

Page 6 of 9
Page 6 of 9
6. Set the duration

6. Set the duration

Next, we'll look at changing the duration that a frame is displayed in the box under the Sequence Editor – the default value of 100ms isn't very long at all, so we recommend you alter it.

You can have different durations for each frame, or you can check the 'Apply changes to all frames' checkbox to add the same change to all the frames in your animation.

Page 7 of 9
Page 7 of 9
7. Save your animation

7. Save your animation

You don't have to process the animation to produce it; all you need to do is to save the file and it will be created instantly.

Here we're opening the File menu and selecting the 'Save as GIF animation' option to output it. Next, choose where you'd like the animation to be saved in using the 'Save as' box that's displayed (it will look like the one in the next step).

Page 8 of 9
Page 8 of 9
8. Now just play

8. Now just play

GiftedMotion is a great example of an application that makes a complex task very simple. When you want to play your animation, just double-click on the GIF file – the default program for GIF files will then open it.

More than likely this will be Internet Explorer, but if it doesn't work, simply drag it into an Internet Explorer (or other web browser) window and it should play for you.

Page 9 of 9
Page 9 of 9
  • (opens in new tab)
  • (opens in new tab)
  • (opens in new tab)
  • (opens in new tab)
Dan Grabham
Social Links Navigation
Contributor

Dan (Twitter, Google+) is TechRadar's Former Deputy Editor and is now in charge at our sister site T3.com. Covering all things computing, internet and mobile he's a seasoned regular at major tech shows such as CES, IFA and Mobile World Congress. Dan has also been a tech expert for many outlets including BBC Radio 4, 5Live and the World Service, The Sun and ITV News.

See more Internet how-to
  1. Woman using a laptop in a coffeeshop
    1
    Leaked screenshot could be an early glimpse of the Windows 12 desktop
  2. 2
    This new Android trojan is targeting all your mobile bank accounts
  3. 3
    The Xbox Series X receives visual update, but not the one we've been waiting for
  4. 4
    Apple TV 4K gets promised Quick Media Switching feature to eliminate 'HDMI bonk'
  5. 5
    How to remove yourself from the internet
  1. Hacker
    1
    This new Android trojan is targeting all your mobile bank accounts
  2. 2
    Apple TV 4K gets promised Quick Media Switching feature to eliminate 'HDMI bonk'
  3. 3
    How to remove yourself from the internet
  4. 4
    Apple is bringing AI Chat to more places in your MacBook
  5. 5
    How to create a YouTube channel

TechRadar is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site (opens in new tab).

  • About Us (opens in new tab)
  • Contact Future's experts (opens in new tab)
  • Contact Us (opens in new tab)
  • Terms and conditions (opens in new tab)
  • Privacy policy (opens in new tab)
  • Cookies policy (opens in new tab)
  • Advertise with us (opens in new tab)
  • Web notifications (opens in new tab)
  • Accessibility Statement
  • Careers (opens in new tab)

© Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, New York, NY 10036.