Create Easy, Cool Graphic Animation
I needed to create a graphic for a STEM-Health Camp at the community college where I work, Rappahannock Community College, in Virginia.
I tried a few static images, but the graphic needed to show three elements of the camp:
Arduino coding
Robotic prosthetics
EKG heart rhythm simulation
Here’s how I created the final graphic:
The Coding section was a free video download from Pixabay. I had to convert the MP4 video to a GIF so I could add it to the other GIF elements.
I uploaded the MP4 to EZgif.com and it returned a GIF. However, I needed to convert that GIF to individual frames. Easy! Back to EZgif.com and converted the GIF to a ZIP file of individual JPG frames.
Next, I found again on Pixabay, a static graphic of a robotic arm. After changing the colors and removing some elements, I silhouetted the arm from the base in Photoshop.
Then, I create a 50-page document in InDesign. I use InDesign a lot for animations.
I placed individual frames from the Coding video onto pages in the document, then I created the EKG by adding a red line segment, page by page.
Next, the robotic arm. I added the arm and the base to a page, then Control-A to copy it all, Control-J to go to the next page and Shift-Alt-Control-V to paste in place. That’s important as the X and Y axes are the same from page to page, otherwise the animation may jump around.
Then, on each page I placed the robotic arm, I would rotate it just a bit on each page in sequence.
After all that, I export all as JPGs. Then, it’s off to Photoshop.
File >> Scripts >> Load Files Into Stack…
With the animation timeline active at the bottom >> Create Frame Animation.
Then Make Frames from Layers. Reverse Frames, and all the individual JPGs are arranged in the timeline. Then, it’s just a matter of selecting the duration that works best, sometimes one frame at a time.
Then, output the whole thing as a GIF, size it correctly, reduce the number of colors if you can to save on size, and there you have it!
https://www.rappahannock.edu/stem
