Tutorials to Make Animated Images – Even if You're Just Starting out
An easy yet powerful editor
Numerous effects to choose from
Detailed tutorials provided by the official channel
Not to mention, if you animate pictures, you'll be able to stand apart in the crowd and maximize your brand exposure. By creating animated happy birthday images, you'll be able to bring life to the still images.
In this guide, we'll walk you through different ways to make animated images. Read this guide and you'll be able to animate your images without any hassle.
Part 1 What are Animated Pictures?
For readers who aren't familiar with animated images, here's what you need to know. An animated image (also referred to as GIF) is designed by adding motion to a still image. Remember all the funny cat memes you see on Instagram? Well, they are a great example of animated images.
However, it's important to understand that the applications of animated images aren't only limited to social media and marketing. You can even animate your family photos and add life to those 20-year old pictures you've been saving forever. Not to mention, you can also create animated images of your favorite superhero movie. Love the Justice League starcast? Simply pick your favorite superhero and you'll get stunning Justice League animated images.
Part 2 Is It Possible to Animate Pictures On Your Own?
When it comes to animating images, the majority of users want to know if it's at all possible to create animated images by themselves. Even though animating an image is a tedious task, it's safe to say that you can do it without any external help.
Of course, if you choose a tool like Adobe Photoshop to do the job, you'll be out of luck because of the steep learning curve. But, there are hundreds of other alternatives you can use to animate pictures. There are ready-to-use 3D photo animators online that'll allow you to animate any image within a few seconds. These tools are equipped with pre-installed animation templates that you can apply to any image and bring life to them.
Part 3 4 Best Tools to Make Animated Pictures
So, now that you know the key benefits of animated pictures, let's take a look at the seven best tools you can use to create stunning animated images. To ensure we provide you with a diverse list of photo animators, we have included both platform-dependent and cross-platform solutions to the list.
01Motion Leap
Motion Leap is a free 3D motion graphics generator that works on the Android platform. The tool offers an easy-to-use interface that editors can utilize to turn their still images into dedicated videos that play in loop. One of the major advantages of using Motion Leap for animating images is that it doesn't leave a watermark on your pictures, even if you are using the free version of the tool. In fact, the free version offers all the necessary tools you'll need to create animated pictures.
Since Motion Leap works on mobile, you don't have to fire up your laptop every time you want to create an animated picture. Simply launch the app on your smartphone and you'll be able to animate pictures right away. As of now, the only downside of Motion Leap is that it doesn't save the output in GIF format, unless you have purchased the premium version.
Key Features:
● Add motion graphics by simply dragging objects on your screen
● Freeze specific areas within the image and apply dedicated filters
● Built-in editing panel to adjust different elements such as exposure, contrast, highlights, etc.
● Motion Leap is affordable
02Animate Me
Animate Me is an exclusive iOS 3D photo animator that you can install on your iDevices and animate different types of images instantly. Though the app isn't targeted towards professional marketers, it's a fun tool if you want to animate your family photos or create happy birthday animated images. The app is available for free, which means you can create fun animated pictures without paying a single penny.
In addition to animating pictures, you can also use Animate Me to animate videos and create visually appealing eCards. In case you don't know, e-Cards are used to communicate with others in a fun manner. With dozens of built-in e-card templates, you'll be able to create high-quality e-cards right away. These templates support complete customization - so you can also use your face to customize the e-card.
Key Features of Animate Me:
● Hundreds of ready-to-use e-card templates
● Add sound effects to the characters used in an e-card
● Animate images and videos right on your smartphone
03Gyazo
Gyazo is a desktop-based screen capture tool that's primarily designed to capture full or a specific portion of the screen. The tool is available for Windows, macOS, and Linux, which means you can use it across all desktop platforms without any hassle.
Apart from capturing screens, you can also use Gyazo to turn screen captures into dedicated GIFs with a single click. It's worth noting that you won't get any advanced editing options like other tools mentioned in the list, but Gyazo is still a reliable tool for users who want to animate screenshots.
Key Features:
● Capture screens and turn them into GIFs
● Animate pictures for free
● Available for Windows, macOS, and Linux
04GIFmaker.me
GIFMaker.me is an online 3D photo animator that's primarily designed to turn regular images into GIFs. Being an online tool, you have the liberty to access GIFmaker.me across different platforms, be it mobile or desktop. The online editor offers an easy-to-use interface and provides an array of built-in features that you can use to create stunning GIFs.
All you have to do is decide the motion by dragging the subjects across the screen and the tool will automatically replicate it in a loop. Apart from creating GIFs from still images, you can also use GIFmaker to add animations to your videos. The tool has several ready-to-use animation templates that you can apply to your videos with the simple drag-&-drop functionality.
Key Features:
● Merge multiple images to create a custom GIF
● Reduce the size or reverse the motion of a particular GIF
● No sign-in required. You can start creating animated images directly with GIFmaker.me
Key Takeaways from This Episode
● Animated pictures can be used in different situations, be it for marketing purposes or simply for fun
● With dedicated tools, you can animate pictures all by yourself - without any professional assistance
● Wondershare Filmora Pro is an ideal video editing tool that provides a plethora of animation templates that you can apply to both videos and images.
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