Transferring from one file to another

So let's say you've made a gif, but instead of this:

You want this:

See how one is all animated, while the other one is only partially animated? Only having sections animated can not only be cool looking, but it can help reduce the file size by a LOT.
But how is this accomplished, you might ask? The answer is very, very carefully. Working with multiple layers can be really tricky, but once you get the hang of it you can churn them out in a relatively "short" amount of time.

Let's get to it!


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As you can see above, I have my animated clip on the left and the avatar that I want the animated clip to go into on the right. The goal is to get the clip from it's original file to the avatar, and when you're working with large numbers of layers and whatnot, it can get a bit tricky. One wrong click, or even having the wrong layer selected at the wrong time, can mess the whole thing up. I've spent many hours staring at my screen in frustration because I just could not get the silly thing to cooperate, so I'm hoping that by making this particular tutorial, I can save YOU the time. Hey, I'm all about helping, you guys. It gives me peace and joy and satisfaction and a sense of fulfillment in life.
Yeah, sure.

Anyway, go ahead and select the first layer of your animation (it's numbered as 50 here because there were other layers before that that I deleted) and "link" all the layers by clicking the second box on your Layers window.

Remember, it's VERY important to make sure that you have the FIRST layer selected whenever you do something pertaining to your animated clip. It's kind of hard to explain, but TRUST ME ON THIS ONE. Always keep that first layer selected, and it will save you tears and frustration and anger. And nobody wants those, do they?

When you've finished linking up all the layers, with the FIRST layer selected, go ahead and click and drag all the layers over to your avatar file.


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All your files should "jump" over, and appear correctly numbered. If only one layer moves, then undo and try again. I find it works better if you click and drag on the actual image, rather than the layer.


Click for Full-Size

Either way, get all your files over, and move them to the correct place you want. In this instance, I wanted them all to go in the little empty white border. Remember, if all your layers are linked, they'll ALL move instead of just one layer at a time. We're all about streamlining and doing things in batches here, right?

When you've got all your layers in the right spot and are sure you won't need to move them any more, you can go ahead and un-link them.

Once you're done with this, you can go ahead and scoot your lil' tail over to Imageready, because you've done all you need to do in Photoshop.

Now, at this point, you need to head over to the Animating tutorial and follow all the instructions there. Once you're done with that, you're well, done!

Here's the finished product! Of course, there's more tutorials that explain the whole text, coloring and whatnot aspect of animating within an avatar, but as far as the actual animation is concerned, you're all done! Congrats, and enjoy your new skilz!

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