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How To Create a Stop-Motion Animation Using Adobe By Kylie Simms

In Photoshop, create the motionless parts of your animation first. I started by making the Earth using the ellipse tool. I used the mixer brush tool to add continents on top of the blue-colored ellipse.

Ellipse tool found on the left side toolbar. Right clicking it gives other options like the line tool and rectangle tool.
Mixer brush tool also found on the left side toolbar. To keep your paint from mixing with the base color, use dry brush settings (should be the default, but check the top tool bar after after selecting the mixer brush tool).

After adding continents to the Earth, I saved a satellite image of clouds from Google and placed it as an embedded in the Photoshop project. Resize it so that the whole Earth is covered by the clouds. Change the opacity so that the layer is more transparent (and you can see the Earth).

Opacity settings found in the layer menu (usually on the right side)

Then, use the eraser tool to erase the parts of the cloud layer outside the Earth ellipse.

Eraser tool found on the left side toolbar

After finishing the Earth, I added the other motionless parts of the animation using the ellipse tool again. You can change the settings of the ellipse using the top toolbar.

Top tool bar when the ellipse tool is selected, adjust the setting to change fill color, outline, size, and more.

I also added text and an arrow to label the magnetosphere.

Horizontal type tool found on the left side toolbar.
Top tool bar when the horizontal type tool is selected. Can change font type, font size, and more.
Pen tool used to make the arrow, found on the left side toolbar. The curvature pen tool is currently selected (used to make the line) and you can right click to get to the regular pen tool (used to make the arrow head).

Once all the motionless parts of the animation are completed, it's time for the longer process of making all the frames you are going to use. This type of animation looks most fluid when there are many frames and small changes between frames. However, you need to strike a balance because it is time-consuming to make each frame. I chose to recreate each frame of the animation I was remaking because it was originally stop motion, but I could've done it freehand instead. I used the pen tool again to add the solar flares approaching Earth's magnetosphere. For the flares going around the magnetosphere, I used the curvature pen tool. After making each frame I exported it as a PNG.

How to export as PNG

Once all the frames are made, open a new composition in Adobe After Effects. Drag all your frames from your file folder to the timeline (bottom of screen) and arrange them in order.

Timeline with all the PNGs

Once you have all the frames in the composition, change the amount of time that each is shown by dragging the the colored bars in the timeline. I chose to do 5 frames per second.

The time each frame is shown should look like a staircase.

Then, drag the end of your timeline to line up with the end of the last frame so the video ends there.

By dragging the blue ending bars to the end of the last frame, I have shortened my work space

Play the video by pressing the space bar and make sure that it looks the way you want it to. Then, export the file by adding it to the Adobe Media Encoder Queue.

Once Adobe Media Encoder opens, click on the hyperlink under the format of the composition

This is the top right panel of Adobe Media Encoder. Click the shown link on the far left.

Choose the file format you would like it to be exported as (I chose Animated GIF). Once done, click OK at the bottom of the right hand panel.

File format options

Now you should be back in the standard Media Encoder page. Press the play button in the top right to encode your file.

Once it encodes, you should be able to find it in your files in the location the output indicated.

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