Animation panel overview



An animation is a sequence of images, or frames, that is displayed over time. Each frame varies slightly from the preceding frame, creating the illusion of movement or other changes when the frames are viewed in quick succession.

In Photoshop, the Animation panel (Window > Animation) appears in frame mode, showing a thumbnail of each frame in your animation. Use the tools at the bottom of the panel to navigate through the frames, set looping options, add and delete frames, and preview the animation.

The Animation panel menu contains additional commands for editing frames or timeline durations, and for configuring the panel display. Click the panel menu icon to view available commands.

Animation panel (frame mode)

A.
Selects the first frame

B.
Selects the previous frame

C.
Plays animation

D.
Selects the next frame

E.
Tweens animation frames

F.
Duplicates selected frames

G.
Deletes selected frames

H.
Converts to timeline mode (Photoshop Extended only)

I.
Animation panel menu

In Photoshop Extended, you can use the Animation panel in either frame mode or timeline mode. Timeline mode shows the frame duration and animation properties for document layers. Use the tools at the bottom of the panel to navigate through frames, zoom the time display in or out, toggle onion skin mode, delete keyframes, and preview the video. You can use controls on the timeline itself to adjust frame duration for a layer, set keyframes for layer properties, and designate a section of the video as the working area.

Animation panel (timeline mode)

A.
Enable audio playback

B.
Zoom out

C.
Zoom slider

D.
Zoom in

E.
Toggle onion skins

F.
Delete keyframes

G.
Convert to frame animation

In timeline mode, the Animation panel displays each layer in a Photoshop Extended document (except the background layer) and is synchronized with the Layers panel. Whenever a layer is added, deleted, renamed, grouped, duplicated, or assigned a color, the changes are updated in both panels.

Note: When animated layers are grouped as a Smart Object, the animation information from the Animation panel is stored in the Smart Object. See also About Smart Objects.

For a video on the timeline mode, see www.adobe.com/go/vid0023.

Frame mode controls

In frame mode, the Animation panel includes the following controls:

Looping Options
Sets the number of times an animation plays when exported as an animated GIF file.

Frame Delay Time
Sets the duration of a frame during playback.

Tween Animation Frames 
Adds a series of frames between two existing frames, interpolating (varying) the layer properties evenly between the new frames.

Duplicate Selected Frames 
Adds a frame to the animation by duplicating the selected frame in the Animation panel.

Convert To Timeline Animation (Photoshop Extended) 
Converts a frame animation to timeline animation using keyframes to animate layer properties.

Timeline mode controls (Photoshop Extended)

In timeline mode, the Animation panel includes the following features and controls:

Cached frames indicator
Displays a green bar to indicate the frames that are cached for playback.

Comments track
Choose Edit Timeline Comment from the panel menu to insert a text comment at the current time. Comments appear as icons  in the comments track. Move the pointer over these icons to display comments as tool tips. Double-click these icons to revise comments. To navigate from one comment to the next, click the Go To Previous  or Go To Next  buttons at the far left of the Comments track.
To create an HTML table listing the time, frame number, and text of each comment, choose Export Timeline Comments from the panel menu.

Convert To Frame Animation
Converts a timeline animation using keyframes to frame animation.

Timecode Or frame number display
Shows the timecode or frame number (depending on panel options) for the current frame.

Current-time indicator 
Drag the current-time indicator to navigate frames or change the current time or frame.

Global Lighting track
Displays keyframes where you set and change the master lighting angle for layer effects such as Drop Shadow, Inner Shadow, and Bevel and Emboss.

Keyframe navigator   
Arrow buttons to the left of a track label move the current-time indicator to the previous or next keyframe from its current position. Click the center button to add or delete a keyframe at the current time.

Layer duration bar
Specifies a layer’s place in time within a video or animation. To move the layer to another place in time, drag the bar. To trim (adjust the duration of) a layer, drag either end of the bar.

Altered Video track
For video layers, displays a duration bar for altered frames. To jump to altered frames, use the keyframe navigator to the left of the track label.

Time ruler
Measures duration (or frame count) horizontally, according to the document’s duration and frame rate. (Choose Document Settings from the panel menu to change duration or frame rate.) Tick marks and numbers appear along the ruler and change in spacing with the zoom setting of the timeline.

Time-Vary stopwatch 
Enables or disables keyframing for a layer property. Select this option to insert a keyframe and enable keyframing for a layer property. Deselect to remove all keyframes and disable keyframing for a layer property.

Animation panel menu
Includes functions affecting keyframes, layers, panel appearance, onion skinning, and document settings.

Work area indicators
Drag the blue tab at either end of the topmost track to mark the specific portion of the animation or video that you want to preview or export.

Change thumbnail size

In the Animation panel, you can change the size of the thumbnails that represent each frame or layer.

  1. Choose Panel Options from the Animation panel menu.
  2. Do one of the following:

    • Select a size option.

    • (Photoshop Extended) In timeline mode, select None to display only layer names.

Switch timeline units (Photoshop Extended)

In Photoshop Extended, you can display the Animation panel timeline in either frame number or timecode units.

  • To select units to display, choose Panel Options from the Animation panel menu and select Frame Numbers or Timecode.
  • To toggle between units, Alt-click (Windows) or Option-click (Mac OS) the current-time display in the upper-left corner of the timeline.

Show or hide layer properties in the timeline (Photoshop Extended)

In Photoshop Extended, as you add layers to a document, they appear as tracks in the timeline. Expand layer tracks to show layer properties that can be animated.

 To show or hide layer properties, click the triangle to the left of the layer name.

For a video on the timeline mode, see www.adobe.com/go/vid0023.

Show or hide layers in the timeline (Photoshop Extended)

In Photoshop Extended, all document layers appear in the timeline by default. To show only a subset of layers, first set them as favorites.

  1. In timeline mode, select one or more layers from the Animation panel, then choose Show > Set Favorite Layers in the Animation panel menu.
  2. To specify which layers are displayed, choose Show from the Animation panel menu, then select All Layers or Favorite Layers.

Navigate in the timeline (Photoshop Extended)

 With the Animation panel in timeline mode, do any of the following:

  • Drag the current-time indicator .

  • Click a number or location in the time ruler where you want to position the current-time indicator.

  • Drag the current-time display (in the upper-left corner of the timeline).

  • Double-click the current-time display and enter a frame number or time in the Set Current Time dialog box.

  • Use the playback controls in the Animation panel.

  • Choose Go To in the Animation panel menu, and then choose a timeline option.