How to export gif with transparent background using the latest version of After Effects 2022 on Mac

[sbarb]

Dear all,

I am having a hard time trying to export a gif file with transparent background using After Effects on my Mac. I read different posts and watched many tutorials online, but the settings in my version of After Effects are different and I have never been able to complete a transparent gif 😥. Is there someone who's using the latest version of After Effects and knows the right steps to do it?

Thank you very much!

[Mylenium]

Without any info about what settings you actualyl use currently and the specifics of your comp nobody can really tell you much. Could be a million things from an overlooked layer switch to issues with hardware acceleration to something like having to pre-compose to actualyl "flatten" the transparency generated by an effect and get correct results. We really need more info here.

Mylenium

[sbarb]

Dear Mylenium,

thank you for your reply. Here is what I did: I went to the render queue, I chose the format "QuickTime", in the option format I picked "Animation" and in the channel, I specified "RGB + Alpha". I then exported the .mov file. I wanted to open it with Photoshop (and use this program to export the gif), but Photoshop didn't let me open it because it says that "it can't recognize the file format". What did I do wrong? 

The file itself is really simple: just the background that I did with Illustrator (that has the transparency in the corners) and an animated image over it. 

[Mylenium]

Render an image sequence ands import it as a frame animation. QT has been busted for ages and is the worst possible way to exchange your data.

Mylenium

[sbarb]

Thanks, Mylenium. I tried to render an image sequence as you recommended but once in Photoshop, the video doesn't move because I only see the first frame (with the black background instead of the transparency). Are there other settings I forgot to activate maybe?

[Mylenium]

Have you actually converted it to frame animation? did you use a format like PNG or TIFF that actualyl supports transparency?

Mylenium

[Warren Heaton · Accepted solution]

If you need to create animated GIF files on a regular basis, GifGun for After Effects is well worth it.

https://aescripts.com/gifgun/

As long as the animation is 500 frames or less, you can render a movie file from After Effects with transparency and then convert that to an animated GIF with transparency in Photoshop.

Assuming that you can see the Transparency Grid in After Effects, add your Comp to the After Effects Render Queue, set the Render Settings template to "Best Settings", and the Output Module to "High Quality with Alpha".  Open the resulting movie file in Photoshop (note, on the macOS side if you're on a M1-based Mac you may still have to open Photoshop using Rosetta) and use File > Export > Save for Web (Legacy)... to set the GIF options and save it.  If you're using an older version of After Effects (2021 or older), you'll need to use the "Lossless with Alpha" Output Module template.

You may have noticed that there's an "Animated GIF" Format option in Adobe Media Encoder Queue.  Avoid this unless you're converting short video clips to animated GIF - it treats anaimted GIF like it's video when it is not.

[sbarb]

Thank you so much, Warren! I didn't know about Rosetta. I finally was able to export my gif! And thank you for suggesting me GifGun, I will try it 🙂 

[Chen5E6D]

Hey Warren, 

I followed your steps to export a movie file from AE and then tried to open it in Photoshop, but couldn't. A window came out and said: Could not complete your request because Photoshop does not recognize this type of file.

Do you have any idea why this happened?

[Warren Heaton]

This happens on an M1 based Mac if you do not open Photoshop using Rosetta.

While Photoshop shop is closed, Get Info in the Finder and enable Open using Rosetta.  You should be able to import video into Photoshop as expected.  After exporting the animated GIF, be sure to disable using Rosetta.

[Chen5E6D]

It works! Thanks!!

[Adeoti]

Hi Warren, thanks for your help.

I tried following the same steps as you mentioned but received an error. "Could not complete this operation. There is not enough memory." I use an M1 pro.

Any idea what might be the cause?

[asd21ewads]

Download a free script AEJuice Export GIF. In Settings - turn on Alpha Channel. Close Settings, and press Export. At the first import, it will download a library (ImageMagick, I believe) to help with the alpha channel (20 sec) and it should export a gif with transparency.