Making a loop on an effect (Wave Warp)

[Ziomix]

Hi,

I applied a "Wave Warp" effect to a layer. My composition lasts 4 seconds and so does my effect. However I would like to export this composition as a gif.

Unfortunately, at the end of my composition, so at the end of the 4 seconds, the Wave Warp effect comes back to the beginning and there is no fluidity at that moment.
We can see a big block at the moment when the composition comes back to the beginning.
So I would like to know if there was a way to fix this.

Thank you very much.

Ziomix

[Rick Gerard · Accepted solution]

If you want to create a loop the first frame and the last frame must be identical. The next step is to move back one frame before the identical frames and set the work area to end there. Then you render the work area using the Render Cue and the default Lossless or if you have transparency, lossless with alpha preset. Then you open Photoshop and select Import/Video Frames To Layers. Photoshop will open up the file, switch to the Motion workspace, and give you a timeline with the duration of all the frames showing. The last step is to use the Export/Legacy Save for Web and export your animated gif. When creating an animated gif you do not want any duplicated frames and you don't want a frame rate higher than about 12. All of the Looney Toons cartoons you ever watched as a kid were animated at 12 frames a second and that's plenty for an animated GIF.

All you need is one cycle of the wave. Unfortunately, wave warp does not have a loop function. You'll have to adjust the phane or the speed and the length until you get a match for the first and last frames. 

[Ziomix]

How Thank you for your long, informative and complete answer, I will try to follow what you told me! 🙂