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J
JoeStrike6660502
Participating Frequently
September 7, 2018
Answered

Why do my animation timeline frames go out of alignment & jitter in playback?

  • September 7, 2018
  • 3 replies
  • 11664 views

I'm trying to create a "simple" (or so I thought) animated gif in Photoshop CC from appx 15 layers but keep butting up against this problem:

When I playback a timeline frame animation, the frames jitter around even though they're all in alignment in the layers panel. Could it be because my images are larger than the 300x90 window I'm working with? My layers were composited together from several layers but they all used the identical bottommost layer so that the animation would take place above a stationary background. That bottommost layer was considerably larger than the window, and the rest of that image is still there when I use the move tool on the layer. I tried inverting the selection tool to get rid of the image beyond the window, but get a 'no pixels are selected' message. is there any way to lock the layers into place or are the frames going out of alignment for some other reason? I see there are other ways to create animations but they all look even more complicated. HELLLLP!!!

Correct answer JJMack

It sounds like you are creating a Frame animation and change layers positioning with the move tool in frames.  My guess it the way you used the move tool that caused  the jitters. Your movement were not carefully controlled.   you would be better off  perhaps using the move tool once and use Photoshop tween  feature the generate the frame between the starting and end position of the move.  Here is and example I posted many times.   I created two layers the top layer with an unlinked layer mask that actually mask the content for the mapping of the lower layer.   I create the two frame the first and last frames.  Where I moved the position of the content of the top layer from the first to the last frame.  I then had Photoshop generate the frames and mover for the frames between the first and last frames.

I think the more frames you tween the smoother the movement will be but its still like a staircase move. Up or down a staircase

3 replies

O
OLskewL92
Participant
January 31, 2023

For those who are searching for why their artwork is JITTERY/JITTERING, It's because you may have your timeline layer effects on "Resize to fill canvas". Turn this off: Right-click on the layer you added an effect on, in the timeline, and uncheck the box. God bless you and remember that Jesus Loves you.

    O
    OLskewL92
    Participant
    January 31, 2023

    *Update* Sometimes, Photoshop will glitch, jitter, and make your artwork disappear for a split second, but the actual artwork is still fine. So do the export check: Render the video/gif (128 dithered x 256 colours) and then see if the export is fine. Most likely, it will be 🙂

      JJMack
      Community Expert
      JJMackCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
      Community Expert
      September 7, 2018

      It sounds like you are creating a Frame animation and change layers positioning with the move tool in frames.  My guess it the way you used the move tool that caused  the jitters. Your movement were not carefully controlled.   you would be better off  perhaps using the move tool once and use Photoshop tween  feature the generate the frame between the starting and end position of the move.  Here is and example I posted many times.   I created two layers the top layer with an unlinked layer mask that actually mask the content for the mapping of the lower layer.   I create the two frame the first and last frames.  Where I moved the position of the content of the top layer from the first to the last frame.  I then had Photoshop generate the frames and mover for the frames between the first and last frames.

      I think the more frames you tween the smoother the movement will be but its still like a staircase move. Up or down a staircase

      JJMack
      J
      JoeStrike6660502Author
      Participating Frequently
      September 7, 2018

      Sorry, no. I'm creating discrete individual frames & trying to create an animation timeline to sequence them. I only used the move tool to make the sure the background was perfectly aligned in all of them (stacking 2 & making one half-transparent) before flattening those separate layers into a single layer to use in the animation, which is how I realized there was more to the background image than what was visible in the 300x90 window.

        JJMack
        Community Expert
        JJMackCommunity Expert
        Community Expert
        September 8, 2018

        Frames are the composite of layers visible in the a frame and the position of the layers in each frame.   If you did not use the move tool to move the position of the eyes layer between frames. The position of the Eyes would not move in the animation.   Frame animations are composed of discreet individual frames.   Frame 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 etc. You move the eyes layers position in at least one frame. The is no reason normally you need to create extra layer where you merge layers for a frame.

        The frame animation I posted has two layers they are visible in all the animations frames. The top layer position is changed between frames.

        Additionally you did not move Photoshop's  background layer to align it to anything. Photoshop's background layer does not support transparency and is always canvas size.  You can not change the background layers position. It is the bottom layer its position can not be moved and no layer can be moved below it. It is the bottom layer in the documents layers stack. It is a special Photoshop layer not a normal layer.

        Basically you need four layers the Love letters text layer. The comic book text layer. The comic book image layer and eyes background layers. You create your 6 frames using these layers layers. The eyes layer visible in all 6 frames the love letters text  visible in two frames  where its opacity is lowered in one of the two frames and the comic book image layer and comic book text layer visible in two frames where you lower the opacity of them on one of the two frames frames

        JJMack
        Sahil.Chawla
        Adobe Employee
        Sahil.Chawla
        Adobe Employee
        September 7, 2018

        Hi Joestrike,

        Could you please share a screenshot of your Photoshop workspace displaying the timeline, canvas and the layers panel, so that we can review it at our end?

        Also, what exact version of Photoshop you're working on?

        Regards,
        Sahil

        J
        JoeStrike6660502Author
        Participating Frequently
        September 7, 2018

        I'm using CC version 19.1.6

        Here's a screencap of a single transition I was experimenting with before I started working on the entire sequence which would be a series of transitions.

        Here's the gif of the above: Seems like every frame is in a different position

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