If you’re new to animation, this is probably the easiest thing you can learn. In this blog post, I’ll provide you with the step-by-step instructions for creating an easy animation using the Puppet Warp tool available in Adobe Photoshop. No prior animation experience required. If you’d like to try your hand at a slightly more complex animation, check out my heart-shaped glasses animation tutorial.
Just have an illustration of yours ready to be able to follow along (maybe a plant illustration or any illustration of yours to which you would like to add some movement; think stems or elongated elements). Alternatively, you can check out my pilea plant illustration from this tutorial and create something similar to be able to follow this exercise to a tee.
Let’s get started.
Create New Document
If you’re planning to add this little animation to your Instagram grid as a reel, start by creating a new document (shortcut: Cmd + N or File > New Document from the menu) with reel dimensions of 1080 x 1920px. Then import the layers from a previous document, if you have one, or draw the elements in this newly created document.
Separate Moving Elements on Different Layers
Make sure all your stems are on a separate layer, so that they could be manipulated with ease. In my case, I have the stem and the stem leaf together on a separate layer.
Duplicate Original Layers
Duplicate the original layers to be able to add movement to the duplicated layer. You original layer will be the first frame of your animation and the duplicated layer will be the second one.
Duplicate the original layer by dragging it over the plus icon at the bottom of the Layers panel. Rename the layer (double-click on layer to rename) to whatever makes sense to you and would help you stay organized.
Convert to Smart Object
To be able to use the Puppet Warp tool, you’ll need to turn the layers that you plan to manipulate into smart objects. Do this by right-clicking on the layer and choose Convert to Smart Object from the list. Now your layer is ready for the puppet warp tool.
Pull up Timeline to Start the Animation
If you don’t see the frame-by-frame animation timeline, go to Window > Timeline to pull it up to be able to start animating.
Using the Puppet Warp Tool
Select the layer that you would like to manipulate. Then select the puppet warp tool (go to Edit > Puppet Warp). After you select the tool, you’ll see a mesh appear around your object. You can increase the pixel size in the expansion box to a higher pixel number, if you see that not all pixels of your object are inside the mesh.
Start placing points on the mesh to restrict or allow for movement within the mesh. Consider which of your points will remain static and which ones will be guiding the movement. Pick the point you’d like to move and drag to move the object. You are the puppet master of this object. :)
For this exercise, I was adding three points per stem and moving the middle and topmost ones to create organic movement. Your manipulated objects will contain the filter effects icon (the overlapping circles on the right).
Editing with the Puppet Warp Tool
If you’re not happy with your object movement, you can always go back and edit the object or delete any of the points and start over. All you need to do is to select the layer and open the puppet warp tool again (Edit > Puppet Warp).
Deleting Puppet Warp Points
To delete any of the points and start over, just select the point you’d like to delete (it will turn blue once selected) and click the delete button on your keyboard.
Continue with the Rest of the Layers
Using the same approach, continue editing the rest of your layers until you’re satisfied with the result.
Set Frame Delay
Control the speed of your animation by selecting your frame delay in the timeline. For this animation, I chose a frame delay of 0.4 seconds. See what works for you and speed up or slow down your frame delay, if needed. All you need to do is click on the frame arrow and select an option from the list. Select ‘other’ from the list for a custom frame delay, like the 0.4-second delay in this case.
Export Video
Once all your layers are done and you’re happy with the movement, it’s time to export the animation. Select File > Export > Render Video. Duplicate the layers to increase the length of your video. Choose the first two layers from your timeline and drag them over the plus icon.
Choose where you’d like to save the video (location box at the top), leave the document size as is (1080 x 1920px for Instagram reel) and leave the frame rate at 24 fps. Click ‘render’ and your video will be exported and ready to share.
Happy creating! :)