Animating a Clock in Photoshop

Let’s Begin

1. Open Photoshop

2. Click File > New

3. Change the settings: ----->

a. Name: LastName

Clock

b. Width: 3 inches

c. Height: 3 inches

d. Resolution 150

e. Background Contents: Transparent

f. Click OK

4. Click File > Save As

a. Save As: LastName Clock

b. Where: Photoshop folder

c. Format: Photoshop

d. Click Save

Reset All Tools & Workspace

In order to make sure that your tool bar looks like the examples, we will reset all of the tools to their default settings.

5. Click on the Move Tool

6. On the Options Bar (not the Tool Bar), Control+click on the Move tool

7. Select Reset All Tools

8. Click OK

9. Click the Window Menu

10.Hover over Workspace > Choose Reset Principles

Create a Shape

11.Click on the Rectangle Tool (NOT the Gradient Tool), Hold down your cursor and select

the Ellipse Tool

12.In the Options Bar, click on the Fill color and change it to white or something very light.

13.Change the Width and Height to 375px (click the Maintain Aspect Ratio button)

14.Click anywhere on the canvas and click OK to create a circle

Add Rulers & Guides

15.Press Control+R to turn on the rulers

16.In the View Menu, click New Guide…

17.In the dialog box, change the Position to 1.5 in, click OK

18.Notice the bright blue line down the middle of the canvas at 1.5 inches (which is half of

the canvas)

19.Create another guide (View > New Guide) change the Orientation to Horizontal and

Position to 1.5 in and click OK

20.Click the Move Tool

21.Move the circle to the center of the canvas, you will notice the circle snapping to the

guide lines - that is why we added them

Duplicate a Layer

22.In the Layers Panel, rename the Ellipse 1 layer to Face

23.Duplicate the Layer, by dragging it to the New Layer Button

24.Rename the Face Copy layer to Frame

25.Click on the Ellipse tool

26.In the Options Bar, change the Fill to None, Stroke to a color of your choice and Stroke

Width to 25px (be sure to write ‘px’ or it will be too thick)

27.Yours should look similar to this…

Add Layer Styles

28.At the bottom of the Layers Panel, click the fx button to bring up the Layer Styles

29.Select Bevel and Emboss

30.In the Layer Style box change the settings to

Create a Group

31.At the bottom of the Layers Panel, click the New Group button

32.Double-click the words Group 1, change the name to Numbers

Add Text

33.Click the Type Tool

34.Draw a Text box at the top of the circle, to type in

35.On the Options bar, change the alignment to Center

36.Type the number 12 in the text box, highlight the text

37.Choose the Font (mine is Rockwell, but you can pick what you like)

38.Change the font size to 25 (you may have to resize the box for the numbers to appear

again)

39.Duplicate the 12 Layer

40.Use the Move tool to move the 12 copy to the right side

41.Click the Type Tool

42.Click inside the new text box, delete 12 and type 3

43.Repeat the process to add the numbers 6 and 9, be sure to line them up centered with

the guidelines

Add a Shape

44.Click the Rounded Rectangle tool (it’s hiding with the Ellipse tool)

45.In the Options bar, choose a fill color and change the Width: 10px & Height: 40px

46.Click once (do not draw) anywhere in the canvas to open the dialog box below

47.Click OK

48.Use the Move tool to move the new rounded rectangle to the 12 position

49.In the Layers panel, Control+click on the rounded rectangle layer

50.Select Rasterize layer

51.Zoom in to 250%

Duplicate & Transform

52.Press Alt+Control+T

53.Hold the Option key and drag the Reference Point in the center of

the rounded rectangle to the center of the guidelines ---------->

54.Use the Options Bar to Rotate the rectangle 30 degrees

55.Press Enter on your keyboard

56.Hold down Shift+Alt+control

57.Press T to Transform again

58.Continue holding Shift+Alt+control and press T 10 more times to

create rectangles all the way around the circle

59.You should have something close to this...

Merge Layers

60.In the Layers Panel, highlight all rounded rectangle layers by clicking on the first one,

holding the Shift key and clicking on the last one

61.Control+click to open the menu

62.Select Merge Layers

63.Rename the layer Lines

64.Use the Eraser tool to erase the lines at 3, 6, 9, & 12

65.Collapse the Numbers group (if any of the lines or numbers are still in the layers panel,

drag them to the Numbers Group)

Create a New Group

66.At the bottom of the Layers Panel, click the New Group button

67.Double-click the words Group 1, change the name to Hands

Add New Shapes

68.In the Tool bar, under the Rounded Rectangle tool, select the Custom Shape Tool

69.In the Options Bar, towards the right, find the word Shape

70.Click on the down arrow, then on the gear to open the shapes menu, then Arrows

71.Click Append to add the arrow shapes the bottom of the custom shape list

72.Click on the down arrow again, scroll down and choose an arrow

73.Towards the left of the Options Bar, choose a color for your arrow

74.Once you have selected an arrow and color, click and drag from the center of your clock

to the 3, to create your first hand

75.Use the Move Tool to center it on the horizontal guideline, be sure the left side is lined

up with the vertical guideline

76.Press Control+T

77.In the Options bar, click the middle left anchor point to change how the arrow will

rotate

78.Rotate the arrow -90 degrees, Press Enter

Create a Layer Style

79.Double-click on the Shape 1 Layer to open the Layer Styles box

80.Click on Drop Shadow, change the Distance to 2 and Size to 3, Click OK

Duplicate Shapes

81.In the Layers panel, Control+click on the arrow shape layer

82.Select Rasterize layer

83.Press Alt+Control+T

84.In the Options bar, click the bottom center anchor point to change how the arrow will

rotate

85.Use the Options Bar to Rotate the rectangle 30 degrees

86.Press Enter on your keyboard, until the transform box is gone

87.Hold down Shift+Alt+control

88.Press T to Transform again

89.Continue holding Shift+Alt+control and press T 10 more times to create arrow all the

way around the circle

90.You should have something close to this...

Rename & Organize Layers

91.Also notice that each arrow is on its own layer. Rename each layer according to the

number it points to on the clock and collapse the fx arrow.

92.Click and drag the the 12 layer to the top of the Hands group

93.Collapse the Hands Group

94.Click the eye next to Hands to turn off the layers

Create a Shape & Layer Style

95.In the Tool bar, select the Ellipse tool

96.Select a color from the Options Bar, then draw a circle in the center of the Clock (to get

a perfect circle hold Shift while drawing)

97.Use the Move Tool to center the circle in the middle of the clock

98.Turn the Hands group back on and expand it

99.Hold the Option key, click and drag the fx from the 12 layer to the Ellipse layer to create

a drop shadow

Create a Timeline

100. Turn off all Hands layers except the 1 layer

101. Press Control+: to turn off the guidelines

102. In the Window Menu, click Timeline

103. At the bottom of the screen, in the Timeline panel, click the down arrow next to

Create Video Timeline and change it to Create Frame Animation

104. Click on the Create Frame Animation button, this creates the first frame of your

animated clock

105. At the bottom of the first frame click where it says 0 sec and change to .2 sec

Create Duplicate Frames

106. Click the Create New Frame button at the bottom of the

Timeline This creates a second frame, by duplicating the

first frame. ------->

107. In the Layers Panel, turn off the 1 layer and turn on the 2 layer

108. This changes the second frame to look like this… Notice the clock hands are in

different positions

109. Click the Create New Frame button again

110. In the Layers Panel, turn off the 2 layer and turn on the 3 layer

111. Continue adding frames and turning layers off and on until you have all 12 frames

created and the hands are in different positions all the way around

112. Click the Play button at the bottom of the timeline to see the clock animate

113. Change the Once option to Forever, so your clock will continue to spin FOREVER!

114. Control+S to save your PSD file

Save For Web

115. File > Save for Web

116. Be sure the option on the top right is set to GIF and click Save

117. On the next screen, be sure the name is LastName Clock

118. Click Save and Click OK

119. Open Google Drive > Assignment folder > Photoshop Turn In > Clock Animation

120. Upload the .gif version of your project