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