Icontutorial # 36: Animated Bond for PS CS3
Per request. :)
A general rule for animations is: The more fixed frame you have the smaller the filesize.
Now, the tutorial is about how to make it look like there's no 'frame' at all, while still having one for the sake of quality. And while we're at it, the probably too long and complicated way of removing text from the caps. ;)
I did an animation tutorial before, so if anything's unclear have a look there for details I might not explain here again. If there are still questions left I'll do my best to answer them. ;)
Let's say all your caps are stacked in the right order and the canvas is 100x100. This is your first cap and one towards the end (as Bond is fading out himself - how nice of him - the last cap would look like this and that doesn't work as a reference for what's coming now).
Now take a texture or something that fits the background of your animation-to-be. I went with a sky texture by ?.
Paste it on top and start erasing the bottom part - and make sure that you won't cut anyone's precious head, which might happen when they're moving around or coming towards the camera. Check if it fits with the first cap and with those towards the end.
Now, the colour doesn't really fit here - for that click image -> adjustments -> variations, one yellow and one red.
That's the upper part of the 'frame', now the lower one. Once more this scene is perfect, cause the ground is fixed in all caps. Duplicate the last one and erase everything but the 'stones'. These two layers will be fixed elements in the animation later on.
Now about removing the text. There's two ways of doing that.
Door one is the more complicated, but not really difficult one. When your subject is jumping around in front the stuff you want to have removed you have to get rid of it in every single frame. Either with the Clone Stamp Tool (if the background's messy) or, if the background's monochrome, like this: Create a new layer on top of every cap and paint over the text in the same colour as the background. Then merge it down with the respective cap. You can of course go wild on the cap itself, but the layer method leaves room for corrections without having to hit the back button countless times.
Door two is easier - text and subject don't touch. Like here - create a new layer on top (underneath the 'frame pieces') and with a fuzzy brush and the colour of the sky (#cccbbe) paint over the text.
A little tweaking of the colouring and stuff. Lightened the whole thing via a Curves Adjustment Layer (RGB Channel, grab the line in the middle and drag it up a bit - or more than a bit, depends on how dark the caps are). Example.
Brightness/Contrast Adjustment Layer on top, Contrast +11.
New layer on top, add some dark red (#6d1609), set to lighten. Or take this:
--> 
Another new layer, filled with #efe1c1, set to multiply and opacity at 34%.
Now the animation part. Mostly copied from the mentioned other tutorial, so don't be confused if there's Jack instead of James. ;)
You'll find your animation menu under Window - Animation.
Click the 'three lines' in the upper right corner and choose 'Make Frames from Layers'.
With that all the layers on your right layer palette went invisible save the background layer. In the animation menu click the first frame, go to your layer palette and make the following layers visible by clicking the eye: text cover up, bottom frame, upper frame, curves, brightness/contrast lighten and multiply.
If you keep 'propagate frame 1' checked (in the layer palette), you won't need to repeat that for every frame.
Delete any left-over frames in the animation menu.
Setting the time delay:
Click the first frame in the animation menu, press shift and click the second to last frame (thus all but your last frame are selected). Click the little arrow next to the 'sec' and choose '0.1 seconds'.
Now click your last frame and choose a time delay of '0.5 seconds'.
Finally, File - Save for Web & Devices, choose 'gif' on the right side and play with the 'colors' until the filesize matches LJ standard.
And that's it:
A general rule for animations is: The more fixed frame you have the smaller the filesize.
Now, the tutorial is about how to make it look like there's no 'frame' at all, while still having one for the sake of quality. And while we're at it, the probably too long and complicated way of removing text from the caps. ;)
I did an animation tutorial before, so if anything's unclear have a look there for details I might not explain here again. If there are still questions left I'll do my best to answer them. ;)
Let's say all your caps are stacked in the right order and the canvas is 100x100. This is your first cap and one towards the end (as Bond is fading out himself - how nice of him - the last cap would look like this and that doesn't work as a reference for what's coming now).
Now take a texture or something that fits the background of your animation-to-be. I went with a sky texture by ?.
Paste it on top and start erasing the bottom part - and make sure that you won't cut anyone's precious head, which might happen when they're moving around or coming towards the camera. Check if it fits with the first cap and with those towards the end.
Now, the colour doesn't really fit here - for that click image -> adjustments -> variations, one yellow and one red.
That's the upper part of the 'frame', now the lower one. Once more this scene is perfect, cause the ground is fixed in all caps. Duplicate the last one and erase everything but the 'stones'. These two layers will be fixed elements in the animation later on.
Now about removing the text. There's two ways of doing that.
Door one is the more complicated, but not really difficult one. When your subject is jumping around in front the stuff you want to have removed you have to get rid of it in every single frame. Either with the Clone Stamp Tool (if the background's messy) or, if the background's monochrome, like this: Create a new layer on top of every cap and paint over the text in the same colour as the background. Then merge it down with the respective cap. You can of course go wild on the cap itself, but the layer method leaves room for corrections without having to hit the back button countless times.
Door two is easier - text and subject don't touch. Like here - create a new layer on top (underneath the 'frame pieces') and with a fuzzy brush and the colour of the sky (#cccbbe) paint over the text.
A little tweaking of the colouring and stuff. Lightened the whole thing via a Curves Adjustment Layer (RGB Channel, grab the line in the middle and drag it up a bit - or more than a bit, depends on how dark the caps are). Example.
Brightness/Contrast Adjustment Layer on top, Contrast +11.
New layer on top, add some dark red (#6d1609), set to lighten. Or take this:
--> Another new layer, filled with #efe1c1, set to multiply and opacity at 34%.
Now the animation part. Mostly copied from the mentioned other tutorial, so don't be confused if there's Jack instead of James. ;)
You'll find your animation menu under Window - Animation.
Click the 'three lines' in the upper right corner and choose 'Make Frames from Layers'.
With that all the layers on your right layer palette went invisible save the background layer. In the animation menu click the first frame, go to your layer palette and make the following layers visible by clicking the eye: text cover up, bottom frame, upper frame, curves, brightness/contrast lighten and multiply.
If you keep 'propagate frame 1' checked (in the layer palette), you won't need to repeat that for every frame.
Delete any left-over frames in the animation menu.
Setting the time delay:
Click the first frame in the animation menu, press shift and click the second to last frame (thus all but your last frame are selected). Click the little arrow next to the 'sec' and choose '0.1 seconds'.
Now click your last frame and choose a time delay of '0.5 seconds'.
Finally, File - Save for Web & Devices, choose 'gif' on the right side and play with the 'colors' until the filesize matches LJ standard.
And that's it: