by Melissa Raissa

Created on: November 17, 2010

Rotating effects add interesting transitions to your slides if done correctly. They are usually done in conjunction with other effects such as rotate-and-scale, rotate-and-flip, and so on. Basically, you’re just injecting a new dynamic to a regular slide transition effect. We will be using the GIMP software to create GIF animation slides using the said effects.

While there are other slideshow applications available that require minimal effort on the part of the user, they often require plug-ins that you have to install into your computer before you can use their application. GIF animations are a great alternative to Flash and similar programs since they don’t require a plug-in and generally have smaller file sizes.

The main thing you have to consider in creating slide effects using GIF animation is the number of slides you want to incorporate into your file. Animation takes a lot of effort and if you have to apply effects to the entire hundreds of images in your photo album, then I suggest you use a photo slideshow program for that. Around 3 or 4 slides would be enough for a GIF ad banner or header image.

Another important thing to consider is the realistic quality of your effects. Rotation can be very difficult to watch if there’s too much spinning. Keep the rotation effects subtle, think of photographs gently dropping and landing slightly askew. Follow a natural flow using a good number of frames and small intervals in each angle rotation for a smooth transition between slides.

Creating rotating slide transitions

While there are several approaches to a rotation effect, the main staple is that while the top slide is rotating, the lower slide should be visible at the areas revealed by the rotation of the top slide. We’re going to do a rotate-and-roll-out approach. To achieve this you will need two working files, one for the manipulation of the slides and one for accommodating the final frames for your GIF animation.

Open at least two of your photos with the GIMP software. Choose the first photo you want for your slide animation then, at the menu bar, click LAYER->DUPLICATE LAYER to create a copy of your original photo. We will keep this copy as a backup, just in case, so we will toggle its visibility at the Layers dock by clicking the ‘eye’ icon at the left side of that layer.

Go to the other photo window and copy that photo by pressing CTRL+C. Then, paste it as a new layer at the first photo window by clicking EDIT->PASTE AS->NEW LAYER at the menu bar. This should give you two visible layers at the first window‘s Layers dock. We will now rotate the top layer by clicking TOOLS->TRANSFORM TOOLS->ROTATE at the menu bar or by clicking SHIFT+R at the keyboard.

The lower layer should be revealed by the transparent areas of the rotated top layer. For each rotation that you make, click EDIT->COPY VISIBLE at the menu bar. Open a new window for your GIF animation frames and paste each of the rotation as a new layer by clicking EDIT->PASTE AS->NEW LAYER. You can see the resulting animation by clicking FILTERS->ANIMATION->PLAYBACK at the menu bar. Save this file with a GIF extension and choose the ‘Save As Animation’ option.

Once the slide is completely transitioned, make it invisible by clicking the ‘eye’ icon beside the finished slide. Repeat the same steps using the previous lower layer as the top layer with a new photo at the bottom. You can rearrange the layers by clicking the ’Up’ and ’Down’ arrows at the bottom part of the Layers dock. Make sure that you keep duplicate layer copies of the photos just in case.

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