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TUTORIAL: Create 3D-Animated GIFs with Adobe Fuse CC and Photoshop CC

Fine art photographer Flora Borsi teams with Adobe on a step-by-step tutorial on how to create a 3D-animated GIF using Fuse CC (Preview) and Photoshop CC for Valentine’s Day.

On the heels of yesterday’s announcement about the new release of Animate CC, the Web animation tool formerly known as Flash Professional, Adobe has unveiled a new Valentine’s Day-themed tutorial from renowned fine art photographer Flora Borsi.

Borsi partnered with Adobe on a step-by-step tutorial to users create a 3D-animated GIF for Valentine’s Day. With a few easy steps in Fuse CC (Preview) and Photoshop CC, you can customize characters, personalize the background and add motion to create your own special keepsake.

Check out the tutorial below, and send us your Valentine’s Day-themed GIFs to show off on the AWN Facebook and Twitter feeds! GIF files under 2MB can be sent to editor@awn.com with the subject heading “Adobe CC/Valentine’s Day GIF.”

I started out by creating a character in Adobe Fuse CC. I already had a woman and a man in mind and I chose the body types and facial features that come in the application to get the look I imagined.

I dressed my characters up for Valentine’s Day using the clothing library in Fuse. Using the Texture workspace I was able to customize the color of the dress and the shoes so that she is ready for her Valentine’s date.

Next, I saved my character to my Creative Cloud Library. This step makes it possible for me to open up Photoshop CC and see my character in my Library for any future projects.

Before bringing my characters onto the canvas, I first started out by combining two images that I found on Adobe Stock. I really like the ethereal look of seeing the clouds combined with the stars.

Here is the end result. So dreamy!

OK, now I’m ready to bring my characters onto the canvas. I did this by dragging and dropping the Fuse character from my Library on top of the cloud background layer. Then it is a matter of using the 3D controls to position the character.

I used the CC 3D Animations library to find a motion. I had to make sure that the 3D character is selected, and then use the Properties panel to search for motions until one feels right.

It's helpful to be able to reposition the character again once I found this swimming motion that I really like. Using the 3D navigation controls, it is easy to move the character at any time.

I used the timeline feature to line up the two character animations, and then did some masking so that the characters look like they are hovering in the clouds, just so.

Then I gave the whole piece some beautiful hue changes to give it that overall rosy quality.

And there you have it, here is the final composition. After that I exported as a .gif and now I can share it with my favorite Valentine!

Source: Adobe Systems, Inc.

Jennifer Wolfe's picture

Formerly Editor-in-Chief of Animation World Network, Jennifer Wolfe has worked in the Media & Entertainment industry as a writer and PR professional since 2003.