1. Beginning Digital Photography e-card 1
Animated E-mail Card Tutorial
Software: Adobe Photoshop CS3
1. Open Photoshop and set up your
document. Menu/File/New:
Use the Preset drop bar and choose
640 by 480.
Name: lastname_ecard
2. Go to Menu/View/Fit on Screen:
This will give you a larger window
for editing.
3. Using the internet and Yahoo Image
search type in “moon photos”.
Select the moon as seen in the image
below. Click on it and then drag the
large image and drop it to your Photo-
shop document window.
Name your layer Moon.

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4. Resize your moon to fit the win-
dow. Go to Menu/Edit/FreeTrans-
form: Hold your shift key to keep
it proportional and grab the corner
anchor point of the moon. Let go of
your mouse key before you let go of
the shift key!
While resizing if you move your
mouse inside the image, you can
move it and then continue resizing.
Hit the return key when satisfied
with what you have done.
5. Fill the background layer with
black. Click on the background
layer in the layers palette. Choose
black for your forground color in
Tools. Click on the paint bucket tool.
Click in your document window.
You should now have a black back-
ground.
Another way to fill the background
layer with black is by going to
Menu/Edit/Fill and in the Use
dropbar choose Black.
6. Activate your moon layer by
clicking on it. Then go to your inter-
net browser and using Yahoo images
type in bat clip art. Choose the bat I
have chosen.
Click on it and drag the large image
to your document window. Name
your layer Bat.

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7. Using the Bucket in your tools fill
both the eyes with a color (yellow or
red).
Then using your Magic Wand in Tools
click on the white pixels and delete
them.
8. Resize your bat and move it to the
top of the moon. To resize go to Menu/
Edit/FreeTransform. Hold shift key to
keep it proportional.
9. At www.halloween-clipart.com click
on ghosts in the side bar.
Find a simple ghost and drag it to your
document. Name the layer ghost.

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Making layers for being able to ani-
mate the bat wings:
10. In Tools select the Elliptical Mar-
quee (oval shaped selection tool). Drag
it around the bats head and copy and
paste it. This will create a new layer
with just the bats head. Name it body.

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11. Select each wing using the
Lasso tool or Polygonal Lasso
Tool and copy and paste each
wing. Name each layer: rightwing
and leftwing.
Note: Make sure you are on the
layer you are editing. You have to
go to the bat layer after you paste
the first wing to be able to select
and copy the second wing.
12. Turn the visibility off for the Bat
Layer by clicking on the eye of that layer.
Go to Menu/Edit/Free Transform: Rotate
each wing and move the wings to fit the
body.
Note: to rotate you need to have your
curser on the side of the corner anchor
point not over it.
N
Now you have 4 layers for the bat.
Later we will be able to do a simple
animation to make the bat look like it is
flapping its wings.

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13. Click on you ghost layer.
Go to Menu/layer/duplicate layer.
Name the layer lg ghost.
14. Go to Menu/Edit/Free Transform.
Resize the ghost into a larger size.
Hold the shift key to keep the ghost
proportional. Remember to let go of
the mouse key first and then the shift
key. Hit the return key when done.
15. Erase the pixalated edges of the
large ghost using a brush eraser. Erase
the eyes and mouth also.

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Text:
You can download scarry fonts
from http://www.1001fonts.com/
In the menu to the right of the web-
site you pick the type of font you
are interested in such as scarry.
Then when you see the font you
want you download it (Mac or
Windows). Then add it to your font
book by clicking on the font file.
Click on install font in the font
window.

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16. Click on the Type tool. In the
options bar choose a font. Type in
200 for size, left align, and choose a
Halloween color such as red.
Click in your lower window near the
left side and type BOO in caps (click
on you caps key before typing).
17. Save your file in your lessons folder in Documents.
18. Go to Menu/Window/Animation

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19. This will bring up the Animation
Palette that will show at the bottom of
your document window.
Animation Palette
frame
tween
timing
garbage
Play Animation Makes new frames
20. Click off all the eyes in your layers
palette except for the background and
the moon. Note that now in the anima-
tion palette only the background and
the moon show in the frame.

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21. Make a new frame in the Animation
Palette by clicking on the new frame icon
at the bottom left next to the garbage can.
Click on the eye for the bat layer in the
Layer’s Pallete.
22. Add a new frame in the Animation Palette.
Click off the bat layer eye and click on the bat body,
left and right wing layers in the Layer’s Palette.
Repeat steps 21 and 22.
You now have 6 frames. Turn on the eye for the
small ghost in Layers (6th frame).
In the Animation Palette press the play button to see your
animation.
The animation plays slower than it will play on a browser win-
dow. Timing will be adjusted later.
23. Make a new frame. Move the small ghost so it is ontop
of the bat.

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Tween
24. Click on the Tween Icon in your animation palette. A tween
window will appear. Frames to Add--5, Layers--All Layers, Param-
eters--Click them all.
Note: In the added frames the ghost moves. You can go to the
added frames and change frames to make the bats wings flap
by changing the eyes for those layers in the Layers Palette.
25. Make a new frame and turn off bat eye and small ghost
eye in layers and turn on the eye for the Large Ghost.
Do another tween. This time the opacity will be changed.
26. Add a frame and turn on Text eye. Change the time for the frame to 1 sec.

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27. Timing: Select all but the last frame (shift key).
Change the timing to 0.1 seconds.
(after no delay)
28. Go to Menu /Save for Web and Devices
29. This brings up a window that will show you your
animation.
Make sure that your file format is GIF.
Press the play button to see your animation
play.
30. Click on the save button.
Save it to your lessons folder in Documents.
.
Note that the file extension is a gif. This is the file that you attach to an
e-mail to send someone an animated e-card.

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31. Open an internet window.
32. Go to the menu to file open. Open your GIF
file in your lessons folder
(lastname_ecard.gif).
You can then view your animation.
Note that the file extension is a gif. This is the file that you attach to an
e-mail to send someone an animated e-card.

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To e-mail your animation you attach it to your
e-mail message. You will see an Attach button.
Click on attach and then browse your files and
select the file you want to attach.
Once attached you will see it below the subject
line.
To practice send yourself a message and attach your lesson file (lastname_ecard.gif).
Open the e-mail you sent yourself and view the attachment.