How to make an animated GIF with ChatGPT

0:00With Images 2.6, ChatGPT can make real animated GIFs, not just still pictures. Let's create a looping GIF, tune its speed, and then edit it, all right here in a new chat.

0:12Just describe what you want and ask for a looping GIF: a small orange robot waving hello on a light blue background. Here's our robot, and notice it's actually moving. This is a real animated GIF that loops on its own, labeled as a GIF rather than a still image.

0:38Click the GIF to open it in a larger viewer.

0:43Down here is the playback speed control. Open it to see the speed options.

0:52You can slow it down to a quarter speed or double it. Let's pick one and a half times for a slightly snappier wave. The timeline strip shows every frame in the loop, so you can scrub through the motion one frame at a time.

1:07For a full frame-by-frame view, switch to Sheet up at the top. Now all six frames are laid out side by side, so you can see exactly how the wave builds up and settles back into a smooth loop.

1:20Close the viewer to head back to the chat.

1:25The speed setting carried over. To change the animation itself, just ask: make the robot wave with both arms and add a little bounce.

1:43Here's the edited version. Now both arms are waving with a little bounce. And notice the character stays consistent: same round orange head, glowing face, antenna, and chest light as the original. When you're ready to use it, the options are right under the GIF. Copy grabs the image, and these share buttons let you send it along.

2:07To save the file itself, open the GIF again. Up top, the download button saves the GIF to your computer, and Share opens sharing options. Both versions also sit here on the left, so you can compare them anytime. And that's it: you made a looping GIF with Images 2.6, sped it up, looked at each frame, edited the motion without losing the character, and found where to save and share it.