I was doing a friends tutorial (Saintlee2 from GraphX Anonymous) for an Animated Lake, and even though it came out wonderfully, I was inspired to try something different. I did a few steps differently to achieve a different look.

With her permission, I have used some of her steps to re-create my Animated Water effect. Other than that, this is my own creation and any resemblances to other tutorials are strictly coincidental.

I will be using an image of an egret. Since I took the picture myself, you can use it if you choose, or use one of your own choosing. Just right click on the image and save to a folder of your choice.

If you use a different image, make sure that you resize it to a more appropriate size. I have the egret sized to 293X350, as I do not want it any taller that 350 or it would be too large.

1. Right click on the image layer and Promote to Background Layer.

2. I then zoom the image to about 150 so that it is easier to work with.

3. Using the Freehand Tool, carefully outline the egret and the rocks. Being sure to outline the water area between its feet. You should have Marching Ants around the egret and rocks as in image below.

4. Now go to Selections/Invert. The Marching Ants will now be around the outside of the water area.

5. Use SHIFT D and make two copies. Minimize the two images for now we will use them shortly.

6. Go to Effects/Distortion Effects/Wave and use the following settings. Make sure the Transparent is ticked. Do not worry about the wavy edges as they will not show in the final image.

7. Go to Selections/Select None.

8. Save as a .psp image. I saved mine as egret1.pspimage.

9. Bring up your next image (the Marching Ants should still be active). Go to Effects/Distortion Effects/Wave and use the following settings. Make sure the Transparent is ticked.

10. Go to Selections/Select None. Save as egret2.pspimage.

11. Bring up your last image (the Marching Ants should still be active). Go to Effects/Distortion Effects/Wave and use the following settings. Make sure the Transparent is ticked.

12. Go to Selections/Select None. Save as egret3.pspimage.

Open up your Animation Shop click on Animation Wizard and use these settings.

1. Make Same Size as First Image is selected and then click Next.

2. Make sure the default canvas color is Transparent and then click Next.

3. Then make sure Centered in the Frame, With the Canvas Color and Scale Frames to Fit are all selected, and then click Next.

4. Yes, you want the frames to run Indefinitely then chose Each Frame to be Displayed for 20 and then click Next.

5. Click on Add Image and browse your files to where you stored the images. Hold down your Ctrl key and with the left mouse; click Image3, Image2, and Image1. They will all be Highlighted then click Open. They will all appear in the window in correct order. Then click Next and then click Finish.

6. Go to the top and click View/Animation.

7. If you are happy with how your animation looks, you can Save as a gif.

Congratulations! You should now have a nice animation with the water rippling around your egret.

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If you have any questions, you can email me by clicking on my envelope