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I often create GIFs from a consecutive sequence of transparent PNGs (exported from a 3D modeling app).

My current workflow is:

1-Export the animation from the 3D app (Blender) to transparent PNGs

2-Import the PNG sequence into After Effects

3-Export to Lossless RGB + Alpha from After Effects

4-Import the resulting file into Photoshop

5-Save for Web from Photoshop as a GIF

I find the workflow to be a bit long and tedious.

Are there any other faster ways to turn a series of transparent PNGs into a transparent GIF?

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  • There must be software that does just that. Did you try Googling?
    – Jongware
    Feb 26, 2018 at 19:46
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    You can use imagemagik to assemble a GIF, then it does not matter what application you use. Hell you can launch this command form nearly any rendering engines render completed hook. See this
    – joojaa
    Feb 26, 2018 at 20:10
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    If you’re not actually doing anything in AE then it’s a pointless step; you can open the PNG sequence directly in PS
    – Cai
    Feb 26, 2018 at 20:50
  • @Cali How do I import the PNG frames from PS? In AE it's called "Import Multiple Files" but I don't see that in PS, only "Import > Video Frames to Layers" (doesn't recognize PNGs) or "Import > From Device" (the images are not on an external device)
    – MicroMachine
    Feb 26, 2018 at 21:00
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    @MicroMachine , your file must be a name and a number sequence. I made a test using just a number sequence but it did not work.
    – LeoNas
    Feb 27, 2018 at 11:25

4 Answers 4

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Joojaa is right. It is simple to do with open-source software on Mac and Linux and Windows, if you are not afraid of the command line, because you’ll need to use the terminal.

Here is a command line for you to copy and paste (with 25fps and looping forever)

   gm convert *.png -delay 25 -loop 0 -filter lanczos blent.gif

Before you run that command, you’ll have to install graphicsmagick (the higher quality and more performant cousin of imagemagick):

On a Mac:

   brew install gm

On Linux use your package manager, or on Windows download from the graphicsmagick website.

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  • If I could, I would upvote my own answer for coming up with the past participle of blend and using it as the ‘blendered’ png to gif.
    – Nothingismagick
    Feb 26, 2018 at 23:47
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https://github.com/doakey3/Bligify is a Blender addon for exporting animated GIFs. I used it a few months ago for a one of project and it worked perfectly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCdI6hfqsK8&feature=youtu.be shows it it action.

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  • FYI, the plugin uses imagemagick and a pure python png interpreter. So I bet it works well, if not totally slow.
    – Nothingismagick
    Feb 26, 2018 at 21:04
  • And you’ll have to use the command line anyway to install the packages this plugin needs...
    – Nothingismagick
    Feb 26, 2018 at 21:24
  • It's interesting but you actually have to export as a movie first before converting to a GIF, right?
    – MicroMachine
    Feb 26, 2018 at 21:25
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You can import directly the PNG sequence as video in the most recent versions of photoshop.

  1. You open the file. File/open...
  2. You select the first file of the sequence. Make sure they have the same name followed by a number in order to Photoshop understand it as a sequence.
  3. Make sure it was imported as a sequence taking a look in the Timeline Panel.
  4. OPTIONAL: You could want to have more control (about order or time) over the individual frames in the timeline. In order to achive it you need to go to the Timeline Panel options Convert Frames / Convert to Frame Animation and edit accordingly in the timeline.
  5. To export it as a GIF you need to go to export/save for web
  6. Make sure the format is GIF and that the looping options are as you wish. (most of the time you would want it in the 'forever' setting.

PNG sequence to GIF in Photoshop

Or you can use an online generator like this to do the trick.

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  • Please give detailed steps, if you care to read the comments on this page, you'll see that it's not obvious at all how to import PNG as a video sequence in Photoshop... thanks
    – MicroMachine
    Feb 26, 2018 at 22:51
  • Thanks for editing your answer. It still doesn't work when I follow your steps... - (it only imports one frame if I select only one frame, even if I click "Image Sequence", if I select all, "Image Sequence" becomes greyed out)
    – MicroMachine
    Feb 26, 2018 at 23:12
  • Also, the gifmaker tool is hard to understand (my first try output a very slow GIF) and slow to use (since all images in the animation have to be uploaded to the web)
    – MicroMachine
    Feb 26, 2018 at 23:16
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save as web is best as I know. Normally online converter tool so fast that I am using.

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