Run your free photo-manipulation software, such as GIMP or Photoshop, by double-clicking on the desktop icon.
Click "File," then "New" to create a new image or open an image from your computer's directory by clicking 'File," then "Open." Use the "Browse" option to locate your text.
Use the text tool to create your text. Draw the text box and type the words that you want to animate into this box. Adjust the color using the palette box below the tool icons. To avoid complications in the animation process, try to settle for one color for your text.
Copy your text twice by clicking "Layer" then "Duplicate Layer" from the drop-down window.
Lower the transparency of the top two layers so you can see the text from the layer below. Use this technique to align the text on all three layers before changing the transparency back to the original settings.
Double-click on the layer comment in the "Layers" window to view the timings between each layer. Adjust the "ms" value to "1000" for layers one and two, and "1500" for layer three.
Draw a selection around the text using the 'Selection Tool." Select "Image," then Filter," before selecting "Filter All Layers" to animate your text. Choose a filter that you want to apply. For example, to apply an animated blur effect, choose "Gaussian Blur" from the list before clicking the "Apply Varying" button.
Adjust the horizontal and vertical values of the effect by changing the figure in the corresponding boxes. For example, to have the effect develop gradually, choose to set the horizontal value to "2" for the first frame, click "OK," then choose to continue to the last frame before changing the horizontal value to "20." This will create a Gaussian Blur effect that develops gradually over the three frames.
Optimize your animation by clicking "Image," then "Filters," before choosing "Animation" from the list of options. Now select the "Animation Optimize" function. You will also need to index your image by clicking "Image," then "Mode" and "Indexed."
Save you animation as a GIF file. Click "File" then "Save" and choose GIF from the list of options. This will save your animation in a flexible format that can be easily used in other programs.