How to Make a Wobble GIF from a Still Image

Pick the blue citrus drink

On the opening screen, choose the blue drink thumbnail under Choose a file. That's the image used in this guide. You can also start with your own PNG, JPEG, or WebP file; the steps stay the same.

Pick an image that has a clear separation between something soft and something rigid. A drink with a soft topping, a plush toy with a flexible ear, a character with hair that moves while the face stays still. The same wobble on a flat logo does not work; there is no "still" reference to anchor against.

Paint the purple jelly, not the whole picture

Stay in Paint mode and brush over the purple jelly inside the glass. Keep the paint inside the object and leave a small margin around its edges. The jelly then has room to wobble while the drink, glass, and background stay still.

The default brush is 5% of the image's shorter side. On the 1024-pixel drink example that is about 50 pixels wide. It is the right size for filling the interior of the jelly. Step the brush down to about 1.5-2.5% when you trace the outline — the [ and ] keys change brush size by 0.5% per press. A smaller brush for edges prevents the colored halo you get when paint captures a few pixels of background.

Use a smaller brush for edges. If you paint too much, switch to Erase or use Undo to remove the last stroke. Undo and redo apply to the painted region only; they do not roll back the loaded image.

Choose a gentle movement first

Open Wobble mode, then start with Soft wobble. It suits a round jelly because the movement is slow and loose. The preset sets nine parameters to specific values; the relevant ones for understanding why it feels "soft" are bounce at 12 (slow return to rest) and damping at 22 (moderate energy loss).

Try the other presets next. Spring bounce sets bounce to 96 and damping to 7, so a small push produces a long, visible oscillation. Quick shake sets variation to 90 with a tight cap on individual point travel, which reads as a fast jitter. Zero-G float turns gravity off entirely, so the painted area drifts slowly. Use the Fine tuning controls when you want more bounce or a quicker shake; change one slider at a time so you know what you changed.

Export a short GIF

Switch to Record and save, pick GIF from the format menu, and choose a short duration. The recorder writes frames at 16 fps and caps the longer side at 480 pixels, so the file is sized for sharing regardless of your source dimensions.

Duration matters more than anything else for file size. On the drink example with Soft wobble, our measured exports were 232 KB at 0.5 s, 1.75 MB at 1 s, 232 KB at 1.5 s, 3.5 MB at 2 s, and 5.24 MB at 3 s. The 1.5 s row is smaller than the 1 s row because GIF compression depends on the color palette, and certain frame counts happen to compress much better than others. For a beginner export we recommend 1-1.5 seconds: long enough to read the gesture, short enough to stay under most chat caps.

When recording finishes, download the file from the result window. The downloaded GIF has the full wobble baked in; the source image and the mask stay in the tool for further edits.

Check the result where people will see it

Play the downloaded file several times at its intended display size. Look first at the edge between the purple jelly and the glass. A colored smear outside the jelly means the mask captured part of the background: return to Paint mode and erase a little inside that edge. A rigid patch inside the jelly means part of the material was missed and should be joined to the painted region.

Then check the rhythm. One clear wobble followed by a return to rest is easier to watch than a long recording with repeated or unfinished gestures. If the ending jumps back to the beginning, record a full cycle and let the jelly settle before stopping. Shorter loops also produce smaller GIFs in most cases.

Finally, test the actual destination. Send the GIF to yourself in the messaging app, upload it as an unpublished social draft, or place it in the page where it will appear. Platforms often resize or recompress the file. If the result looks too large or too soft, keep the same mask and export a shorter version, reduce the source dimensions, or use MP4 or WebM when the destination supports video.

Use the same decisions on a different image

The drink example works because it separates a soft material from a rigid container. Look for the same shape in your own picture. Hair can move while the face stays readable. A plush ear can bend while the head holds still. Frosting can jiggle while the plate stays put. Name the material before you paint it. That gives you a boundary and a reason for the movement.

Paint the center with the default brush (5% of the shorter side), then drop to about 1.5-2.5% for the outline and the attachment point. Avoid grabbing background pixels just to make the region larger. If the subject has a soft edge, such as fur or hair, start slightly inside the visible boundary and preview. A conservative mask is easier to extend than a background halo is to hide.

Start with Soft wobble even when you expect to use another preset. It gives a calm baseline for checking the mask. Once the edge and anchor look stable, compare Spring bounce for a more energetic reaction, Quick shake for nervous or sparkling details, and Zero-G float for a slow drifting mood. Change one control at a time so you know which decision improved the result.

Keep the original image and note the preset, duration, and destination used for the successful export. The same mask can produce a short GIF for chat and a smaller MP4 or WebM for a social post or website. Re-exporting from the source preserves more quality than converting an already compressed GIF into another format.