Can some brillant photoshopper help me out

[SoCalDem]

I would like to use this pic for my Christmas card to all my bowling teams.. I need a santa hat on the meerkat, and the animation stopped, just as the ball leaves its hand.. Is this do-able???

[Buckminster Fush]

1. Here ya go...

[SoCalDem]

3. That is P E R F E C T ...Thank you so much

:loveya:

[Buckminster Fush]

6. You are very welcome ...

Anything for a fellow Dem :D

[Quill Pen]

2. Yep, it's doable...part in Photoshop, and part not in Photoshop.

1) To get the animation to stop after the meerkat releases the ball, you'll need an animated GIF editor. Try downloading and installing ULead (here's a link: http://download.com.com/3302-2186-5422267.html?tag=mta); then open your animated GIF and take out the last frame, in which the critter retracts his arm after releasing the ball. Save your animated GIF.

2) Draw a Santa hat in a new Photoshop document, choosing a transparent background when you create the new document. Make it easier on yourself by verifying that the new document has the same resolution and color mode (RGB, for example) as your GIF. Copy and paste your Santa hat onto the critter's head in each frame of your animated GIF. Or, to make sure the Santa hat doesn't move from frame to frame, paste the Santa hat onto the critter's head in the first frame, then use your mouse (or better yet, a stylus like Wacom, et al) to trace the whole animal's head. Copy that and paste it into subsequent frames of the animation, lining the head up flush with the existing head.

Hope I've helped.

[Lorien]

4. Not to nitpick but

he's a ringtailed lemur, that somehow lost his tail, lol!

That's gonna be a cute card, SoCal. :-)

[SoCalDem]

5. Duh.. you are so right..

I like lemurs and meerkats.. boo on me for mixing them up :)
It did turn out cute :)