An example of an animation I put my name on.

           

This tutorial assumes you know something about PSP and Animation Shop, so it's not quite a beginners tut.  This tut is for a one color text.

Open your animation in Animation shop.
Right click on the first frame of the animation and choose "Frame Properties". 
Click on the 'Display Time' tab.
Remember the number there.  Jot it down if need be.
Most likely all of the frame times are the same, but sometimes not.  Check them all by right clicking on each one.  If any are different, jot them down.  You would jot down something like...frame 1-4 is 20...frame 5-7 is 30...frame 8-10 is 20.  Just an example of an animation I am looking at.

You will want to make the canvas size bigger on the animation to allow room for your signature, so you need to know the dimensions of the animation as it is now. 
So click on "Animation / Resize Animation".
Take note of the width and height and now click CANCEL.

Now get rid of the animation.  If a box pops up asking if you want to save the changes, click NO.

Now click on "File / Animation Wizard".
At the first box, choose "As defined here"
Make the width and height a good deal bigger than the animation is.  Remember you took note of it when you had the animation open.  You can crop later.
Click Next.
At the next box, it's your option of transparent or opaque.  If you want a transparent background, choose that.
If you choose opaque, you most likely want a white background, so click in the color box to choose white.
Click Next.
Choose "Centered in the frame" and "With the canvas color".  Do NOT choose 'scale frames to fit'.
Click Next.
Choose "Yes, repeat the animation indefinitely" and put the number in the box that you were supposed to remember from
the frame properties of the animation.  If the frames had different numbers, then just choose the most common number of the animation and later I will explain how to change the other frames to the right numbers.
Click Next.
Now click the "Add Image" button.
Navigate to the folder the animation is in and double click on it.
Click Next, then Finish. 

Now click on "Edit / Select All", and then "Edit / Copy ".
Get rid of the animation.  If a box pops up asking if you want to save the changes, click NO.
Now click on "Edit / Paste" and maximize the animation.
What you just did was made a copy of the original animation.  You want to leave the original intact and work on a copy.

Now click on "Animation / Insert Frames / Empty".
Use default settings, which is 1 for the number of frames and 1 for insert before frame.
Leave the frame delay time alone no matter what it is.
And check "Blank to canvas color".
OK the box.

Now choose the Arrow Tool (white arrow on toolbar)
Click once on the empty frame (First frame.)
Click on "Edit / Propagate Paste".
Use the eyedropper (on Toolbar) and click on a color from your animation that you want for your text.
If you want to edit that color, then in the color box, click on the color and choose a different hue of that color and OK that box

Now click on the Text Tool icon, which looks like the letter A on the toolbar.
Click in the first empty frame
Choose the font of choice and also the size, bold or regular, etc.
Make sure Antialias is checked.
Type your name amd OK the box.

As you move the mouse, the text will move with it.
Place the text where you want it in the empty frame.
You will see the animation and text in frame 2 so you know where to put it.
Click once when you have it where you want it.

If you want to move it, click on "Edit / Undo Text Tool" and redo.

IMPORTANT PART...

Click on the Arrow Tool.
Click on Text in first frame.
Hold down on CTRL key and drag the Text to the next frame.
Position Text where you want it...
RELEASE CTRL KEY BEFORE YOU RELEASE MOUSE
The text will be on all the remaining frames.

Now to crop the extra areas, click on the crop icon.
If you hover your mouse over the icons, it should say what that icon is.
Now drag the crop tool around the animation and sig as close as you can to it and double click in the middle of it and all will be cropped.

Now, most animations have all the same numbers in seconds.
But if the animation had different numbers on different frames, look at the numbers you jotted down for each frame. 
Right click on the frame of the animation you want to change and choose "Frame Properties". 
Click on the 'Display Time' tab.
Put the number here and OK the box.
Do that for each frame that needs to be changed.

Now you can view the animation by  clicking on the "View Animation" icon. 
After you view it, get rid of that window to get back to the frames.  Now you can save it.
Click on "File / Save As" (not save or save frame as). 
Click on the dropdown arrow next to "save as type" and make sure GIF is there.
Save it to your folder of choice.

After you save it, a box will pop up. 
Click on the CUSTOMIZE button in that box.
Now changing things in the customize area shouldn't have to be done very often, if at all again.
In the "Colors" tab, make sure number of colors is 255.
Choose "Optimized Octree", and "Error Diffusion".
However, if you have a drop shadow or a gradient glow to your animation or sig, it's best to choose "Optimized Mediun Cut".
In the "Optimizations" tab, only have the second, third and forth ones checked.
In the "Partial transparency" tab, choose "Convert pixels less than 1...".
And choose "Yes, blend with this color", and click in the color box to choose white.
OK the box.

Now we are back to the other box.
Slide the image bar all the way to the top.  For some animations, you will have to have it lower to make the file size smaller, as long as the quality is still good. 
Click Next.
Now you will see it load.
Click Next.
There will be a mini preview.
Click Next, then Finish.

Before you get rid of the frames, put your sig tag in an email to see if the quality is good, if you had to choose anything
lower than the best quality.  I find the email is the best way to see it.
If the quality is not good, go back to Ani Shop, and with your frames still there, click on "Edit / Undo Optimize Animation".
Then save it again as a better quality.

NOTE: 
If your sig tag wasn't transparent even though you chose a transparent background in the wizard, it's because it wasn't a transparent background animation to begin with.  You can either make it have a transparent background in psp, or you can correct this after the fact in Animation Shop.
When you are done with your sig tag in Ani Shop, click on "Animation / Replace Color". 
Choose "All frames'. 
Then choose 'Old color'. 
Most likely it's a white background.  So if white isn't already there, click in the color box to put it there. 
Then choose an appropriate tolerance, usually about 15 or 20.
Then choose 'Transparent opacity' and OK the box. 
If there are still white areas showing, click on "Edit / Undo replace color" and start over, using a different tolerance level. 
If there still is too much white showing, replace the color again.
Save it when done.

Hope you found this tutorial useful!   Please do not pass my tutorials around.  Instead, give a link to this site.
 
~Summer °Ü°